Nigeria, Nov. 21 -- When I saw the programme for the 2025 Nigerian Guild of Editors annual conference listing Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, as the keynote speaker, I wasn't sure it was a good idea. Uzodimma has been in the press mainly for the wrong reasons.

As one of Nigeria's leading journalists and public intellectuals, Reuben Abati said on a recent TV morning programme, the Imo State governor appears to govern more from the presidential villa in Abuja than from the Government House in Owerri.

Often, he is at the top of the line at the airport in Abuja to welcome or see off President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He gives the impression, at best, that he's underworked and overpaid, and, at worst, that he is the henchman for the ruling part...