By Diala Ifunanya Ndudi.
Politics according to Hans J Morgenthau, the founding father of political realism, is defined as a struggle for power.
This Morgenthau’s definition of politics as the struggle for power remains as long as I am concerned, one of the most philosophical definitions of politics which negatives the real essence of politics in contemporary times.The political thought of Hans J. Morgenthau has long been considered as a perfect illustration of power politics that focuses on violence, military capabilities and absolute domination. This rendition has however, become obsolete.The struggle for power, when pursued with an unquenchable crave without any melange of humanity, administrative convenience and moderation, becomes inimical to the society.
In line with the foregoing, Hon Eugene Okechukwu Dibiagwu, member representing
Ohaji/Egbema, Oguta and Oru-East Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives had proven, if not for anything, to be an unrepentant and ardent subscriber to the definition of politics as struggle for power. This is part of my aversion on him, not as an individual, but as our elected Representative.
Honestly, Hon Dibiagwu is one of the luckiest politicians from the Oil-Rich Constituency, thanks to the Executive Governor of Imo State, His Excellency Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodinma, who used all his contacts, powers and connections to ensure his emergence as a Federal Law Maker in 2023 starting from the primary election with its intrigues and intricases.
Ordinarily as a young, energetic and successful politician whose palm kernels were cracked by benevolent ancestral spirits, as Chinua Achebe would describe those who rose to affluence not by dint of hardwork but by favour, Hon Dibiagwu ought to have known that power is ephemeral and that the overall peace, unity and development of one’s place should override his or her personal interest or idiosyncrasies.
As the Bible succinctly posits, too much of everything is bad. Too much of this struggle for power acquisition is bad and contagious. Hon Dibiagwu seems to be ensconced and obsessed with power acquisition. He wants to be in-charge of Imo politics as the Eugene of Imo politics in synergy with the appellation, he wants to control all the political structures in the state. As if not satisfied, he wants to be in charge of NDDC, NEMA, Oguta Local Government, and even the Presidents-General of all the communities. He wants to produce the Ezes, he wants them at his beck and call. He even wants to produce the Chiefs, the Youth Presidents and even the Women Leaders in all the villages in Oguta. Struggling to acquire power is not a bad thing but the excessive crave to have power at all cost remains, as long as I am concerned, condemnable. This is my grouse with Hon Eugene Dibiagwu.
As a Law-maker, people have expected Hon Dibiagwu to concentrate on his legislative and oversight functions and to desist from actions capable of truncating the palpable peace we have in Izombe, Agwa and the entire Oguta Local Government; it is sad that despite calls and pleas from the leadership of Agwa Central Union for the deployment of Police men to Agwa after the renovation of the Agwa Police Division, nothing is done but the only help we could get from someone who is representing us was “okorosha blanket” as someone called those bedsheet given to Agwa, two bundles of Cameroon Zinc and dormitory mattress which were provided by NEMA to victims of flood but hoarded by our Law-Maker and doled out as palliatives to victims of insecurity. These blankets were shamelessly posted as achievements of our Federal Law-Maker during his Constituency briefing.
It is therefore imperative that all hands be on deck to stop or curtail the excesses of the Honourable man before he plunges us into another upheaval. His recent involvement in the Chieftaincy coronation in Umudara Chiefdom, one of the four Chiefdoms that make up Umuorji Village, demands urgent public reprimand and caution. I cannot decipher the reasons for his overt involvement in a family matter. In the first place, Hon Dibiagwu is not from Umudara, neither is he from Umuorji. The rationale behind his involvement in the Chiefdom is what only him can explicate if not for his cupid penchants and crave for power control and until he comes out to adduce verifiable and cogent reasons why he had to interfere in family matters, people are constrained to believe it is the same Morgenthau’s Power Control Principle that is controlling him even at his own detriment and at the detriment of his people. One should advise him that everything including development must not be politicized. I used to believe that all the hitherto rumours and allegations against him were fabricated but the recent incident in Umudara Chiefdom wherein he sent Sunday Miller, one of his Chief attack dogs, to invade Umudara Chiefdom and disrupt a peaceful family meeting in respect to the coronation of the Chief of the Chiefdom, tends to buttress all the allegations unless otherwise proven. If not, who is Sunday Miller to Hon Dibiagwu and what must have given him the temerity to wade into a family affair with thugs? Or is he from that Chiefdom or a member of the Uchegbus or any other families in Umudara? Who instructed him or invited him to the meeting if not to disrupt a peaceful family meeting? Why did he not come alone but rather with an avalanche of boys (thugs)? Who was his harbinger (Olete Ala or Spy) if not Barr Dibiagwu who first went on investigation and to soften the grounds for their onward movement to the Uchegbu Family before signalling to Miller and his boys to strike if not for the resilience, resistance and unity of purpose of the Umudara Chiefdom and their youths who resisted vehemently any form of external imposition, control and intimidation and overpowered the assailants led by Sunday Miller and his gang. Sadly, this invasion took place while Hon Dr Kyrian Uchegbu was with the Imo State Comissioner of Police, CP Aboki Danjuma in the company of elders of the Chiefdom.
