Imo governor, Hope Uzodimma, is a special politician whose meteoric rise deserves an inquiry. Not the typical garrulous Nigerian politician, Uzodimma seems to have a covenant with divinity that makes him glide above stormy winds at all times.

Politics, especially Nigeria politics, is a hotbed of treachery, backstabbing, betrayals, all in a mix of treacherous whirlwinds that often consume even the most adept politicians.

Fecund minds like Akinwunmi Ambode, Gboyega Oyetola and Bisi Akande at some point tasted the bitter pill of politics even when people thought they had mastered the game. In 2003, Alliance for Democracy (AD) governors namely, Lam Adesina (Oyo) Bisi Akande (Osun), Olusegun Osoba (Ogun), Niyi Adebayo (Ekiti) and Adebayo Adefarati (Ondo) lost at the ballot. They could not make it back as governors. Rasheed Ladoja (Oyo), would later join this club. Ladoja who was impeached and reinstated could not make it back as governor for his second term. Remember, these were experienced politicians in the south west where the silhouette of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, still held a potency and pavilion that covered these men. But they lost, nevertheless. Incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo was the chief suspect said to have masterminded the abysmal failure of these titans of that era. A theory many bought and believed because Abuja influence was very strong at that time, as it still is today.

Away from the south west. Let’s go south of south (South-south).  Celestine Omehia (Rivers), Oserheimen Osunbor (Edo), Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa), etcetera, had their governorship terms truncated at different times under different circumstances. Some could not return for a second term. Some did not even finish their first terms as governor before their journey was aborted. Up north, similar tales abound.

In Adamawa State, Jibrilla Bindow, an industrialist and member of the PDP (at that time), became the governor after defeating Boni Haruna of the APC in the 2015 election. He later defected to the APC, to secure his re-election in 2019 but lost to Ahmadu Fintiri of the PDP.

In the south east, Chinwoke Mbadinuju became the first governor of Anambra in the 4^th Republic, but he failed to make it back for his second term. Chris Ngige who succeeded him later lost his legitimacy to hold that office. Tried as he could, he never made it back. The list is long in every part of the country where well-heeled politicians, incumbents with heavy war chest to procure victory, crashed. On this list is Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, historically the only Nigerian president to have conducted a presidential election and lost. He did not lose because the election was free and fair. He admitted as much in his book, My Transition Hours. He lost because he was rigged out and did not want Muhammadu Buhari’s eerie comment two years to the 2015 election to come to pass. Buhari had said: “If what happened in 2011 should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood.”

Jonathan admitted, post-election, that he allowed the declared result of the 2015 presidential election to stand because he did not want the country to be soaked in blood.

This extensive digression is necessary to illustrate the treachery that barbs the nation’s political landscape. Here, it’s either you’re helped by a godfather or by God himself. Even those with godfathers do fail usually after falling out with their godfathers. Ask Sim Fubara! This takes us back to the story of Uzodimma. He started his political career during the Second Republic when he joined the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN), and became the Imo State youth leader of the party in 1983. Ever since, Uzodimma has held various positions under different political parties including becoming a Senator and now Governor of Imo state, and currently on his second term. All this without a traceable godfather.

Through Uzodimma, Imo, a hitherto predominantly PDP state, is now an APC state with well-established imprints of the party in every ward. The Uzodimma influence and X-factor has extended beyond the state and has spread to other parts of the south east. Ebonyi has joined Imo as APC state with strong traces of the party in other south east states.

So, what’s working for Uzodimma? The Imo governor has special character traits which have helped his political life. He is relatable, open-minded and does not discriminate along primitive fault-lines of religion and ethnicity. With this, he builds bridges of friendship across ethnic borders, party lines and multifarious religious spectra. This has helped him to mainstream the south east into national politics. He has successfully wormed his way into the heart of President Bola Tinubu and right into his inner circle of trusted political associates. His election as Chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum on May 31, 2023 validates his growing stature in the ruling party. Ever since, he has been growing the party, engendering cohesion within the APC and ensuring that aggrieved members of other parties are given a safe nest in the APC. Just imagine the number of political heavyweights that have defected to APC in the last 18 months.

Those close to Tinubu say he has high confidence in Uzodimma and has been very impressed with the manner he has continued to expand the party and ensure that fathers of the APC including Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, and other bigwigs in the party are knitted to the vision of the APC.

Recently, he led the Progressive governors to Buhari’s Kaduna home. And you could sense the elation of Buhari as he reconnected with the governors. Uzodimma has evolved from a youth leader of a national party to the leader of governors of the ruling party. Such political metamorphosis which can only be captured with a line of best fit, graphically, is rare in Nigeria where politics is the graveyard of the mighty and the brave. Quietly, Uzodimma has influenced the appointment of Ndigbo into national positions. His closeness to Tinubu has attracted development to the south east. His politics deserves to be studied.