One of the national newspapers captured the event well when it said:  Owerri Shuts down as Jonathan Welcomes PDP Returnees. Since Governor Okorocha’s daughter’s wedding last year, no event or ceremony has impacted Owerri or rocked and restricted movement as much as last week’s presidential visit.

President Jonathan being received by the Executive Governor of Imo State Rochas Okorocha amidst other PDP members at Sam Mbakwe Air Port Owerri

The good thing is President Jonathan’s long-awaited visit has finally come. A proud moment for us! It was, indeed, a privilege for us to welcome the first president from the South South – a man who got our votes 100 per cent three years ago.

Igbo people, so welcoming and hospitable, turned out in their numbers to bid him “ndeewo!”  Governor Okorocha, with other South East governors and eminent people, were at the airport to receive the President and accord him the official welcome.

Owerri stood still, undoubtedly. People thronged the state capital from their communities to be part of the event. Those who couldn’t go to the airport went to the Dan Anyiam  stadium, where he was scheduled to address the people.  Market women and workers who moved early found they could only get transportation up to a point. But they happily walked the rest of the way as vehicles were not allowed to go beyond a certain point, for security reasons. Anything for the President!

Those who could not go to the stadium watched admirably from various locations, as the president’s “chopper” and two other helicopters danced in the air, amidst tight security, and finally landed in close proximity to the Stadium. The people also watched as an awesome motorcade ushered Mr President into the venue! The Eagle has landed.

But what really did the president come to do? What good news did he bring to Imo and what new hopes and promises did he give to the masses? President Jonathan was here to ask us for more votes. He was here to tell us that his party PDP is the only hope Nigeria has. But the official reason for his coming to Imo was to welcome back political yard fowls – runaway PDP members returning to the party.

Whereas there is nothing wrong with President Jonathan coming to Imo or any state to “receive” new and defecting candidates into his party, it is annoying that his maiden visit to a state which gave him his second highest votes should be a campaign stunt. What have we got for the votes we delivered in 2011?

Some PDP lords and ladies would argue that a number of “Ndigbo” are serving or served in Jonathan’s government, as if certain positions are the preserve of any state, region or ethnic group. The paucity of Federal presence in the south east especially core Igboland is not a secret in Nigeria. The fact that education is the biggest industry in Igboland and that the unemployment burden is far greater in the east than elsewhere is well known to Dr Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan.

What will ease Imo’s burden is not the appointment of one or two Ndigbo to his Government but a deliberate and consistent effort to rehabilitate our infrastructure and locate one or two of those juicy federal job-generating industries and refineries in our domain.   Constituency driven projects such as handled by the NDDC are a drop in the ocean.

We are also asking our legislators what effort they are making to attract needed capital job-generating projects to Imo or are they satisfied with building community centres, party offices, donating Christmas hampers and giving temporary jobs to one or two youths?

We pose a similar question to our Governor. Is he lobbying enough for federal projects like the Late Sam Mbakwe whose determination to attract federal attention to the needs of his people earned  him the inglorious nickname “weeping governor?”

Governor Okorocha cannot rely on only what his Government alone can do for Imo. The suffering masses do not care whether it’s APGA, PDP or APC what they know is that Imo is in dire need of investments to rescue their sons and daughters, and scoop the large chunk of jobless educated into the workplace. Until then can anyone wish us good luck.

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