I take it for granted that the Governor has  read the letter. He must have, also, discussed it with the CP,  his close friends, his Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, and especially, his lovely wife who is a lawyer. She is her husband’s ultimate legal adviser. When everybody goes home, she takes over in their quiet moments, away from the maddening crowd.

I don’t know what they thought of Dr Ihekweme’s letter. Or what advice they gave the Governor for which Ihekweme was released from Police custody after about a 61-day stay with the Police. Perhaps they told the Governor to “cool temper”; to let “bygone be bygone”. I don’t, also, know if Ihekweme’s release from Police custody spells the end of the celebrated case, or if it would still go to Court.

But here’s my opinion. It should continue. It should in Court. Ihekweme’s release should not  mark the end of the case. It should be resolved in Court.

Before I say why it should be resolved by the Court, let me digress briefly and give a little background to this celebrated drama that, almost, turned Imo State inside out and upside down.

Dr Ihekweme served as a Commissioner under the Government of Governor Uzodinma. He was the Commissioner for Foreign and International Affairs in the Governor’s first term in office. He assumed office on 23 March 2020. In the months following Ihekweme’s appointment, he and the Governor came under attack especially in the Social Media. They were abused silly. The opposition questioned the relevance of Ihekweme’s Ministry. They called it job for the boys. They said his office was meant to be used as  conduit pipe by the Governor to siphon Imo funds to, and for phantom projects. The two of them, Uzodinma and Ihekweme, ignored all that “yabbing”, and stuck by each other. But along the line, the strong bond waned.

It began, according to reports, when the Governor dropped Ihekweme from his Cabinet. That, obviously, and expectedly, did not go down well with Ihekweme. Nobody like to be sacked from a political office. But it happens. It is the Governor’s privilege to hire and fire. It happens all over the world.

When the late American President, George W. Bush, Snr, was seeking a second term in office, his wife, Barbra was asked who she thought would remain in her husband’s cabinet if he won. She famously answered that she was only sure of herself. “I know I will stay”, she said. So, inspite of the role Ihekweme claims he played in Uzodinma’s ascension to  office, the Governor wouldn’t keep him in office if he thought, and felt his presence and contribution were no longer positive. But Ihekweme took it badly. And, in the past recent months, it manifested terribly.

Suddenly, Uzodinma became Ihekweme’s worst enemy; the Governor became Ihekweme’s rag which he uses to wipe his shoes; he became Ihekweme’s dustbin into which he threw every dirt, every rubbish.

There was no respect for his former boss, his friend, and the one who he often referred to as his political leader. The high office of the Governor which his friend occupied meant nothing to Ihekweme. When you insult the office of a Governor, you are not insulting the occupant, but the State, the people.

I usually tell  people, including a couple of thise around me, that when you insult and assault a Policeman  in uniform, it doesn’t matter his/her rank, you are insulting and assaulting the Federal Government. That uniform represents the Federal Government. But Ihekweme dragged the office of the Governor to the gutter.

Suddenly, he became the face of opposition in Imo State. He took over the job of the State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party which absconded from its duties to checkmate Government policies, and embarked on a self-destruction exercise. But for House of Representatives Member, Ikenga Imo, whose unbelievable energy cannot be ignored, nobody would, sadly remember there is PDP in the State. With the exit of the Party’s heart, former Governor Emeka Ihedioha and his very large supporters, the exit of G7, and finally, the exit of Hon. Chris Okewulonu, former Chief of Staff to Ihedioha, the PDP in Imo has been, literally in coma, in the Intensive Care Unit. There is little or no fighting spirit left. That is what the once vibrant Party in the State brought upon itself.

But it then found an umbrella in Ihekweme. He took over the job of the opposition. And he did it in a way that left not a few Imolites breathless. Ihekweme was brutal in his attacks and criticisms of Uzodinma and his Government. It was so bad it traumatized many people.

He attacked not only the Government and its policies, but he brutally attacked the person of the Governor. He stripped him. He called him all sorts of names. He alleged every crime against him, including crimes against the State and humanity. He attributed all kinds of atrocities to the Governor, atrocities which, out of decency, cannot be repeated here. Hatred was never that deep. Bitterness was never so callous. What remained was for Ihekweme to tell Imolites who Uzodinma’s great  grandmother’s boyfriend was.

The questions those who knew them as friends (before) asked were: “Whatever happened to friendship? Whatever happened to trust? Does friendship stop when one stops receiving patronage from one’s friend?

For the records, he was not the only one close to the Governor who was dropped from  the Governor’s Cabinet. People say there are, at least, three others, including a retired Police Commissioner who has a long standing close relationship with the Governor. One of them who was dropped, arrested, and detained for sometime, has just been re-engaged. It happens. None of those three and others made any “pim”, no matter how tempting it was. They valued friendship.

But perhaps, Ihekweme had other grudges unknown to people. While he raged against the Governor like an angry body of water,  Ihekweme, expectedly, had a hoard of supporters who cheered him on. They hailed him. Some called him Imo’s messiah. He became the oracle, the centre of adoration by the opposition. His fame was instant. He was hailed to the sky and back. And everyday, for weeks on end, he churned out article after article. He wrote confidently. He wrote like he had facts. He wrote like he had unassailable proofs for everything he put down.

He  ordered the Governor to apologize, publicly, to Imo people or…? At a point, he gave the Governor an ultimatum to account for one thing or the other failing which he would face fire. He then gave the Governor, a two-day (I forget how long now) to comply or he would resume his stripping of the Governor. When Uzodinma ignored that, Ihekweme, indeed, resumed. He intensified his attacks. He was clearly, directly and indirectly, inciting the people  against the Governor and his Government.

