Imo Governorship: Uzodinma Drops Deputy, Professor Placid Njoku

By Charles Igbo

Unless there is a miraculous change in calculations,  the Deputy Governor of Imo State, Professor Placid Njoku, will not be on the ballot, alongside Governor Hope Uzodinma on November 11, 2023.

It is the day the Imo Governorship election will take place. But, Professor Njoku will not be Uzodinma’s running mate.

The Governor has set his eyes on another.

Uzodinma not picked anybody yet as Professor Njoku’s replacement. But to beat the dateline of the Independent National Electoral Commission for the submission of names of Candidates for the election, Uzodinma has picked and submitted the name of his Commissioner for Works,  Ralph Nwosu, as a “Place Holder.” Meaning that he would be dropped for a substantive running mate.

Nwosu, a strong loyalist of the Governor is from the same Orlu Senatorial Zone as the Governor. They are, also, from the same Local Government Area.

It is not known, yet, why Uzodinma dropped Professor Njoku, an academic and a former Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Umudike, Umuahia, Abia State. Both men enjoy a rosy, cordial, relationship. But there are speculations  that the Professor, from Owerri Zone, may have been dropped because of the need for somebody with a better electoral value than him, especially, as the Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Samuel Anyanwu, popular as Samdaddy, is from the same LGA, Ikeduru, as Professor Njoku.

It is still not known from which Senatorial Zone, Uzodinma will pick his running mate. What is known is that his Senatorial Zone, Orlu, is exempted. His choice is limited between Owerri and Okigwe Senatorial Zones.

Not a few people give two reasons why Owerri is likely to carry the day.

Firstly, the Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party, Athan Achonu, is from Okigwe Senatorial Zone. Uzodinma, they say, is not likely to pick his running mate from that Zone, seeing that their votes would likely be seriously divided. The only Zone remaining is Owerri Zone where he has a strong support base even though the PDP Candidate, Anyanwu comes from the Zone.

Secondly, having dropped Professor Njoku, an Owerri Zone son, it will be untidy not to replace him with another Owerri son, a Zone which has been screaming discrimination on the grounds that no Owerri son has, fully, occupied tho office of the Governor since the return of democracy. While the late Chief Evan Enwerem was sacked by the Military, after a little over  one year in office, the Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha was, in 2020,  removed by the Supreme Court after eight months in office.

Governor Uzodinma, based on the newly re-signed Imo Charter of Equity which says Owerri Zone will produce his successor, has promised to see that it is implemented.

For now, all eyes are on Uzodinma, to see from where his running mate will come from – Owerri or Okigwe.