OPINION: Political Gathering Storm And The Devil’s Advocates

By Destiny Amanze

There is a regular voice now on the Facebook since the people of Orlu Zone reportedly procured the form for the Senate for Governor Hope Uzodimma to represent them in the 11th Senate.

What the Orlu Zone politicians have done by that singular move is not just politically permissible but speaks to the level of trust and confidence they have invested on their son in whom they are well pleased.

That voice on Facebook goes by the sobriquet, Prof Mgbeke. Her real name is Sandra Duru, sorry, Sandra Duru-Eluobi. I forgot she is married.

By the way, I learnt she is also from Imo State. But she shows up effectively like the Abiku (apology to Wole Soyinka) every four years during critical politicking, obviously to carry out the work of the devil’s advocate.

More often than not, she writes from where she appears despite describing herself as a public policy scholar, political analyst and media practitioner. I doubt if she still understands the role of objectivity in media practice.

Those who must have encountered her pieces on Facebook, obviously, would be wondering what kind of analyst will devote 90% of her argument in each intervention serenading the activities of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and then calling out the perceived political opponents of Senator Akpabio. Pronto, she lets her audience, no matter how unsuspecting they appear, know who picks the bills, and the reason she writes.

When it suites Sandra, she calls out the Governor of Imo State, Dist. Senator Hope Uzodimma without any shred of respect to his office, not even to talk of the age of the Governor who is old enough to be her father or even grand father.

And then you wonder where Sandra hails from in Igboland in general or Imo State in particular. You wonder, also, what sort of upbringing moulded her psychological and spiritual endowment into adulthood and motherhood.

What is even worse is that when she insults the Governor, she does so with little awareness of the implications of her claims that are not backed by evidence. Again, you shudder what kind of scholar Sandra professes, and the media professional she lays claim to when she relies on hearsay and rumours to build her arguments.

Without being told, only those who make themselves available to be compromised or amenable for compromise, either for monetary and material gains, write the way Sandra does. They hardly loose a wink of sleep when they write for money except the alert refuses to sound.

Perhaps, there will be time when Sandra will be compelled to substantiate all the balderdash she writes about Governor Uzodimma, but for now, let us devote a little time to one of her latest Facebook outbursts on the gathering political storm in the country.

Again, you don’t need anyone to tell you that Sandra and her fellow devil’s advocates knew who their perceived target(s) is or are.

Because they heard that Governor Uzodimma’s Orlu kinsmen bought him ticket to go to the Senate to represent them, it became imperative for the Senate leadership, under Akpabio, to initiate the amendment of the Standing Order to restrict the presidency of the incoming 11th Senate to returning members of the 10th Senate only.

On Tuesday, May 5, 2026, the Akpabio-led Senate went into closed door meeting that lasted hours from where they rose to restrict only senators currently serving in the 10th Assembly who are able to secure a re-election into the 11th Senate to qualify to vie for the Senate presidency and other principal positions.

I am sure they didn’t reckon with the fact that only God can give power and only Him determines who holds it, when, where, and how. Only the human element in them was made manifest.

This is how Sandra celebrated immediately on Facebook the decision of her paymaster turned Senate President: “The Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma’s widely discussed Senate Presidency ambition has just met a structural wall, not by sentiment, not by media narratives, but by institutional design. The Senate has amended its Standing Orders, and in doing so, it has done what serious institutions do when they want to protect continuity, hierarchy, and internal discipline.

“After a marathon closed door session on Tuesday May 5th, 2026, lawmakers agreed on new criteria that go beyond popularity or political desperation. This is now about experience, continuity, and clear legislative memory. Two terms. Not just any two terms, but one must be the immediate preceding term before nomination. That is not a suggestion. That is a gate. And gates are not built for mere decoration. They are built to control access.”

“So what does this mean in plain language? It simply means you cannot sit outside the system, watch from the executive balcony, and suddenly jump, fly or parachute into the highest legislative office because of ambition or political calculations. The Senate is saying clearly, if you want to lead us, you must have walked with us, served with us, and proven yourself within this very chamber.

