How Greedy Has Governor Rochas Become? – By Onwuasoanya FCC Jones
Loading ...There are a total of 41 elective political posts in Imo State that will be up for grabs in the 2019 general elections, hence, every serious political Party in Imo State is expected to have 41 flag bearers who should have by this time emerged, to hold the ticket of the political Parties in the coming elections. In the APC, where Governor Rochas Okorocha belongs to, he vied for and got one of these 41 tickets for himself, as the Senatorial candidate of the APC for Imo West Senatorial ticket. The other 40 tickets were won by other members of the Party who were eminently qualified in their own rights not just to represent the Party in this election, but to also win and represent their people in their various capacities. There is none of the other 40 flag-bearers of the APC in Imo State who is related to the governor in blood, except the governorship candidate who is merely related to him by marriage.
The same people who complain about the governor wanting to hand over to his son-in-law had aided their girl friends and mistresses to political positions after raping or consensually sleeping with them. Some of them were helped up to the positions they are in the polity today by their mating partners, some of whom are married women and divorced ladies. Some of them take advantage of our ladies before giving them any form of assistance, politically or otherwise. Was it not in this State the wife of a governor was heard publicly accusing some female commissioners, SAs and other female hangers-on of trying to snatch her husband away from her? Few days ago, His Excellency Chief Ikedi Ohakim lamented that some APGA chieftains came from Abuja raped our ladies, our wives and even our daughters and promised them tickets of the Party, but eventually failed them.
Governor Rochas Okorocha is undoubtedly one of Nigeria’s most successful political leaders in recent history. Among the Igbos, he has made his mark as a door opener and bringer of originally unknown opportunities, among the Yorubas, he is a bridge-builder and a reliable ally in business and politics, and among the Hausas he is a brother, a leader and helper, unusual. He has assailed the oppressors of the Nigerian masses, not once or twice, but many times every day. He has changed the narrative that political power is for a selected few and proved that the child of a poor man without an Abraham pushing buttons for him or her can become more politically influential than the sons of the moneybags and even former this and that. He has won with the people and he has kept faith with the people. Yet, he is among the most lied against leader in today’s Nigeria. But should that worry anyone who knows life, history and the realities that define the life of world changers? Definitely, no.
Let me now tell you something may have always known about some of the greatest humans that strode on the surface of this earth. Jesus Christ is the greatest of them all, he was lied against, denied by his most trusted ally, accused of being a thief, a blasphemer and even a murderer. In fact, Jesus Christ lost an election to a thief, Barrabas. Who were the voters? The same people he restored their sight, healed of their sicknesses, brought back their relatives from death, rescued their friends from leprosy and most importantly gave the vital secrets that could lead them to eternal life. Paul the Apostle, whom we Catholics like to address as Saint, Peter, Stephen, John, and indeed all men that stood for good and for God, all men who stood for the people and fought for the masses, were all blackmailed, maligned and even condemned to death by agents of falsehood and others who were deceived into maligning them. even Stephen, the apostle and the saint was stoned to death for serving the people and trying to save them from damnation. Who then, is Rochas?
Like every innocent man, every lie told against Governor Rochas Okorocha expires faster than water dries off in dust. So many lies have been told against him, even before he became governor. Today, it is either those lies have become stale or the people have realized that they were all lies. For instance, the same people who told Imolites in 2011 that free education is unrealizable and a fraudulent campaign promise are the same people who have suddenly adopted free education as a manifesto of their political Parties and campaigns. Those who lied that Rochas was not real because of his genuine affection for the ordinary people, which made him eat maize in the streets, rode on motorcycle to campaign venues and do other things, deemed to be for commoners, are the same people trying desperately to imitate Rochas. But if e no be Rochas, e no fit be like Rochas. When Rochas buys corn, bananas, garden egg, or anything from the roadside hawkers, he is living his true life. When he stretches out his arms, innocent children run to him, because he is spiritually clean and undefiled, when he rides on keke or motorcycle, he is being himself. But, when these later day friends of the people try to do such things, the mimetic features are loud and clear. Everything they have criticized the governor for, they have either tried to do, or people have found to be blatant falsehood.
Their new refrain is that the governor is too greedy, that he wants everything for himself and some others say that he wants every political office for his family and relatives. I opened this essay by telling us what the true position of things are, as long as the politics of Imo State is concerned and to disabuse your minds from the onset on the falsehood that the governor wants everything for himself. The governor doesn’t really want everything for himself or his family; political or biological, but is being maligned by anti-democratic agents because of his insistence that democracy must prevail and that the rights of the people to choose whom they want to lead them at any level must be protected.
