Hope Uzodinma’s Four Thousand Fantasies -By Ike Willie-Nwobu

It is unlikely that between now and December, any Nigerian leader can secure four thousand jobs within the country, not to talk of outside the country.

The gale of gullibility grinding thorough Nigeria with glacial gusto recently gripped some residents of Imo State.

With the state governorship elections billed for November, Hope Uzodinma, the current governor who is seeking a second term, told a group of his supporters that by December, four thousand Imo residents would be gainfully employed in Europe.

Many of those who were at the event loudly cheered him.

By now, every Nigerian of voting age, and even those who are close to grazing the voting age know that election seasons in Nigeria bring all manner of outrageous promises, laced with lies.

It Is always about candidates jostling for votes and making all manner of promises.

Usually, they prey on the impossibly difficult time Nigerians have had with their leaders and government to say that they will rectify past mistakes as well as cruise into uncharted territory.

Because the poverty that presses down most Nigerians is real, they promise to eradicate it. Because the infrastructure in Nigeria is terribly broken, they promise to fix it.

Because many young employable Nigerians have harrowing stories to tell about the peculiar depredations of unemployment, they always promise to create jobs.

Nigerians know the sound of these lies which are repeated every so often, yet, it appears that many are powerless to prevent its hypnosis.

For the good people of Imo State, January 14 and 15 2019 will be remembered as the days the Supreme Court declared Hope Uzodinma, the duly elected governor of the state, and the day he was sworn in respectively.

That he came a distant fourth in the polls before the intervention of Nigeria’s highest court was a clear indication of where he ranked in the minds of the people of Imo State.

But stranger things than that have happened in Nigeria, and he has been governor of the state ever since.

Elections have been scheduled in the state for November, and the race is tight, especially with the unexpected performance of the Labour Party in the last general elections.

Uzodinma is firmly in the race despite the enduring misgivings many of his people have about his leadership. Given how he came into power, he has not been particularly keen to impress, preferring to hug the headlines in Abuja from where he uses an iron fist to govern the state.

With elections very close, he has promised that if re-elected, he will ensure that by December 2023, four thousand Imo youths will secure employment in Europe.

To hear the members of his audience loudly cheer and clap the announcement betrayed the frightening gullibility that has taken hold of many Nigerians.

In the face of mostly inept and corrupt leadership, when will the Nigerian electorate learn the noble art of constructive scrutiny even in the face of the most intimidating of politicians?

Why do Nigerians keep swallowing what politicians who hardly mean well for them say hook, line and sinker without revealing their distrust, distaste, disgust and disappointment?

At the announcement that was clearly and insultingly a campaign gimmick, Uzodinma should have been greeted with boos not cheers.

Even if he was a miracle worker which his poor performance in Imo State has clearly shown that he is not, securing four thousand jobs in Europe by December for Imo youth would clearly be beyond him.

Usually, the deceitful politicians who make such outlandish promises don’t elaborate because they know that their gullible audience would lap up everything and render a thunderous applause to drown out all reason.

But it would have been interesting if Uzodinma went on to elaborate on the finer details of his proposal. How would he do it in Europe where many countries are themselves struggling with unemployment?

Since the Supreme Court made him governor of the State in 2020, how many jobs has he created in the state to lift people out of poverty?

It Is really disturbing how many lies Nigerians have to swallow every election year by those who will do and say anything because they want the votes of unsuspecting voters.

While Uzodinma peddles his outlandish fantasies, the Imo electorate will do well to keep unflinching vigil as they look out for those who seek to fleece them while professing to feed them.

Ike Willie-Nwobu
Ikewilly9@gmail.com