“By implication, and let me repeat it so nobody pretends not to understand later, only senators currently serving in the 10th Senate who secure a re-election into the 11th Senate will qualify to contest for the Senate presidency and other principal offices.

“This is not just a policy adjustment. This is a strategic institutional defense….”

Truth is that so many politicians, including those in the National Assembly, are suffering from what I can describe as Uzodimmaphobia. Let me simplify the sickness. They are suffering from a political sickness called Uzodimma syndrome. Unfortunately, the ailment can only be cured divinely. No doctor or hospital cures it.

They are afraid of Uzodimma’s shadow, not to talk of his real self, hence any devious plot to stop him is game. But the question is: can they? Who can stop what God has destined to be?

“Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his Upper Chamber by wrong,” says Jeremiah 22:13.

Not even the blind in Nigeria today cannot see the asset Governor Uzodimma has become in the Project Nigeria. Therefore, the conspiracy to stop him from his God destined continuous service to Him and humanity, contrary to the will of God Almighty, will not just hit the rocks but there will be divinely imposed consequences on the masterminds, no matter how highly placed.

At a time when Nigerians in South Africa are being massacred like fowls and needed the protection of their National Assembly leadership under Akpabio to guarantee the sanctity of their lives outside our country, the least expected was a closed door meeting from the Upper Chamber to critically evaluate the situation of the vulnerable Nigerians in the rainbow country. But alas, that was not to be because in the calculation of the Akpabio-led Senate, the lives of Nigerians do not matter.

What matters, however, is the plot to stop Governor Uzodimma, and perhaps others like him with passion for people-oriented services to the Country, from aspiring to the topmost position in the Senate or even elsewhere.

By and large, the amendment may not be about Governor Uzodimma, as it may have a lot to do with another mischievous conspiracy to truncate the aspiration of an Igbo to the highest office in Nigeria. We saw it happen before, and chances are it could happen again if the conspirators are not reined in now.

I hear Sandra’s Igbo name is Chidinma. And I hope she understands the full meaning of her name. If the God that made Akpabio her paymaster is good, going by the literary meaning of her name, there is nothing that says the same God cannot be good to an Igbo man like Governor Uzodimma assuming he has been destined to be Senate President of the 11th Senate come next year. Taking spaces on Facebook to denigrate him will not stop Governor Uzodimma’s God from being good.

Today in Imo State, the work of Governor Uzodimma has spoken loudly about his capacity to lead and serve. This is the reason his kinsmen, and by extension Ndi Imo, cannot afford not to have him continue to serve them.

At the national level, Uzodimma has become the rallying point for intentional, sincere, productive, and result-oriented leadership, hence he has earned the trust of leaders who know what it takes to serve the public selflessly and commitedly.

Rather than continue to wink in the dark because she has been conditioned to do so, I challenge Sandra to step out from the toxic environment she has become used to and visit her State to see what her God that is good is doing in Imo using Governor Uzodimma. Is it not said that seeing is believing? I am certain Sandra will see a lot and thank God for what she saw.

One of the things Sandra will discover is that Imo under Governor Uzodimma remains the highest-paying State for workers, placing her dear State at the top of the Country’s wage hierarchy. If she is in doubt, let her ask Nairametrics.

While the Federal Government pays a minimum wage of N70,000 to workers, with most States paying same amount or slightly higher (like Lagos and Rivers), Imo State government under Governor Uzodimma pays her workers the minimum wage of N104,000, up from N76,000 since the National Minimum Wage Act of 2024 was signed into law.

From the same Nairametrics data, Sandra will discover that her State has as well done a lot to prevent the national Japa syndrome in the medical sector by paying the medical doctors a minimum wage of N503,000.

In Imo, the action Sandra was pejoratively referring Governor Uzodimma to is not the cho cho cho that drips from the Upper Chamber where she and rumour-mongering amplification, often from street urchins, have reached an understanding.

No doubt, the political storm is gathering, but what is obvious is that calmness will definitely return after every storm. Deny that Governor Hope Uzodimma is an asset to the country today at your own peril.

Destiny Amanze a media analyst writes from Abuja