Actually, it would have been easier, less expensive and far more convenient for the governor if he had agreed to allow these anti-democratic elements have their way. If he agrees to the demand that people who do not know their ward chairmen and executives of the Party in their wards should be GIVEN the tickets of the Party on a platter of gold, the governor’s stress would have been far reduced, but he is taking the pains to ensure that the rape on our democracy is not sustained for any reason. Even if it has been the practice for a very long time, the governor is paying the price to ensure that it does not continue. The governor’s insistence means that for anyone to think of holding power in any part of Imo State, such a person must come to Imo State and negotiate with the people of Imo State, rather than relaxing somewhere in Abuja, reaching some deals with some people, who are most likely, not from Imo State and believing that he or she can hijack power from the top without recourse to ordinary Imo people.
The narrative that Governor Rochas Okorocha is greedy for ‘wanting everything to himself’ is absolutely silly and cannot hold water anywhere. It is only coincidental that Ugwumba Uche Nwosu whom he supports to succeed him married his daughter, but Uche Nwosu is not the only in-law he has who showed interest in becoming governor. In Igbo culture and I think most other cultures in the world, an in-law is not considered a blood relative as he can still marry from the same family if he so wishes. In fact, Uche Nwosu can marry Uloma’s sister or cousin, if he so wishes and he will not be falling foul of law or custom. Okorocha’s support for Uche Nwosu’s governorship was earned rather inherited as some people will like to project. If the governor was looking for someone closest to him or a blood relative, he has many qualified individuals around him, including his direct siblings, cousins and even nephews. In choosing to support Ugwumba Uche Nwosu, the governor went for the best person who will serve Imo State better than he has done and make Imolites happier than he has made them.
Assuming without conceding that Ugwumba Uche Nwosu is actually a close relative of the governor as these bad losers would want us to believe, Governor Okorocha will not be the first Nigerian politician to support his relative or even relatives to take up sensitive political positions at the same time as others. At the time the current Senate President, Bukola Saraki was governor of Kwara State, his blood sister was the Senator representing Kwara Central in the Senate, and their father, the late Alhaji Olusola Saraki was the leader of the Party in Kwara State and even in the entire North Central. There are many instances of such situations and I personally support it, if it is done through democratic methods. Philip Aduda who represents the FCT in the Senate is a first cousin to Zephaniah Jisalo who is in the House of Representatives for AMAC federal Constituency, and so on.
The accusation that the governor is trying to build a political dynasty is also wrong, as it is only when power has consistently ran through a family for at least three generations that such family may qualify as a dynasty. There is no direct relative of the governor who will be on the ballot for the general election in 2019. Ugwumba Uche Nwosu is of different family stock from the Okorocha’s and if we persist in presenting him as a relative of the Okorocha’s, then it is still wrong to qualify that as building a dynasty. Ugwumba Uche Nwosu was not given any special privileges by Rescue Mission administration, but he made better use of the opportunities he was given to earn the love of the people through his humility, benevolence and integrity. He built for himself a massive followership and trust that can only be rivaled by the support enjoyed by the governor himself. In a democracy, what matters most is popularity and acceptability by the people. You do not allow someone who cannot win elections to stand election on behalf of your political family or Party. Uche Nwosu has proven to be the most sellable political brand at the moment in Imo State, and it would have been a huge error if Governor Okorocha failed to support him.
We should understand that what is at play here is not really about Governor Rochas Okorocha and some group of Abuja based politicians, but about the integrity of the ballot box and the vice of imposition in our democracy. If anyone wants to defeat Governor Rochas Okorocha, that person has to come to Imo State, negotiate with Imo people and if such a person or group of people is able to convince Imolites against their consistent and passionate support to Governor Rochas Okorocha, then, such a person can win power.
Democracy does not have any room for greed, because you can only get as much powers as the people allow you to have at any point in time and our Constitution does not allow an individual to hold more than one office at a time. Governor Rochas Okorocha is interested in presenting candidates that can win elections for the APC in Imo State, candidates who are in touch with their people, candidates whom their people answer their calls when they call, not individuals so cut off from their people that they only remember the road to their villages when elections approach.
Onwuasoanya FCC Jones is the State Publicity Secretary of APC, Imo State. He writes from Owerri.
