The story of who-is-who in the politics of Imo State cannot be written without the inclusion of names of two notable figures; Senators Hope Uzodinma and Ifeanyi Araraume.
Incidentally, the two classy politicians have several distinguishing similarities that may give them away as twins despite differences in localities and date of birth.
Just few days after Uzodinma who represented Orlu zone in the National Assembly clocked 61, Araraume, who was of Okigwe zone followed suit with his birthday remembrance date.
The birthday similarities have thrown up essential aspects people don’t know between the two.
A cursory overview of their antecedents show that there are several things they have in common. Apart from their December birth dates with few days gap in between, both are fair and handsome men with a family made up of grown ups to qualify them as Grandpas. It could be recalled that while December 12 was Uzodinma’s born day, Araraume has his birthday on December 16.
In the political scene, the two Senators have paid their dues in the system by their involvement in politicking that dates back more than two decades.
As at today both of them are ranking Senators considering the two tenures garnered as members of the upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly.
Araraume came up early in the senate in 1999 and merited a second term in 2003. On his own part, Uzodinma became a Senator in 2011 with a repeat position in 2015. Ironically, both were of the PDP during their senate days though have moved to different parties.
A further trip into their political history reveals that as at today, their governorship ambitions have not yielded any result so far. In this quest for governorship, Uzodinma was early in the race. In 2003, the Oru East born “Onwa Oyoko” attempted to use PDP to upset Chief Achike Udenwa’s second term. When that bid failed he relocated to the defunct AD to run for the election but was unsuccessful. In 2007, Uzodinma showed another interest but was unable to scale PDP primaries same for 2019 under APC.
For Araraume, his desire to become the number one citizen of Imo started in 2007 when he emerged from scratches to fly PDP flag. In 2003, he also run for the position under defunct CAN 2015 saw his file for the primaries before running again for 2019 under APGA.
Both Araraume and Uzodinma who contested for the governorship in 2019 and lost are at the Supreme Court challenging the victory of the governor, Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha of the PDP.
Also in the political arena, both have strong political machineries that attract followers from every angle of the state. While Uzodinma has Camp Hope organization, a major political family that moved from PDP to APC, Araraume’s Destiny Organization structure is a household name in political arrangement.
Aside from the field of politics, the two politicians are very rich personalities and have outstanding businessmen with vast interest in sectors that produce money. They are also renowned welfarists and philanthropists who have assisted many in the society, especially, the less privileged. It is said that their open door policy to welcome flock of politicians from all quarters have made them few of the attractive politicians in the State.
