Joe-Martin Uzodike. Ever heard of him? Chances are that you have never.
Well, Joe-Martin, as he is better known, was the Commissioner for Information and Culture in Anambra State in the last two years of Peter Obi as governor.
He went on to serve as Special Adviser on Political Affairs when Willie Obiano succeeded Mr Obi; he was unfortunately thrown out for unclear reasons in 2014.
Lest I forget, Uzodike was the Director General of the Obiano Campaign Organisation.
Like Obiano and Obi, Joe-Martin is an old boy of Christ the King College in Onitsha, Anambra State. He is also a lawyer.
Since his disengagement by Gov Obiano, Joe-Martin has been making headlines in the state for playing Don Quixote to ex-Governor Obi.
Quixote is an interesting character in a popular 17th century Spanish novel by Cervantes, whose excessive love of his mistress leads him to do all manner of stuff, including fighting imaginary enemies.
While Quixote takes himself seriously, the audience considers him a tragic-comic character.
Joe-Martin has been waging a spirited war against Anambra State while championing the political cause of ex-Governor Obi who has apparently fallen out with his successor.
Uzodike adores Obi, though he is much older. As the aphorism goes, too much of everything is bad.
In displaying so much love for Obi, Joe-Martin has unwittingly been de-marketing the erstwhile governor gravely.
For example, on Wednesday, November 29, 2016, he posted an article on the social media encapsulating three major points he has been making on such local radio stations as Odenigbo, Minaj and Blaze as regards political developments in Anambra.
The points are:
– for Obi to reconcile with his successor, the sitting governor must refund Obi a whopping N7billion Joe-Martin claims the erstwhile governor spent on the last gubernatorial election in the state in 2013 which saw Obiano emerge victorious;
– that there was no one from the Anambra North senatorial zone as of three years ago capable of mobilizing a war chest huge enough to prosecute a gubernatorial election in Anambra State; and,
– that Obiano was instrumental to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s last minute failure to appoint Obi the Minister of Aviation to succeed Princess Stella Oduah who was forced to resign in the wake of a financial controversy.
It is unclear if Uzodike has the blessing of the former governor in the new crusade or if he is acting on his own.
Whatever may be the case, the campaign does a great disservice to Obi’s reputation.
To state that Obi spent a whole N7b to ensure that Obiano was elected is a joke taken too far.
Joe-Martin’s effort to explain that the humungous amount allegedly spent on the campaign did not come from the Anambra State’s coffers but from Obi’s personal savings sounds more ludicrous.
Even if we assume that Obi did spend this kind of fortune on Obiano’s election, why should an individual expend so much even on a Nigerian presidential election?
If the sole reason was altruism or what Joe-Martin calls the good of our state, why is Obiano now being asked to refund it?
From where is he expected to gather the money? It is certainly from the state’s treasury.
Does Anambra have this colossal amount to give one individual in this era of recession?
My honest opinion is that some people are making ex-governor Obi who has a good media profile especially outside Anambra State look like a perfect candidate for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
They are making the ex-governor appear absolutely unconscionable. In other words, Uzodike is very effectively de-marketing Obi without knowing it.
The supreme irony is that Joe-Martin used to run what was called an image laundering firm in Enugu in the 1980s and 1990s; it was named J.J. Martins agency.
Uzodike de-markets or diminishes ex-Governor Obi further by accusing Obiano of using “the state’s resources” to stop Obi from being named a minister by ex-President Jonathan.
By lamenting the failure of Obi’s ministerial ambitions almost a whole two years after Jonathan left office, Joe-Martin is successfully portraying Obi as extremely selfish.
The ex-governor already stands accused of crass opportunism for abandoning the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and joining the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after declaring several times in public that on no account would he leave a party led by the late Biafran Head of State, Dim Emeka Ojukwu, whom he never tired of calling the people’s hero.
Joe-Martin’s de-marketing of former Governor Obi continues with the assertion that there was no one in the Anambra North senatorial zone three years ago with the capacity to provide resources for a governorship election in the state.
Like the other two zones, Anambra North does have its fair share of millionaires and billionaires. People from the area, therefore, consider Joe-Martin’s statement revoltingly insulting; they make up one third of Anambra State.
The people are very angry not just with Uzodike but also with the erstwhile governor because the campaign is being carried out in his name.
Obi has a positive media image. This image is, however, being destroyed by Joe-Martin Uzodike who has an embarrassing understanding of political propaganda.
Obi is lucky that Uzodike has been carrying his campaign only in Anambra State.
If his demand, for instance, that the sitting governor pay back N7b which Obi allegedly spent from his private pocket to finance Obiano’s election had got into the mainstream national media, the Peter Obi brand would have been wrecked completely.
In fact, Obi would have been with the EFCC, if not in Kirikiri Prison. Of course, one assumes that the erstwhile governor does not buy all Uzodike has been saying on radio and the social media.
Indeed, if the former governor is actually behind every Uzodike’s demand, then Nigerians never knew Peter Obi.
For now, what is certain is that Joe-Martin Uzodike is de-marketing Obi in the most profound manner.
The Don Quixote role which Joe-Martin is playing is too dangerous to ex former Governor Obi.
Hon Echezona Okechi, former chairman of the Committee on Public Petitions of the Anambra State House of Assembly, sent in this piece from Abuja.