It is worrisome that after over five decades of its creation, Imo state isn’t fulfilling the aspirations of its founding fathers and its people. Imo state is currently bedevilled by a myriad of problems that suggest a state on the brink. The problems include insecurity, economic woes, political instability, youth restiveness, and many others. Surely, our beloved state has seen turbulent times that leave you wondering how we got into this mess.
Clearly, our situation is brought about by the levity with which successive governments have tackled and are still tackling corruption which is the bane of the state. This potentially prosperous state is now being described as a special species as many now wonder how we continue to cope with innumerable daunting challenges. We are daily surrounded with embroiled corruption coupled with shameful acts of impunity and retributions inflicted on the citizens’ psyche by its leadership. Ours is a state where billions of dollars and local currencies are looted and stashed away in homes and some unexpected places by our leaders and their godfathers while those found culpable are only tried on the pages of newspapers and in the media. Hence, the big question, how do we tackle a dreadful state malady like leadership and corruption?
Today, in Imo state not enough of our elite and professionals seek to improve the Imo society. They seem to believe only the foolish looks out for his state’s development to the detriment of self. We are in a very terrible state developmentally that we need a new type of leadership and a pragmatic departure from the politics of the past and a systematic approach to the issue of development in its physicality. We need a leader who is a dealer in hope. We need a leader who shall epitomize this new type of newness. We need a leader that was taught that the only thing not to do is to look out for oneself. If thy neigbours stumble, reach out to pick him up and not to take those things that he dropped while falling. A leader that thinks self profit should not be a commandment as one of the lessons he learnt from his parents that has guided him through life. A leader that does not believe all is make believe, things heard in mosque and churches but to be left there and not pursued in the course of everyday life, but a leader that believes in the opposite. Imo state needs a leader that believes that the very dynamics of the current societal or individual development goals should not be to separate people from one another, such mean isolation should never be a part of him and never be allowed to creep into his personality. A leader that does not believe the world has entered a new period where progressive human reforms are not fashionable. We are always told by the elite to be practical, to accept things the way they are. There is a struggle over competing ideals; we are told the current political economy is immutable; the only thing that matters is whether you master its dynamics to succeed or you sink. To attempt to change things is as futile as trying to change the sky and its clouds themselves. To this new type of leader this is a blatant lie. This new leader is Daniel Kanu.
To Daniel Kanu, change is possible and change Imo state must have. He believes there is no such thing as having no personal ideology. He believes every personality is bound by one thought system or another. He believes to accept the false premise that there is no alternative to how things are is to acquiesce in the unfair ideology that has brought Imo state and its people to our current predicaments. Kanu has rather chosen to help galvanize his professional experience to develop the Imo society. This is the difference.
As a renowned estate developer and facility manager for over 30 years he has dedicated his life to the dream of making institutions work in the country. He is a philanthropist and has touched the lives of ordinary folks in his native state of Imo state. He is a man that is frugal and has never been tainted by any fraudulent acts or allegations by the EFCC. He can galvanize his experience as an estate developer to build Imo state
This young man is well equipped to fight the symmetric and asymmetric warfare of his people in Imo state. He shall also institutionalise developments in its physicality. This we can take to the bank. Daniel Kanu believes in almost all social interactions, there are few acts devoid of subjective ideological colorations. The decisions each person makes determine how he would love the work to be. Our very actions are determined by what we value so as to keep and what we are willing to discard when our ship is tossed either by storm or event navigation. This is the cardinal reasons for his aspiration.
Daniel Kanu believes corruption has become a grave blight of our state, to the extent that the few who have access to the state’s collective wealth continue to get richer and the led wallows in abject poverty. Imo state has become a laughing stock, serious investors shun our state because of the absence of basic infrastructure and the fear of corruption. Unfortunately, in the midst of all this, our culture of wastages lingers on as scarce national resources are frittered away in the unproductive ventures when they could have been committed to better use. He is a master of applications of funds. Our resources shall be in better hands.
Finally, in the hard sciences like physics, chemistry or mathematics, one can speak of immutable principles and objective formula. In the affairs of man, most things are subjective, virtue and vice, good or bad. What is optimal and what is not have fixed meanings. Definitions change with the ideological and moral perspectives of each group. Daniel Kanu believes in his principles and goals and these goals are the total emancipation of his Imo people.
Udoka writes from Owerri, Imo state