Unfortunately for the assailants, the youths, women and family members of the Chiefdom exhibited a high sense of patriotism, unity and strength in rescuing Dr Uche Uchegbu, a Medical Doctor and the immediate elder brother to the Imo NDDC representative Dr. Kyrian C. Uchegbu as Sunday Miller pounced on him and removed his clutches in a calculated bid to whisk him away before all his (Sunday Miller) boys started throwing bottles and stones at the peaceful meeting in order to disperse them and disrupt the on-going meeting as allegedly instructed by Hon Dibiagwu but the youths of the Chiefdom resisted them despite sustaining injuries. In the course of the imbroglio, the windscreen of Rev Father Sunny Uchegbu was smashed by the stones thrown by the hoodlums sent by Dibiagwu.
It is so disheartening that out of ambition, a Law-maker will go this far just for ordinary chieftaincy coronation in a chiefdom that is not his. Anyways, that is what over ambition can cause. It was the same political ambition that led to the downfall of Macbeth and Ceaser Shakespearean Literature as he Macbeth was called the Thane of Cowder on his return from war by the witches. This was his hubris. Brutus told the audience that Ceaser was over ambitious.It is this uncontrollably innate ambition that is driving our Honourable Federal Law-maker and it is dragging him inadvertently to his hubris.
It baffles me that Hon Eugene Dibiagwu will have the gumption to intrude into the Chieftanicy coronation of another Chiefdom. It is surprising that he would descend to that point. By right, the Chiefdom had been rotatory, starting from the Akabuo family to the Uchegbu family held by late Chief BC Uchegbu and is now ceded to the Chief Moses Nwachukwu of the Nwachukwu family. If the Chieftaincy were to be hereditary, as contended by these purveyors of mischief and evil plans against the peace and unity of the Uchegbu enclave, it would have gone to the eldest survivor of the Uchegbu Family, among who are Dr Uche Uchegbu, Hon Dr Kyrian Uchegbu, and others, not to a grandson who is still a civil servant with Addax/Seplat.
Furthermore, it has become glaringly clear that what Hon Dibiagwu wants is to control and to be in charge of all the activities, be they political, religious or socio cultural in and outside Izombe, Oguta local Government and Imo State.
He started by dissolving Presidents- General of the various Communities through Hon Ofili Ijeoma and replaced especially those he felt he could not control. In one of the occasions, he had issues with Hon Ijson because of one of the PGs. Not satisfied in his vain aim to control all facets of leadership, he plotted with some cabals in the Niger Delta Youth Movement NDYM to remove the authentic leadership of the Youth Body under Comrade Charles Oringo, all to no avail. He detailed one of his loyalist, Hon Modestus Nwamkpa to engage in a lone journey of pouring aspersion on the Imo NDDC Boss, Hon Dr Kyrian Uchegbu using his Big Truth Newspaper, but all these fell on stony paths and died naturally because his (Uchegbu’s)hands are clean.
As if not contented with the big office he has, he has his eyes greedily affixed on NDDC. He thought he could be in charge of the Commission as he did during Dr Kyrian Uchegbu’s first term as NDDC Commissioner
But this time around, the ebullient Uchegbu said no to all his antics by deciding to allow the people get access to all the welfare, interventionist and empowerment programmes and projects of the NDDC without allowing one individual to have unrestricted control over the commission. This is the only crime committed by Hon Dr Kyrian Uchegbu. For those who may have become oblivious of the cause of the rift between Hon Dr Uchegbu and Hon Dibiagwu, I want to say it here unequivocally that it is the battle for the control of NDDC and nothing more pretentious. He wants to be the one awarding contracts to himself, using Frank and Gene as they did before; he wants to be the one to produce all the Special and Personal Aides to the Commissioner including drivers; he wants to be the one to share and disburse NDDC Christmas Largesse to Imo people and this is why any other youth that gets anything is assumed to be faceless by him and his co travellers. He wants to arrogate to himself all the achievements of the commissioner as he did in 2014 and 2015 while he did contracts with NDDC when he was just a contractor who did contracts and made huge financial gains from such contracts.
Today, he is in a very good position to better the lots of his people whom he represents and we are earnestly waiting for that. He has all it takes as a Law-maker to make impactful inputs in the lives of his constituents and we will be elated to see him do well but alas, the reverse seems to be the case.
It is high time we put the record straight. Hon Dibiagwu is the House of Representatives Member for our Oil Rich Federal Constituency. Hon Uchegbu is the Member Representing Imo on the NDDC Governing Board. Let him (Dibiagwu) focus on his statutory functions and allow Hon Uchegbu to do his work. These are two different offices for our people. He cannot afford to continue hiding under some persons to cause problems here and there. If he thinks he can use this antiquitated strategy to stop our people from demanding for stewardship, he will not succeed because our people are knowledgeable enough.
