GIVE IZUNASO A CHANCE

Recently, the media were awash with moves, open and clandestine, to recall Senator Osita Izunaso, the honourable member representing Orlu Senatorial district at the upper house. What are the impeachable offences of the youthful politician, who shot to national limelight when he beat a seasoned politician to the plum position? Does the move against Izunaso portend grave dangers for the nascent political emancipation in Orlu Zone?

The ulterior motives of the agitators are well-known – to plunge Orlu senatorial district to political backwaters, to chaos; and to return the zone to the firm, authoritative clamps of a cabal sworn to the perpetual pauperization of the grassroots, to whom Hon Izunaso embodies a Messiah.

It is shocking that at a time of consolidation and nation-building, at a time of global recession in which all tiers of our national leadership should concentrate on the tasks ahead, some revisionists are busy perfecting ill-motivated plots against a senator, who, only recently, was voted as best performing in the entire South East.  I do not know the forces behind this plot, but I do know that they are certainly not acting in the interest of the good peoples of Orlu Zone. Have there been attempts at a parley with the Senator? Have some of these allegations against him been thoroughly investigated or addressed to him with rebuffs? Are there other ways than recall in dealing with the supposed sins of Izunaso? The agitators owe us more explanations.

I do personally know that Hon. Izunaso is a new breed politician with a bent for grassroots empowerment. After his victory at the polls for the then House of Representatives, he did not, like most politicians were wont to, abandon his political train with peanuts as renumeration. Most of the active players in his enthronement were handsomely rewarded with coveted positions in the then Udenwa administration. Not only that, he initiated so any programmes with affinity for widows, orphans and other less-privileged. He believed in politics of succession. He did not, therefore, stagnate in the Lower House. He shot for the senate at which he had distinguished himself despite being a neophyte in a star-studded house.

The fact is that not a few politicians in Imo State are uncomfortable with the rapid ascendency of the Ohakpu-born politician. This is my personal opinion, which seems authenticated in the recent unprovoked onslaught. I plead to all and sundry to please give senator Izunaso a chance to continue his good works for the people of Orlu zone. His political strides are unprecedented in a country long abandoned to chicanery and aggravated subterfuge. It is well-known that some of the key players in the plot against him nurse senatorial ambition. It is advisable that they possess their soul in patience until the next political dispensation when Izunaso is expected to face the electorate and prove his popularity. I will advise the Senator, on his part, to embrace the detractors, and demonstrate once and for all that he is someone of uncommon and impeccable pedigree.

Clarius Ugwuoha, a writer and social commentator. could be reached with clarius@lycos.com