Imo Slams Barr. Agu, Tags Assessment Of State “Satanic Verses”

By Charles Igbo

In an angry, strongly-worded response, the Imo State Government has dismissed the assessment of the state of Government activities in the State, and his  comparison of same with those of Enugu State Government by a Lawyer, Chinedu Agu, as “Satanic Verses.”

Agu, a Solicitor, Notary Public, and past Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Owerri Branch, had, on return from Enugu, where he attended the just concluded Nigerian Bar Association’s Conference, hosted by Enugu the Enugu State Government, in a write-up, expressed pleasant shock at the heart-warming state of developments in the State.

Perhaps, the Government of Imo, Agu’s State of origin, would not have worried if Agu did not proceed to lament in his assessment, the sorry state of Imo State, when compared to Enugu State. But he did.  “What happened to us in Imo State?”, he lamented, while reeling out alleged sorry state of things, as well as  pointing out that, till date, Imo State still has no Chief Judge.

But in a swift response, Declan Emelumba, Imo State Commissioner for Information, Public Orientation, and Strategy, in dismissing Agu’s write-up as “Satanic Verses”, also added: “This is the public lashing of a bitter soul, still reeling from political irrelevance after his stint as Personal Assistant to the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice under the disgraced, short-lived, and corruption-tainted Emeka Ihedioha interregnum. He speaks from agony”

Titled, TEARS FROM ENUGU: A LAWYER’S HEARTBREAKING DIARY FROM A STATE THAT WORKS TO A STATE IN RUINS, Agu said that

his true reward at the NBA Conference came not from a medal he won as the best goalkeeper from the football tournament where his Owerri NBA branch placed 4th out of 40 teams,  but “from the eye-opening, soul-wrenching experience of spending 10 days (August 18–28) in Enugu, a city that, quite frankly, left me in awe, and in pain.”

Here is what he wrote, in part:

“Because I drove myself and spent time moving around Enugu, I can say with confidence: I saw the city. I felt it. I lived it. And what I saw left me with one question — “Gịnị mere anyị na Imo? What happened to us in Imo State?”

“From the moment I entered Enugu, I noticed something strange — no potholes. Yes, I drove across town, from GRA to Uwani, from Independence Layout to Trans-Ekulu, and never once did I fear my tyres would burst or my suspension collapse. The roads were motorable, marked, clean, and vigilantly maintained.

“Contrast this with Imo State, where even the so-called capital city of Owerri is riddled with craters that swallow cars and test your patience daily. Literally, a man driving in Owerri carries his heart in his hands.

“But in Enugu, I drove with ease. No fear of “boom” sounds. No “zigzagging” to avoid gullies in the middle of the road. Just calm.

“One of the most painful yet enlightening moments of my trip was my visit to the Enugu Geographic Information Service (EGIS), an agency under the Ministry of Lands. I went there to conduct a simple search, and what I saw stunned me: digitized records, clear service processes, courteous staff, and fast results.

“This is how a public institution should function.

“Now tell me — when last did anyone walk into Imo State Ministry of Lands and successfully conduct a search? That Ministry has been under lock and key for over two years. A ministry that holds the key to economic development, investments, and housing — completely paralysed.

“What kind of leadership allows such critical infrastructure to collapse while singing songs of development?

“When an animal’s head begins to rot, you know it’s been left in water too long. That is what has happened to our institutions in Imo.

“In Enugu, the police were present, but not predatory. They were there to maintain order, not to extort, intimidate, or frustrate motorists. For 10 days, I was not stopped indiscriminately. I was not asked for “particulars,” “ECMR,” or “fuel our car.” The officers were polite, civil, and professional.

“I even saw a vehicle marked DRS – District Response Squad, strategically situate at major junctions and roundabouts, ready for emergency response; an idea clearly built around public service, not harassment. In fact, a colleague told me how they quickly responded on Tuesday night to a distress call to rescue a lawyer whose leg got stuck inside a Gutter Lid infront of Golden Royale after the Meet-and-Greet Outing of the Eastern Bar Forum. The hotel management called and they responded in less than 4 minutes.

