Hope OdidikaUzodinma (born 12 December, 1958) is a Nigerian politician who is currently the Governor of Imo State. On 14 January 2020, the Supreme Court in Nigeria declared Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the 2019 governorship poll in Imo State nullifying the election of incumbent EmekaIhedioha.
Background
Hope Uzodinma was born on 12 December 1958 in Omuma to an Igbo Catholic family; his father Chief Michael Uzodinma held the chieftaincy title of Igwe of OzuhOmuma and his mother was Ezinne Rose Uzodinma (née Nneoha). He is a kinsman of the Okoro family of Etiti-Omuma. Uzodinma is a devout Catholic, and is married to ChiomaUzodinma with seven children.
He holds a Diploma in Maritime Management Technology, and Higher Diploma in the same field, from the Federal University of Technology Owerri. He also has a bachelor’s degree in International Studies and Diplomacy from Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to his entry into politics, Uzodinma was a businessman with vast business interests.
Early political career
Hope Uzodinma began his political career during the Second Nigerian Republic, joining the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN), where in 1983, he became the Imo State youth leader. In the 1990s, with the aborted transition to the Third Nigerian Republic, Uzodinma featured prominently as a member of the United Nigeria Congress Party.
In 1999, after the return to democracy, Uzodinma joined the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), where he served as a member of the party’s National Caucus, National Executive Committee and on the Board of Trustees, at various times between 1999 to 2017. As a party boss in Imo State, Uzodinma was a close associate of the Governor AchikeUdenwa until late 2002, when ahead of the April 2003 elections he decamped to the Alliance for Democracy (AD), becoming the party’s candidate for the Imo State gubernatorial election. After losing the election to Udenwa, he returned to the PDP in February 2004. He later contested the PDP governorship primaries in December 2006, coming in second to Senator IfeanyiAraraume. In 2011, after the incumbent Governor IkediOhakim joined the PDP, Uzodinma endorsed him to run for a second-term as Governor of Imo State,[7] favoring him over RochasOkorocha who he later won.
In January 2011, Uzodinma won the PDP senatorial primary for the Imo West, gaining 2,147 votes, while the incumbent Senator OsitaIzunaso came second with 891 votes. Uzodinma was later disqualified by a federal high court judgment as he had not been cleared by the PDP electoral panel led by Nwafor-Orizu. In March 2011, a court of appeal issued a stay of execution while the case was being decided, leaving Uzodinma free to campaign. On 5 April 2011 the Court of Appeal upheld the federal high court judgement, Uzodinma later appealed this decision at the Supreme Court. In the April 2011 elections, Uzodinma received 85,042 votes, ahead of former Governor AchikeUdenwa of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) with 64,228 votes and RajisOkpalan Benedicta of the All Progressives Grand Alliance with 57,110 votes. In May 2011, the Supreme Court overturned the earlier decisions and declared that Uzodinma was the valid candidate and therefore had been elected.
Senate (2011– 2019)
On 29 May 2011, Uzodinma was sworn-in as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing Imo State (West Senatorial District). He was re-elected for a second term in the Senate during the 2015 election. In 2018, he left the Peoples Democratic Party and joined the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in order to contest for Governor of Imo State in the 2019 general elections.
Governor of Imo State
In March 2019, the Independent National Electoral Commission sitting in Imo announced the governorship election results of Imo State: EmekaIhedioha of the PDP who won with 273,404 votes, UcheNwosu of Action Alliance with 190,364 votes, IfeanyiArarume of the All Progressives Grand Alliance with 114,676 votes; and Uzodinma in fourth place with 96,458 votes. Uzodinma later challenged the victory of Ihedioha up to the Supreme Court. On 14 January 2020, the Supreme Court declared Uzodinma, the duly elected Governor of Imo State. The court held that results from 388 polling units were wrongly excluded from votes ascribed to Uzodinma and the APC in Imo adding that the first appellant Uzodinma holds the majority of lawful votes cast.
On 15 January 2020, he and Placid Njoku were sworn-in as the Governor of Imo State and Deputy Governor of Imo State respectively In his inaugural address, he ordered the states accountant general to provide a comprehensive financial status for the state from May 2010 to January 2020, he also ordered the permanent secretaries of all ministries in the state to forward the status of all contracts awarded, whilst halting the paying for all ongoing contracts.
Titles
He had the ceremonial title of Onwa-NetiriOha of Omuma in Oru local government of Imo State.
Hope Uzodinma Quotes
“Nigeria will NEVER be a FAILED nation…Yes, we are not getting it right but with the mindset of prosperity, NIGERIANS will get there!!!”
“Negative consideration of every politician is not a better approach…”
“The mighty ones are active, the lazy ones are passive…both mighty and lazy ones are all important. No one is useless in this life.”
“We don’t have to discriminate against people wherever they reside in the country. Once you’re a citizen of this country, you’re qualified, you’re eligible, you’re free under the law to decide to settle in any party of the country and go about your businesses without fear of molestation.”
“I will rather that other people judge me. But I must say that so far, so good, as far as my political career is concerned, my greatest joy is that I have used my position as senator to impact very positively on the lives of my people.”
“I have confidence in INEC as an institution. I believe that INEC should be able to conduct a credible election.”
Entrepreneurial Lessons
Don’t Give Up
If you look closely into Hope Uzodinma’s career, you would observe that he doesn’t give up, nor give in to defeat, he always fights until he wins.
Firstly, he was accused of fraud, and that didn’t make him halt his career. Instead, he continued pressing on. Secondly, he faced several oppositions, while contesting for the senatorial seat, but he stood his ground until hereceived justice.
Even before he became governor-elect of Imo State, he faced several challenges, which he faced head-on and overcame.
As an entrepreneur, if you’re unable to face challenges head-on until you overcome, it will be difficult to be that successful entrepreneur you desire.