Ohaji/Egbema Deserves Better: Why Eze Buguma Must Not Return in 2027

By Kenneth Uwadi
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote in The Over-Soul: “The soul is the perceiver and revealer of truth. We know the truth when we see it, let skeptics and scoffers say what they choose.”

The pace of political activities across the country has intensified following the release of the timetable for the 2027 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). As preparations begin, political parties are already positioning themselves to conduct primaries and select candidates for the coming elections.

We already know how the primaries of the ruling capitalist party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), usually unfold. We understand the party’s general attitude toward elections. Nothing fundamental has changed in APC’s pro-rich, monetized, individualistic, and self-centered class of politics. The process of candidate selection remains heavily commercialized, making it nearly impossible for ordinary citizens to participate. Only millionaires and billionaire treasury looters can afford to take part in the primaries, let alone emerge as candidates.This is why the member representing Ohaji/Egbema in the Imo State House of Assembly, Hon. Uzoma Osuoha, popularly known as Eze Buguma, boasts confidently of securing a second term.

Almost four years have passed, yet there is no meaningful employment, no genuine empowerment, no functional constituency office, and no visible dividend of democracy for the people. Leadership is not about secretly sharing crumbs with a few loyalists; it is about building opportunities, creating jobs, attracting development, and giving the people a true voice in government. Ohaji/Egbema deserves sustainable progress, not temporary handouts designed to buy silence.

Eze Buguma’s nearly four years in the Imo State House of Assembly can only be described as a political caricature. His tenure has been more of a joke than a representation of public service, driven by personal ambition at the expense of the people. It reflects someone who neither understood the responsibility of legislative office nor possessed the competence required for it. His stay in the Assembly has produced nothing substantial, targeted nothing meaningful, and amounted to little more than a political hip-hop show.

It is therefore safe to conclude that for almost four years, the people of the constituency have lost out to mediocrity, money politics, reckless ambition, and the desperation of a man who entered the political arena ill-equipped and unprepared. He claims to have sponsored bills and motions, but to many of us, these are merely audio bills and audio motions, empty claims without real impact on the lives of the people.

We had high expectations of him, but he failed us. He did not defend Ohaji/Egbema, nor did he stand against the anti-poor, pro-rich capitalist policies that continue to hurt the people. He remained silent in the face of violations of democratic rights in his constituency, retrenchment of workers in ISOPADEC, and the non-payment of wages and pensions.

When political appointments are being made across Imo State, his name is nowhere to be found. Indeed, what kind of elected representative is that? Appointments fly around the state, yet our House member remains in the dark. Shall we, because of the beauty of our girlfriend, climb a pear tree protected with fetish objects? God forbid. We must call a spade a spade.

Schools, roads, and water infrastructure in Ohaji/Egbema remain in the same deplorable condition, yet Buguma said nothing. Youths in Ohaji/Egbema remain unemployed, and he did nothing about it. He did not attract a single state or federal job for any member of his constituency. His visible political activity has been attending burials and social gatherings, taking photographs with market women.Let him tell us clearly: who did he secure jobs for? Who did he help gain political appointments? His presence in the House of Assembly has been meaningless.

The State Government has punished his constituency with neglect, underdevelopment, and suffering, and he failed to condemn it, whether orally, in writing, or through any media platform. He remained silent even in the face of clear violations of the law establishing ISOPADEC (Law No. 13 of 2010 as amended). Questionable nominations were made into the ISOPADEC Governing Board without due regard for the provisions of the law, yet he looked away.

We are angry because we come from an oil-producing area, yet the oil companies operating in our land refuse to employ our people. We are angry because of the daily humiliation of driving through pothole-ridden roads in Ohaji/Egbema month after month and year after year. We are angry over poor electricity supply, the unbearable lack of potable water, and the total absence of opportunities for our youths.

Where are the jobs? What did Eze Buguma say about all these? There is not even a proper road leading to his own community in Ohaji.Our Local Government Area is known for producing vibrant and effective House of Assembly members such as Rt. Hon. Goodluck Nanah Opiah and Hon. Goody Obodo. Today, Eze Buguma stands as the worst House of Assembly member in the history of Ohaji/Egbema..

In a democracy, ultimate power belongs to the people. The center of democratic governance is the legislature because it represents the collective will of the people. The legislature must never become an appendage of the executive, as we witnessed with the 10th Imo State House of Assembly.The principle of separation of powers, clearly enshrined in the Constitution, has been ignored. The legislature is essential to the proper functioning of democracy. A government with a strong executive and a functioning judiciary, but without an independent legislature, may be something—but it is not democracy.The Imo State House of Assembly under the leadership of Hon. Chike Olemgbe, of which Eze Buguma is a part, is arguably the worst Assembly in the history of Imo State.Ohaji/Egbema deserves better, and Eze Buguma is not the right man for 2027.

-Kenneth Uwadi is the coordinator of youths for human rights protection and transparency initiative

   Comments0