“But in Imo, the story is different. Young men drive with their hearts in their mouths. Police stop you for sport. In fact, if you don’t want trouble in Imo, don’t drive. They are at all nooks and crannies, not to protect but to prey, especially at nights – Amakohia Road, before Amakohia Flyover; Onitsha Road before A.A. Rano Fuel Station; Bank Road; Warehouse Roundabout; Okigwe Road, before Government College; Orji, before Orji Flyover; MCC Road; Concorde Road; Yar’ Adua drive; Egbeada Road, before A.A. Rano junction, just to mention but a few. Drive down there tonight and you will definitely see them, preying on young motorists and commercial drivers in a manner most callous.

“Being a lawyer, I paid attention to the judiciary during my stay. In Enugu, the courts are active, orderly, and strategically digitizing. There is a Chief Judge in place, and we were even treated to a cocktail by the Chief Judge of Enugu during the NBA Conference. That is a judiciary that understands its role as a partner in nation-building.

“Meanwhile, in Imo, we do not currently have a Chief Judge. For a state battling land disputes, insecurity, and civil unrest, that vacuum is dangerous. It’s also telling. Our courts are underfunded, under-equipped, increasingly inefficient and non-existent in this vacation period.

“I visited Aba High Court in Abia State from Enugu last Thursday, and I saw how digitization is transforming, how records are kept and accessed. The future is arriving in our neighbouring states, while Imo clutches tightly and happily to the past.

“The tortoise says it will go on a journey, but forgets that it must have strong legs. You cannot build the future with broken systems.

“During the NBA Conference, over 20,000 lawyers descended on Enugu. Yet, the city did not choke. Why? Because the road network absorbed the pressure. Planning worked. Agencies worked.

“Compare that to Owerri. A single wedding can lock down the entire city. There’s no plan. No foresight. Link roads are abandoned. Intersections are chaotic. If you want to see the practical definition of chaos, drive down to Worldbank Last Roundabout, or Hospital Junction at Portharcourt Road!

“And yet, we clap. We clap for every shallow project, every half-done road, every fresh coat of paint.

“Until the leadership changes how it sees governance, nothing will change in this abandoned property called Imo State.

“This is not an attack piece. This is a lamentation. A public mourning. Because it is shameful that Imo, once a shining light of the Southeast, has now become its sick patient, limping behind as Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi match forward, and probably looking at the recent Anambra and saying, “let’s limp along.”

“Imo is falling apart, and those who should speak have zipped their mouths.

“Let me speak to those still praising mediocrity, especially lawyers who ought to know better: You must not give a vulture the food meant for a hen. We are rewarding those who have failed us while punishing our own future.

“If you truly love Imo, stop clapping. Start asking questions. Start demanding good governance.

“After 10 days in Enugu, my heart is heavy. I love Imo State. I owe my roots to it. But love tells the truth. And the truth is: we are broken. We are behind. And no one is coming to save us unless we rise to demand better.

“So I raise my voice — as a lawyer, a son of the soil, and I say:

“Enugu is working. Imo is rotting.”

Imo State Government responds

In a swift response, Imo State Government put a lie to Agu’s diary of what he saw in Enugu, in comparison to Imo, by countering them one by one.

In the response titled:

LAWYER AGU’s “SATANIC VERSES AGAINST IMO STATE” Commissioner Emelumba wrote:

“Some lawyers are generally given to grandiloquence, hyperbole, and semantics. Unfortunately for them, the bombastic display at court hardly wins cases. What does is fact, hard facts, proven facts beyond reasonable doubt. Judges decide cases based on those facts, not on grammatical gymnastics.

“So when I read the premeditated and venomous attack on the Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma, by one Chinedu Agu, I wasn’t surprised. Agu, let it be known, is not writing from a place of sincerity. This is the public lashing of a bitter soul, still reeling from political irrelevance after his stint as Personal Assistant to the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice under the disgraced, short-lived and corruption-tainted Emeka Ihedioha interregnum. He speaks from agony.

