Hope Uzodinma is currently the Governor-elect of Imo State. Before being declared Governor of Imo State, he used to be the Senator representing Orlu, Imo West constituency of Imo State, Nigeria.
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Hope Uzodinma Background
Odidika Goodhope Uzodinma was born in December 1958, in Imo State, Nigeria. He had his secondary education at Mgbidi Secondary School, Omumu, Oru West, Imo State, Nigeria.
In 1978, he went to the University, where he studied International Studies and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 1982. Prior to this time, he had already obtained an advance Diploma for Transport Studies.
Hope Uzodinma obtained his Master’s degree in Human Relations from the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN). He also attained a degree in Political Science from the University of London.
Hope Uzodinma is currently married to Chioma Ikeaka. He is blessed with eight children.
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Hope Uzodinma Early Career
Hope Uzodinma used to have a high net worth company, with the name Transurb Technical Consult Ltd, but the company is no longer in existence as it got bankrupt.
He has the ceremonial title of Onwa-Netiri Oha of Omuma Kingdom, in Oru local government, Imo State. Hope Uzodinma is one of the kinsmen of the Okoro family of Etiti-Omuma.
Hope Uzodinma used to be one of the PDP chiefs in Imo State, as well as a friend of former Governor Achike Udenwa until late 2002. Their friendship came to a halt when Mr Uzodinma decided to run for the Governorship seat in the April 2003 elections.
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Again, in 2006, he showed interest in the gubernatorial seat, but lost to Senator Ifeanyi Araraume at the primaries, under the umbrella of the People’s Democratic Party.
Hope Uzodinma was eventually appointed as a member of the PDP Board of Trustees. He was amongst those who endorsed Ikedi Ohakim to run for a second term, as the Imo Governor in 2011, after Ohakim’s return to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
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As A Senator
On the 9th of January, 2011, Hope Uzodinma won the PDP primary for the Imo West Senatorial race with 2147 votes, while his competitor Osita Izunaso had 891 votes.
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His victory, however, became null and void, as the Federal High court declared Osita Izunaso as the recognized candidate of the party for the senatorial seat. The court made this decision because the PDP’s electoral panel led by Orji Nwafor-Orizu had not yet cleared Hope Uzodinma.
Regardless of the odds against Hope Uzodinma, luck was still on his side, as he received a stay of execution from the Court of Appeal on the 17th of March 2011. The stay of execution permitted him to campaign while the case was still in court.
After all said and done, the Court of Appeal still maintained the initial judgment of the high court judgment, declaring that Hope Uzodinma was not qualified to run as a candidate for the Senatorial seat. Mr Uzodinma was not ready to accept the Court’s decision to displace him, so he went to the Supreme Court.
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The Supreme Court favoured him and overruled the decisions of both the High and Appeal Court on the 5th of May, 2011. Following this decision, Mr Uzodinma was declared the valid candidate and winner of the election with a vote of 85,042, which was 20,814 votes more than the second runner up, who had a vote of 64,228, under the Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN).
As The Governor Of Imo State
Hope Uzodinma was one of the gubernatorial aspirants of Imo State, in the March 2019 elections, under the umbrella of the All Progressive Congress (APC). He lost the election to Emeka Ihedioha of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Mr Uzodinma refused to accept the defeat, so he appealed to the Supreme Court to look into the case on the grounds of irregularities.
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After much investigation, the Supreme Court declared him the winner of the March 2019 Imo State gubernatorial election. Following this declaration, Hope Uzodinma and his deputy, Professor Placid Njoku, were sworn in by the Chief Justice of the state, Justice Pascal Nnadi, at the Imo State Government House, on the 14th of January 2020.
Awards And Nominations
- Most Outstanding Parliamentarian Of The Year Award by the Nigerian News – 2017
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.”
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“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 he received justice.
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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.
Image Credit: independent.ng, @Govhopeuzodinma – twitter, guardian.ng
