For a man who couldn’t hold down the role of Chief Press Secretary to a governor, Steve Osuji hardly qualifies as an ombudsman. And for someone who failed to sustain a state-owned newspaper, acting instead as its undertaker, he shouldn’t be taken seriously when it comes to an objective assessment of any public office holder. One cannot give what one does not have.
In a 2022 article published in The Nation, where Steve Osuji served on the editorial board for a decade, a former colleague, Adigun, described him as a man consumed by envy, having achieved little for himself. That article, titled Steve Osuji, the Stray Famished Dog Who Gets Suicidal, characterised him as someone incapable of recognising good in others, hobbled by a deep inferiority complex.
I am inclined to believe Adigun, but I must add that Steve Osuji suffers from two dangerous afflictions: selective amnesia and selective perception. When you mix these with a reckless penchant for malicious disinformation, it becomes clearer why his cure is far off.
Anyone unfortunate enough to read Osuji’s dismissive, virulent tirade against Governor Hope Uzodimma, (triggered by the governor’s recent and well-deserved Vanguard award as Infrastructure Governor of the Year), might suspect he has added a first-stage lunacy to his growing list of behavioural maladies. To admit that he has been “traumatised” since the announcement of the award suggests, quite frankly, that Osuji needs urgent psychiatric evaluation.
His denial that Governor Uzodimma deserves the award, despite overwhelming and visible evidence, is absurd. Worse still, he went as far as insulting the management and staff of Vanguard Newspapers, accusing them of poor judgment. Not only is this malicious, it is delusional.
Osuji’s core argument is that Uzodimma only constructed three federal roads and that Vanguard failed to conduct due diligence before recognising him. He even argued that Uzodimma executed the projects merely to secure federal reimbursement as a member of the ruling APC. What he refused to acknowledge, however, is whether these roads are used by the federal authorities or by the people of Imo.
When a journalist, one who should know better, fails to be even subjectively objective, but is instead driven by bitterness and petty hatred, it’s easy to see why his career has been defined by collapse and failure. No wonder the New Age newspaper folded under his dead weight.
You can use propaganda to fudge statistics about the ease of doing business, but you cannot lie about roads. Roads are physical. They are there. They are visible. They are like pregnancy, you cannot hide them with bare hands. Yet Steve Osuji shamelessly tries to insult the intelligence of genuine Imo people and Nigerians who live in the state and drive on these roads.
He claimed he couldn’t find data on roads built by Uzodimma in the last five years. But too lazy to contact the Ministry of Information or the Chief Press Secretary for verification, he chose instead to wallow in ignorance. What stopped him from simply visiting Imo and taking a tour?
I now understand what Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, former Labour Party Chairman, meant when he said that some so-called critics of Uzodimma “have eyes but cannot see.” He noted that many who pass judgment on Uzodimma have never visited Imo to see what has been done. Steve Osuji certainly belongs in that category.
Barely two weeks after Vanguard announced Uzodimma’s nomination, the entire management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was in Imo to launch their anniversary logo and commission a road project. Their tour took them across the state, and their verdict was unanimous: they named Uzodimma the Roadmaster. They saw the roads Osuji claims don’t exist.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari also saw those roads. Twice, he visited Imo to commission roads and referred to Uzodimma’s work as a road revolution. At the time, the Owerri-Orlu dual carriageway and the Owerri-Umuahia Road were still under construction. These were the only two Osuji grudgingly acknowledged.
But what about the many internal roads in Owerri that were in disrepair under Emeka Ihedioha, whom Osuji served as media aide? Uzodimma completed them and installed balloon technology to manage flooding. These include Chukwuma Nwoha, Ihechiowa, and Relief Market roads. Flooding had displaced residents there before Uzodimma’s intervention. Today, the landlords who regained their homes through these efforts would likely stone Osuji for his heresy.
Ask residents of the World Bank Housing Estate and Port Harcourt Road. Or those on Oparanozie and Edede Streets. They have testimonies of Uzodimma’s impact. Data on these roads and their costs are in the public domain. But Osuji, blinded by his selective perception, refuses to see.
Thankfully, the people of Owerri North are not blind. For years, they begged for the construction of the Toronto-Orji Road. Uzodimma gave them more: dualising the MCC-Toronto Road, extending it to Orji, and further to Egbu up to Road Safety junction.
Likewise, residents of Orlu, Oru East, Oru West, and Oguta are not suffering Osuji’s amnesia. They are driving on the Orlu-Mgbidi Road, Orlu-Omuma-Mgbidi Road, Okwudor-Awomama Road, and the Mgbidi-Oguta Road. These roads serve not just Imo people but also travellers from Akwa Ibom and Abia heading to Lagos.
Travellers from Orlu to Akokwa and Uga in Anambra State can also testify. That road was a death trap for years until Uzodimma fixed it. Yet Osuji clings to a lie, listing only three roads.
And if he has passed through the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport, he would have seen that the road has been dualised. He might have also heard, if he chose to listen, that aircraft now land there at night, for the first time in decades, thanks to facilities Uzodimma provided.
I doubt Osuji even knows about the nearly completed iconic Assumpta Flyover or the Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu International Conference Centre, arguably the best in the South East. Nor does he acknowledge the rejuvenation of Imo State University Teaching Hospital, Orlu. Admitting these would ruin his bitter agenda.
Contrary to his claims, Uzodimma has made concrete investments in both health and education. Osuji, hardly present in Imo, may pretend not to know. But it is disgraceful for him to dismiss the outpouring of congratulations from eminent Imo sons and daughters as mere sycophancy from a “subdued political class.”
What favour does Capt Emmanuel Iheanacho need from the government? Or Senator Chris Anyanwu, a celebrated journalist? Or Chief Leo Stan Ekeh, who hosted Uzodimma after the award ceremony? Are Chief Tony Chukwu, Chief Charles Amadi, and Chief Ozichukwu Chukwu all seeking favours, too? Osuji’s attack on these respected individuals was nothing short of impudent.
Worse still, he accused Vanguard of selling the award to survive under Tinubu. In one breath, he praised publisher Uncle Sam Amuka. In the next, he accused him of turning awards into a racket. Osuji even insulted President Tinubu, who paid his salary for ten years and supported him financially during his frequent personal crises.
As Ola Rotimi wrote in The Gods Are Not to Blame, “If crocodiles could eat their own eggs, what would they not do to the flesh of the frog?”
The truth is simple: Senator Hope Uzodimma, judged by his achievements across all developmental indices in the last five years, fully deserves the Vanguard award and others, like that of The Sun. He doesn’t need validation from failed journalists. He takes satisfaction in the gratitude of Imo pensioners whose 20-year arrears he cleared and who now enjoy free health insurance. He finds fulfilment in civil servants paid on time, getting a 13th month bonus, being driven to and from work at the government’s expense. He draws pride from the 40,000+ youths trained through the Skillup Imo digital project. He feels joy when widows get shelter and the underprivileged receive a lifeline courtesy of his broad social safety nets.
Those are what matter, not the jaundiced rants of a bitter and frustrated man.
Emelumba is Commissioner for Information, Public Orientation and Strategy, Imo State.
