BY COLLINS OPUROZOR
Last Sunday, something remarkable happened. On the request of Hon. Gozie Nwagba, a political titan from Orlu LGA, I had a meeting with him. For over four hours, we talked—man to man, heart to heart. Nwagba is not just a name in Orlu politics. From his days as the leader of the legislative council, Nwagba has been a story. A pillar of the PDP. A man whose signature is inscribed on every page of grassroots politics in the area. Yet on this day, he had come to tell me he was joining the APC. I looked into his eyes. He wasn’t hesitant. He was home.
We talked. And talked. What followed was a journey through the soul of Imo State. The Infectious Disease Center in Orlu came up first. “It’s no longer hearsay,” he said. “It’s here.” Then the roads. Oh, those roads! Orlu-Mgbee-Umuchima-Akokwa Road. Owerri-Okigwe Road. Owerri-Orlu Road. Owerri-Mbaise-Obowo-Umuahia Road. Long, strategic arteries—now smooth, wide, beautiful. Governor Hope Uzodimma didn’t just build roads. He built trust. He built access. He built unity.
We talked about peace. Real, breathing peace. Not just absence of violence, but the return of hope. Schools no longer shut down in fear. Markets boom. Churches brim. The air in Imo is now different—clean, calm, purposeful. We talked about Imo State Polytechnic in Omuma. A dream born, raised, and thriving. We touched on the new general hospitals—beacons of life in rural spaces once abandoned.
Then came the Egbema Power Plant. A sleeping giant waking up. Soon, lights won’t flicker anymore in homes and factories across Imo. For a state long plagued by darkness, this is redemption. This is salvation! We spoke of Concorde Hotel being rebuilt—not just walls and roofs, but the soul of Owerri’s hospitality revived. “Governor Uzodimma is rebuilding both the old and the new,” Nwagba said. “He is rewriting history.”
And he’s doing more. Payroll automation has ended the era of ghost workers. The civil service breathes with efficiency again. The IGR profile is soaring. Sam Mbakwe Airport now welcomes aircrafts at night. Night landing facilities installed, fully operational. The governor’s name is Onwa, the Moon. There shouldn’t be darkness at the airport when the sun is gone. We both laughed. That’s vision. That’s leadership.
What truly touched me was the One Kindred, One Business (OKOBI) initiative. Imagine millions of Naira reaching the remotest corners of Imo. Every kindred now has a business idea and a government-backed hand lifting it to life. Hope Uzodimma is not just empowering people. He is reengineering dignity, one household at a time.
Then we talked about Skill-Imo. Tens of thousands of youths—once idle, restless, and written off—are now being trained in digital skills. They are equipped with laptops, mentored in innovation, and given startup capital. These are not handouts. These are launchpads. A generation is being redirected from despair to destiny.
Hon. Nwagba told me something profound. “The difference with Hope Uzodimma,” he said, “is that he doesn’t announce projects with a fanfare and forget them. He starts and he finishes. You can see them. You can touch them. You can benefit from them.” That is why the shift to APC isn’t a gamble. It’s a grounded, guided walk towards good governance.
So when political leaders in Imo migrate to the APC, it isn’t defection. It’s homecoming. They’re not selling out. They’re buying into hope. As 2027 draws near, Imo people are looking back to the values and institutions recovered, the infrastructure rehabilitated and reconstructed, and so the 2027 mantra in Imo shall be continuity and consolidation. To be clear, this wave will only rise. Because when a leader performs beyond expectations, when he touches lives with concrete impact, when his legacy is etched into roads, hospitals, and hearts—the people follow. And so do their leaders.
— Opurozor is the Special Adviser to Governor Uzodimma on Electronic and Creative Media.