“He couched his bile in the garb of a “diary,” anchored on the just-concluded Nigerian Bar Association conference in Enugu. But it is nothing more than a string of satanic verses aimed at demarketing the very state of his birth. What we read was not a lawyer’s reflection, rigorous as one would expect, but the rant of a man burdened by envy and mischief. A man who, by his own admission, was more fascinated by the dinner of a Chief Judge than the development of his own state.

“Agu’s animus shows in how he lampooned fellow lawyers from Imo simply for associating with Governor Uzodimma. His language betrayed a man bitter with colleagues whose rising political profiles clearly torment him. He presents himself as a public intellectual but fails even the simplest test of balance.

“He raises four talking points:

1) That Enugu has better roads than Imo

2) That land administration works in Enugu but does not work in Imo.

3) That Enugu has a Chief Judge and Imo does not.

4) That police in Enugu are courteous while police in Imo are predatory.

“Let’s unpack each of these fantasies, starting with the roads. First, how did Agu get to Enugu? Most likely via the 55km Owerri–Okigwe Road, which has been fully reconstructed under Governor Uzodimma. Even former Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, attested to its quality, no single pothole. Agu conveniently left that out.

“He says Owerri roads are craters. Again, no specifics. Is he referring to the newly dualised MCC-Toronto Road? Or Chukwuma Nwoha Road? Or Lake Nwaebere, which used to flood real estate corridors before Uzodimma’s balloon technology put an end to that menace?

“What about the Assumpta-Hospital Junction road? The stretch from Port Harcourt Road Junction to World Bank Market? The fully rebuilt stretch from Warehouse to Emmanuel College to Naze Junction? Wetheral Road? Douglas Road? Evan Enwerem Road? DSS Road from Onitsha Road to Amakohia?

“Can Agu show the public the “craters” on these roads?

“Or perhaps he hasn’t been through the Owerri–Orlu dualised highway, the Owerri-Mbaise-Unuahia road, the erosion solving Orlu-Mgbe-Urualla-Akokwa-Uga road or the over 100 other roads completed under this administration. But of course, it is easier to grumble in fiction than drive through fact.

“To further his mischief, he claims to have moved freely around Enugu during the NBA conference. On what basis? Evening drives through Uwani, Independence Layout, and Trans-Ekulu. That’s his entire evidence. Three locations. And he claims to have “seen the city.” That’s like driving past the Fire Service intersection in Owerri and claiming to know the whole of Imo.

“Now, on land administration. A lawyer practising in Owerri should know better. He knows what Rochas Okorocha did to land tenure in Imo. He also knows that Mr. Ihedioha empanelled a Commission of Inquiry, which Governor Uzodimma retained, and whose white paper he implemented. By that action alone, stolen lands were returned to their rightful owners.

“Agu also knows, if he is being honest, that Governor Uzodimma took direct charge of the Ministry of Lands and initiated sweeping reforms that dismantled years of systemic rot. One of the most significant achievements was the establishment of the Imo State Land Information Service Centre, backed by legislation signed into law in 2021. Through this law, all landowners are required to recertify and document their properties under a fully digitised Geographic Information System (GIS), which is already live. All land allocation records have been harmonised into this digital format. The Centre itself, physically housed in a new ultramodern secretariat, is now complete and will be formally commissioned during President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s visit to Imo soon. The Ministry of Lands, now under a substantive commissioner, is fully operational.

“So to claim, as Agu did, that the Ministry has been under lock and key for two years is not just dishonest, it is beneath the station of a lawyer.

“Now let’s talk about police reform. Agu paints a cartoonish image of Imo police checkpoints. But again, he bore false witness. The Imo State Police Command arrested seven officers on June 17, 2025, for extortion, harassment, and misconduct. This followed an unannounced statewide inspection by CP Aboki Danjuma, prompted by public complaints. The affected checkpoints included major highways such as Owerri–Onitsha, Owerri–PH, and Owerri–Umuahia.

“The police command has since introduced zero tolerance policy on illegal searches and intimidation, emergency reporting numbers for confidential whistleblowing, among other public accountability measures.

“So yes, misconduct exists, as it does in other states. But Imo is cracking down, not covering up. Why did Agu not mention any of this?

“Let us now address his third grievance: the Judiciary.