While a couple of the Governor’s Aides worried and responded once in a while, the Governor remained calm and collected. At a point, it was gathered, he ordered his Aides not to react again to Ihekweme. “Leave him to his conscience”, he was quoted to have said. But a group, angered by the depth of Ihekweme’s hatred, his insults and more, disobeyed the Governor. They wrote a petition to the Inspector General of Police and reported Ihekweme. The group needed him to provide proof of his very serious allegations against the Governor.

It was based on the group’s petition that Dr. Ihekweme was picked from his Abuja residence by Police Operatives from Imo and transported to Owerri for interrogation.

When his wife first raised an alarm which alerted Nigerians of her husband’s fate, she said that her husband has been “abducted” in her presence from their Abuja residence. I confess I panicked. When she threw in the name of the Governor, I panicked some more. I am proudly Imo, and,  the, atimes, contrived tension in my State gets at me. My immediate reaction when I listened to Ihekweme’s wife was a prayer to God that nothing happens to him; I prayed that let it be that he was arrested by genuine law enforcement agents and not the abductors of the innocent that we are now used to. You know, the devil can be more devilish than itself. What if, I asked nobody in particular, some criminals took advantage of the situation to kidnap him, ask for ransom and/or kill him. How will anybody agree that it was not the handiwork of the Governor and his Government? I was relieved when  the Police confirmed that there was no abduction; that Dr Ihekweme was arrested and taken to Owerri, and safely in their custody.

Now, 61 days after his arrest and remand on Court warrant, I assume, because the Police has no right to keep anybody without such a warrant for more that 48 hours, forget that they routinely do that atimes, Dr. Ihekweme is singing a different song.

I don’t know exactly what happened, but unexpectedly, he wrote, in his own handwriting, not typed, an apology to the Governor, addressed to the CP. He wrote an undertaken to be of good behavior. He wrote that he regrets all his actions; that he has no proof of anything; that he lied against the Governor; that he would never embark on such despicable and dangerous journey  again; that the Governor is his friend and leader, and bla-bla-bla. Hmmmm!

Here’s my reaction. The Governor, according to those who really know him, is a compassionate man. He is very hard, of course, when it comes to his political future. He famously said he would not standby and allow the Governorship given to him by God, to be snatched by anybody. He said he would hold tight unto it.  He can be taciturn, but he means business. He keeps his actions and political moves very close to his chest. So, perhaps, except his wife, nobody can confirm if he is sold on Ihekweme’s apology and confessions and promise to be of good behavior or not.  Can he still trust Ihekweme? Can he still confide in him? Can they still work together? That’s left for him, really.  But there is this little problem.

It was not the Governor who took on Ihekweme. It was a group of people that did. It was on the group’s behest that Ihekweme was arrested. So, will the group drop its case? Of course, the Governor can talk to the members to  let go. But here’s my take.

Whoever advised Ihekweme to write that letter did him no good. He should have been allowed to have his day in Court so as to prove he was not just blabbing. By his writing that letter, he has lost credibility. Nobody will believe him again. The tag of a hero is gone. It is okay for him to say, later, that he wrote the letter under duress. Perish that reasoning. Heroes don’t give-in easily. Check out Nelson Mandela. Or, even, our own MKO Abiola. Or even recently, Dele Farotimi? These men,  and a whole lot of others, defended their beliefs to the end. If one does not have the stuff, the strong will, why embark on a useless trip? If one does not  have any proof of one’s allegations, why embark on a destructive journey of others, especially of one you still call your friend?

Nobody says one should not criticize the Government or the Governor, but it should be done with proof and decorum. You can call one a thief without using the word ‘thief’.

In the same manner, anyone who encourages Uzodinma to let go, has not done him a favor either. Nobody is saying he should be instrumental to the punishing of Ihekweme, but Ihekweme should be allowed his day in Court. He made a number of very serious allegations against the Governor and his Government. Let him tender his proofs, or say openly,  in Court, that he lied. The  Governor should leave him with the group that petitioned against him. Leave him with the Police. Let him tell the Court what he knows. Otherwise, Mr Governor, here’s what will follow later.

The story will be that you and the Police forced him to write that letter of confession and apology; the story will be that he gave you a soft landing; the story will be that you blackmailed him into writing that letter. In deed, it has started by Ihekweme’s viral video in hospital, after release. He is playing the victim already.

Dear Mr Governor, from the day you took office, you have been the “butt” of all kinds of allegations; of all kinds of provocative jokes. You have been called all kinds of names including the worst of the worst. All kinds of atrocities, including against Imo and Imolites, have been attributed to you. Those allegations rub off on our State. You have since forgiven those who made some of those allegations against you. The serious allegations were all over the social media and presented our State as the worst State with the worst Governor.  The front page of ThisDay Newspaper was even cloned  to run you down. You were accused, without proof, of creating Emirates in the State,and of installing Emirs. You were accused of renaming Imo State University after late Abba Kyari, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff. President Goodluck Jonathan once described himself as the most abused President of Nigeria. That trophy also goes to you as the most abused Governor in Nigeria. Now is the time to prove yourself, to say enough is enough. He who alleges must prove. The ball, as they say is in Dr. Fabian Ihekweme’s Court.

Ihekweme’s case should be a test case. Let him present his proofs in Court. If he fails, let the Court give its ruling. If it is against him, that will be the time for Mr Governor, like a long-suffering father, should step- in and intervene. Pull his ear, forgive him, and let him go with a warning: “Never again.” That will be more decent and more  fulfilling than this apology.