MARCEL MBAMALU
Stakeholders in Orlu Zone say they have bought N20 million Senate nomination forms for Governor Hope Uzodimma. APC chieftains call it an endorsement. Party sources call it coordinated. The governor has said nothing.
That silence is now the story.
In Nigerian politics, N20 million is not a gift. It is a bet. Someone expects a return. And when forms are bought for a sitting governor whose tenure runs to 2028, the bet raises two questions: Is Uzodimma running for Senate in 2027? Or is he building a landing pad in case his rumoured bid for Senate President fails?
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe stakes go beyond ambition. Imo runs off-cycle. The governor’s term is fixed. Every day spent on succession whispers is a day not spent on the 83.4% of the 2026 budget earmarked for capital projects, or the N190.45 billion voted for power.
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The resignation rumours around Deputy Governor Chinyere Ekomaru only thicken the plot. If Uzodimma leaves for the Senate and misses the top seat, does he have a path back to Douglas House? Is that why trust in the deputy matters?
So far, no denial. No confirmation. Just forms, rumours, and a governor whose silence now functions as policy.
In a state where governance already competes with politics for oxygen, that silence is a statement. And Imo deserves to know what it means.
The Law, The Gap, and The Cost to Imo
Section 306 of the 1999 Constitution tells a governor how to resign. It does not tell him he cannot eye another office while still in charge. That gap is where Nigerian politics lives.
Legally, Uzodimma can hold Douglas House and pick Senate forms. Politically, that’s where governance starts bleeding.
Imo is off-cycle. The governor’s mandate runs to January 2028. The Senate election is February 2027. To run, he doesn’t need to quit today. But he does need to campaign. Fundraise. Cut deals in Abuja. All while signing off on N190.45 billion for power and N87.7 billion for works in 2026.
Can both run at full speed? Precedent says no.
Bukola Saraki did it in Kwara State. Adams Oshiomhole did it in Edo. So did second-term governors in Lagos, Borno, Ogun, Bauchi. Senate became the retirement plan. But none of them governed off-cycle states mid-capital project rollout. None faced a deputy governor resignation rumour tied to succession trust.
That’s the Imo difference.
For a cautionary tale, look to Bayelsa in 2019. Then-Governor Seriake Dickson was term-limited. Months before exit, party actors bought Senate forms for Bayelsa West. Dickson stayed silent for weeks.
The result was administrative drift. Commissioners stopped taking big decisions. Contractors slowed site work, waiting to see who the real “oga” would be in six months. Federal allocations came in, but project inspection visits fell. By the time Dickson finally declared and won the Senate seat, the state’s capital budget performance had dipped below 40%.
Imo cannot afford a Bayelsa rerun. Dickson was leaving anyway. Uzodimma has two more years. That’s two budgets, two dry seasons for road works, two fiscal cycles to prove the N190.45 billion power plan is more than PowerPoint.
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The Orlu Zone is Imo’s political engine. The Imo West Senate seat is its prize. Everyone knows that. But when the prize distracts the driver, the whole state stalls in traffic.
And the N20 million? In Bayelsa, it was N7 million in 2019. Inflation or ambition, the pattern is the same: forms are bought, loyalty is tested, governance is taxed.
Closely related is the position of Deputy Governor Chinyere Ihuoma Ekomaru. Sworn in on 15 January 2024, she is now trailed by resignation reports. Some accounts say she submitted a letter. Others say she is being pressured to create space for succession math.
Either way, the signal is bad. A deputy governor is not a spare tyre. She is the constitutional insurance policy. If the governor cannot trust her to hold the state for three months of Senate campaigns, then who is governing when he is in Abuja?
More importantly, public trust frays. Sections of Imo still question this administration’s grassroots impact. Yet the 2026 fiscal framework promises 83.4% for capital spend. That promise needs focus, not factions. It needs a deputy who can chair Exco, not dodge rumours.
Comparatively, Abia State offers a contrast. There, reform-driven execution has reset expectations in 18 months. No Senate whispers. No deputy drama. Just project signposts. Imo operates in the same region, under the same economic headwinds. The difference is political bandwidth.
So if Uzodimma wants Senate President, he should say it. If he wants to finish strong in 2028, he should say that. What Imo cannot fund is both ambitions at once.
So here is the bottom line: N20 million has been spent in Uzodimma’s name. Orlu APC says it is strategy. Imo people hear it as distraction.
The governor has two choices. Speak, and own the ambition. Or stay silent, and own the cost.
Because governance is not a part-time job. Imo does not have a spare governor for 2027 campaigns while N190.45 billion in power projects and N87.7 billion in roads hang on execution. Off-cycle means the state cannot afford an absent pilot.
If the forms are real and he wants the Senate, say it. Let Imo measure the trade-off. If the forms are rogue, disown them. Let party financiers find another bet.
But this middle ground — forms bought, deputy’s future in whispers, 2026 budget hostage to 2027 politics — that is the worst option. It signals that Douglas House is now a waiting room for Abuja.
Uzodimma came to office through the courts in 2020. He won at the ballot in 2023. He does not need rumours to define his second term. He needs clarity.
Silence won’t win him Senate President. It will only lose him Imo.
And that is a price no N20 million form can cover.
Dr. Marcel Mbamalu is a distinguished communication scholar, journalist, and entrepreneur with three decades of experience in the media industry. He holds a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and serves as the publisher of Prime Business Africa, a renowned multimedia news platform catering to Nigeria and Africa's socio-economic needs.
Dr. Mbamalu's journalism career spans over two decades, during which he honed his skills at The Guardian Newspaper, rising to the position of senior editor. Notably, between 2018 and 2023, he collaborated with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Northeast Nigeria, training senior journalists on conflict reporting and health journalism.
Dr. Mbamalu's expertise has earned him international recognition. He was the sole African representative at the 2023 Jefferson Fellowship program, participating in a study tour of the United States and Asia (Japan and Hong Kong) on inclusion, income gaps, and migration issues.
In 2020, he was part of a global media team that covered the United States presidential election.
Dr. Mbamalu has attended prestigious media trainings, including the Bloomberg Financial Journalism Training and the Reuters/AfDB Training on "Effective Coverage of Infrastructural Development in Africa."
As a columnist for The Punch Newspaper, with insightful articles published in other prominent Nigerian dailies, including ThisDay, Leadership, The Sun, and The Guardian, Dr. Mbamalu regularly provides in-depth analysis on socio-political and economic issues.