“How does a supposed lawyer speak about the absence of a substantive Chief Judge without reference to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)? According to Section 271, The appointment of a substantive Chief Judge requires a recommendation by the National Judicial Council (NJC), an appointment by the Governor, and confirmation by the State House of Assembly. In the absence of a substantive Chief Judge, the Governor may appoint the most senior judge in acting capacity for a maximum of three months unless the NJC extends it. How did the governor violate this constitutional process? Or the contrary, Mr Agu will not admit to the inglorious clannish role he played in truncating the processes of appointing a chief judge.

“It is public knowledge that Agu and his associates wrote petitions against a previously nominated Chief Judge, seeking to remove him. So what does he really want? To appoint judges through media tantrums or to follow due process? Or is he simply frustrated that the administration refuses to pander to sectional and narrow interests?

“And of course, Agu won’t mention that before Uzodimma, Imo judges had no official vehicles, judicial officers were owed salaries and worked in subhuman conditions.

“Today, under Uzodimma e-Filing, e-Payments and remote hearings are in place. There is a functional Judiciary Information System (JIS). Electronic dissemination of hearing notices, central court diaries, and an e-judgment portal now exist. A Small Claims Court has been inaugurated. Integrity reforms have led to disciplinary actions against compromised judges.

“But for Agu, these things do not matter unless the Chief Judge organises a cocktail in his honour.

“On the matter of security, does Agu want improved policing or a return to the lawlessness of yesteryears? In one breath, they accuse the Governor of being lax on security; in another, they accuse him of being too firm in reining in the threats. These contradictions are the hallmarks of those who will criticise anything they do not control.

“Truth is, there is no empirical evidence that Enugu is safer than Imo. Reports of kidnapping, armed robbery, and other crimes continue to emerge from there too. But unlike Enugu, Imo has pushed back forcefully. Let those who doubt visit Orlu, Mbaitoli, and other former hotspots today and draw comparisons.

“To the glory of God and the appreciation of genuine Imo people, Governor Uzodimma is delivering on the mandate he was elected, twice, to fulfil.

“Thousands of civil servants and pensioners who promptly receive their entitlements monthly appreciate him. It was only last week that Imo workers erupted in songs of thanksgiving after Uzodimma became the first Governor in Nigeria to surpass the new national minimum wage by setting the least-paid worker’s salary at N104,000 monthly, up from the national benchmark of N70,000, with consequential adjustments applied across all other salary bands.

“Today, hundreds of thousands of our people have been enrolled in the Imo Health Insurance Scheme, a legacy programme that will outlive this administration and improve lives for decades.

“To say more, our roads are in use. The people who use them know better than a lawyer with a bruised ego.

“But Agu, in his usual conspiratorial delirium, cannot find the Assumpta Flyover, cannot acknowledge the Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu International Conference Centre, nor the rehabilitation of Concorde Hotel. He sees nothing in the three state-owned universities, the two university teaching hospitals, or the transformation of Imo State University Teaching Hospital, which used to be described as a mortuary.

“Even the “Light-Up Imo” project, which will deliver round-the-clock electricity across all 27 LGAs, means nothing to him. Nor does the Orashi Energy Free Trade Zone, with its billion-dollar potential. Nor the 30 million USD grant from the World Bank under SFTAS, awarded for transparency and fiscal discipline.

“For someone who claims to love Imo, Agu’s blindfold is extraordinary.

“And then he sinks to new lows by claiming that a single wedding shuts down Owerri. Really? This is pure malicious propaganda. The very intersections he claimed are “chaotic” were redesigned and modernised under Uzodimma’s successful junction expansion programme. The problem is not the roads. It is the inferiority complex of a man who cannot bear to see progress when he’s no longer at the table.

“In the end, this whole charade failed to resonate. Even Agu’s readers called him out. His exaggerations were rebuked, and his partisan slant was exposed. Alas! Imo is rotting only in the depraved imagination of Chinedu Agu, a man gripped by envy, detached from fact, and desperate for attention.

“So let him keep lamenting while the Hope train moves forward, steered by competence, driven by results, and backed by the people.”

Enugu State, since the NBA Conference, has been getting positive reviews in the Media, written by Lawyers who were at the Conference.