As a regular traveler who transverse most states in Nigeria and in particular Imo State, I was privileged again to spend the 2009 Christmas and New Year in visiting several places in Imo State and saw for myself so many changes in development which I was later faced with at the Imo Stakeholders Forum on the 4th January, 2010, where The Governor, His Excellency, Dr Ikedi Ohakim brilliantly and without any atom of ambiguity gave a good account of his stewardship to the Imo citizenry as well as his projections for 2010.

Imo Stakeholders present at that occasion, gave glowing tributes to His Excellency, Dr Ohakim in taking us down memory lane in relationship with: the rot in the system, sabotage on our collective infrastructures, the unstable political environment, the benefits of breaking the political insularity, the hostile economic environment/visible economic indicators and how the State has coped with the meltdown, just to mention a few.

The Governor, Dr Ohakim went further to highlight, tangible, long lasting and long term projects which will change the character of Imo State in real terms, such as Imo Wonder Lake Resort, various and diverse Road Development Projects, IROMA reorganization, Water Projects, Electricity Projects, Industrialization of the State, Agriculture: AgroNova Project, Environmental Culture, Nworie Dredging: Saving Owerri Capital City from Submerge, Refinery Project, Land Reform, Education Restructuring, Health Projects, transformation of the Judiciary, Information dissemination, creation of New Ministry Niger Delta, improvement of Internally Generated Fund, 2010 budgetary thrust etc. However, these are capital intensive projects that will outlive most of us and provide opportunities for the growing masses in the State.

Despite all this efforts, a reporter, Kodilinye Obiagwu, who attended this same occasion on the January 4, 2010 wrote an offensive story against the government of Imo State “Imo: Story of decay despite Ohakim’s promises of a New Face” in The Guardian Newspapers of January 5, 2010 which was released the day he was to leave Owerri. This is outright treachery and sabotage. What conscience is nurtured by truth in this?

In reviewing, the following articles, written by our diasporas brothers, who just came home after a long sojourn in foreign land, I could not just but have more explanations to throw more light for their understanding of what is required to grow a viable and sustainable State by a guru, who have seen, learned and demonstrated the skill necessary for the development of a State, as every falsehood must be challenged, else it assumes the resemblance of truth.

The writers of these articles, having relied on this falsehood, have based their reports on the obnoxious article, which have warranted these clarifications.
“The Guardian January 12, 2009 page 18, Letters Column: Ohakim and the face of Imo State by Chima Nwaukwa, Texas, USA” and

“The Guardian January 14, 2009 page 14, Letters Column: Imo and the new face of Ohakim by Okenna Anyadiegwu, Belleville, Ontario, Canada”.

I am of the opinion that these guys lack sufficient appraisal parameters despite their knowledge and exposure or are they agents working for opponents? Perhaps, they thought Dr Ikedi Ohakim is a miracle worker. But they forget that miracle only work for faithful adherents and not the other way round, which is why they are not seeing anything good in Imo State after a few weeks vacation. This is one of the reasons people do not plan or think “Long Term” rather than “Short Term”. For example, industrialization is a long term project. It requires time from conceptualization, planning, implantation and implementation, left alone the actual results or benefits. It is a matter of sacrificing a little today for tomorrow’s benefits. The governor, being a private sector fundamentalist, as his pedigree displays, knows exactly what is required to put the State on its right footing for the Longer Term benefit.

According to His Excellency, “Politics is not just about running around, making noise and planting smear campaigns in the media against opponents. Under the philosophy of the New Face of Imo, we preach politics of development and development of politics, not politics for its own sake”.

Our action leader, Dr Ohakim, have been tried, trained, tested, tempted, trusted and is now transforming our State. These merchants of falsehood, detractor, blackmail, must have calculated that our leader will be demeaned and be made to loose focus in his determination to give the State a new beginning from where he met it, rather our action governor continues to win more accolades, locally, nationally and internationally for his professional expertise in management and public administration.

Going by the account of Godson Offoaro, Mitchellville, MD, USA “The old Imo was created in 1976 from the old East Central state. During the second Republic, Imo State stood out as a beacon of the selfless industry doggedness and sheer willingness to succeed in the face of odds - all which are attributes with which the average Igbo man is known. In the Nigerian context, it meant even more. Its citizens suffered undue deprivation because the area had suffered two concurrent forms of marginalization - one from the federal government and the other by a systematic oversight by previous administrators of the area. What this means was that Imo had no industries, it had not modern infrastructure, no federal presence nor did it have any viable revenue generating institution of worth. “

“Yes, Imo still has no federal presence other than the Federal University of Science and Technology (FUTO) and the regional headquarters of Federal parastatals such as NEPA, NITEL and the Medical Centers. Yes, Imo population is still vibrant, education hungry and jobless and yes, Imo's needs are disproportionately greater than those states with equal needs. But that was the situation when Mbakwe mounted the political saddle twenty-something years ago.”

Ohakim deserve every commendation available on the face of this earth, and it could not have been better without him, as any leader has his own style. He is a true leader and patriot and governance flows in his vein like blood. The choice of leadership style (whether autocratic or democratic) depends largely on the situation and the people in the environment. When we relate with skilled and educated people, who share same vision, perspectives and goals of the State, we have to use participatory styles. Otherwise a more directive or authoritarian approach may be used. Infact, Imo State situation demands for both types of leadership styles in measured steps as our able and agile Governor is practically doing.

It could be stated that a good leader will use more of participative than autocratic styles although there are times when a leader may not be able to afford the luxury of democracy and consultation.
Ikedi Ohakim is leadership and governance personified. What is Leadership, if not the provision of vision and values for the people and the state; Setting objectives, clarifying goals and removing uncertainties; Setting performance targets and standards; Planning team work, directing, guiding, controlling; Providing resources for strategic development of the people and the State; Developing skills and capabilities for the growing population of the State; Motivating employees and people of the State; Building cohesive and effective work groups for the development of the State; Communicating and managing relationships among various interest groups in the State; Handling discipline, conflict, law, order, equity, justice and Mentoring and role modeling.

We should not forget so soon, what was on ground when this government started on April 29, 2007. Also, for sustaining power till this time December 31, 2009 witnessing the highest number of baseless and distracting election cases, talk less of various transformations ongoing in Imo State in totality. These and many others can only be seen by those who can give a good definition of leadership as well as having knack for real development and not a “wait and get” or “indomie noodles meal” development. Perhaps, cash should be shared to the citizenry on a monthly basis as well as refusal to collect commensurate taxes due from them, award local purchase orders haphazardly, distribute keke kimkim and keke napep and the like freely, free this, free that, will make some lazy people appreciate what is in for them in this dispensation rather than going for the opportunities the good policies and programmes of the State have created.

However, Imo State being a peculiar entity, deserve this style of leadership as it is presently, but due to our predominant attitude: impatience, poverty, short-sightedness and docility, this is where I applaud your 2010 budget thrust; to focus more on recurrent expenditure , as already spelt out, to be people-oriented than capital oriented: no new project.

Ochinawata, keep doing the good work, the difference is very clear in approach, keep laying the foundation upon which the next four years: 2011 to 2015 shall be based, establish the structure and framework upon which development will stand on.

Like you rightly said, “The real challenges before us all, are to come home and invest, in spite of the problems; our people must return to their Igboness and, create wealth from their circumstances instead of waiting for the government; everybody must return to farming and use the land God gave us freely; we must take issues of the environment seriously; every community must embark on tree planting to avert erosion; our people must return to community self-help, now that we are bringing peace to the communities but we must note that Imo State, is at all times, indeed, in the hands of God!” Can you imagine that!