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| Governor Rochas Okorocha |
By Kenneth Uwadi
I
read a Sun Newspaper article written by Godson Offoaro where he said that
Rochas Okorocha, the Governor of Imo State ate his lunch by wrestling power out
of the hands of Ikedi Ohakim. I ‘do bale’ at Offoaro’s style of
trying to get another lunch pack, this time from the Prophet of Rescue,
the man with shinning white buba and red cap
by speaking sweet talks and
shouting ‘Rankadede’. With the confidence of his gift of the pen, Godson
Offoaro with the spirit of ‘any government in power’ invoked the highest
hypocrisy by trumpeting and advertising sham accomplishments of the Imo State
Governor. One of Okorocha’s accomplishments according to the gospel of Offoaro
is the tarring of roads. Missing in his claims is the poor quality of the roads
that Okorocha has tarred.
Offoaro
failed to tell us that our Governor poured ‘coal tar’ on sand to give the
appearance that roads have been tarred.
He failed to tell us that Imo State has a proper way of awarding contracts
such that it must take a tender board to put up adverts for contractors to
apply. He failed to tell us that Okorocha did not follow due process of putting
up invitation for tender in awarding the so called road contracts. He failed to
tell us that contractors were not invited, screened or shortlisted for the road
contracts. He failed to tell us that the contracts were awarded to friends and
relatives as their own share of Imo State cake.
Going
against the law in other to compensate friends and relatives will end up
inflicting more harm than good to the scheme and system of things. Why must we
be pouring ‘coal tar’ on sand in Owerri when the rural areas where over 90
percent of ‘Imolites’ are living are not accessible? .It is only a
professional sycophant that will feel duty bound to cheer a Governor to failure
because of a lunch pack. Reading Offoaro , you will think that there were no
roads and services before Okorocha came
to power. We all know that Okorocha is currently battling to resuscitate his
dwindling popularity. We all know that he has contracted many Spin Doctors to
build fake mass support for his deceitful activities. But no amount of spin
from his Spin Doctors will disguise the fact that he has not performed well so
far.
Can
the Spin Doctors erase the fact that Okorocha is looting our LGA funds?
Okorocha sacked democratically elected LGA Chairmen and Councillors and
appointed Sole Administrators for our LGA’s. The Sole Administrators are his
agents for diverting our LGA funds for his personal use. Today, the Councils in
Imo State are dysfunctional. Nothing is happening in over 90 percent of Imo
State Councils. Our LGA funds are held hostage and we are deprived the
opportunity to function democratically. Instead of conducting Council election
in Imo State our Governor says he is into LGA reforms and that our LGA’s will
soon be called Committee of Government Councils where each Council in Imo will
be headed by a Traditional Ruler and members will be LGA Sole Administrators,
Town Union Presidents, Women Leaders and Youth Leaders .
Okorocha’s
praise singers should please tell him that we don’t need his unconstitutional
Committee of Government Councils. We need LGA election in Imo State. They
should tell him to stop looting our LGA funds. He must hands off Council funds
so that our Councils can begin to thrive as expected. Unless our LGA’s are free
to govern self, we have no grassroots democracy. We must permit the LGA’s to
elect their own leaders, who in turn can embark on developing their areas. We
must stop denying the people governance at the third tier.
Only
a professional sycophant will sing the praise of a Governor whose policies have
been changing like the British weather. Okorocha has made so many promises that
he did not fulfil. For example, he promised to
pay 20,000 naira minimum wage to Imo State Civil Servants instead of
the Federal Government approved 18,000 naira. He has since failed to pay
the 20,000 naira minimum wage. During one of his showmanship events in Owerri
recently, Okorocha with his gift of gab spoke to Civil Servants of the
State telling them that Civil Servants
in the State can beat their chest that their salaries come to them by 25th of
every month and their 20,000 naira minimum wage has been paid, The Governor was
interrupted with shouts of No! It is a lie! The Civil Servants shouted Rochas
down for telling lies yet professional sycophant are praising him.
Only
a professional sycophant will sing the praise of a Governor who has crippled
all Ministries, Department and Agencies of government in the State by starving
them of funds. Okorocha directed all Ministries in the State to generate money
to run their Ministries themselves which has resulted to over taxing of Imo
people. Okorocha’s government now churns out multiple taxation and harsh levies
on Imo citizens using indecent task forces and unethical conducts. The question
is whether the Ministries can really fund themselves. LGA’s cannot even
generate enough revenues to run their affairs not to talk of Ministries. What
is happening to the allocation of the State?
Who is looting what?
Only
a professional sycophant will sing the praise of a Governor who since he came
into office has not being able to create jobs for Imo youths rather he sacked
10,000 Imo State graduates in the State Civil Service. Okorocha has no reason
to sack the workers other than he is anti-people and anti-workers .When
decisions made and actions taken directly deflates job creation, the result is
always more problems for the citizens .Imo State is regarded as the 5th richest
state in Nigeria and it is not difficult to pay salaries to the 10,000. Tell me
why we can't help these poor youths.
The
same man who told us that Imo will have problems in paying salaries to the
sacked 10,000 workers is the same man that is now boasting everywhere that Imo
State has money and went ahead to declare free education for tertiary schools
in Imo state. Governing Imo State is not Rochas Foundation, neither is it Baba
Sala's nkwobi and pepper soup joint were we dish out alms to the poor.
Promising free education to Imo tertiary students is playing to the gallery.
Free education for Imo tertiary students as announced by Okorocha few days ago
is another Nollywood drama. It is another deceit. I say so because Okorocha
will never sustain the free education for tertiary schools. He knows that
sustaining the free education policy in tertiary schools in Imo State will make
Imo to run into difficult financial circumstances. What Okorocha should have
done is to reduce tuition fees. The Governor is responsible for the State’s
fiscal health, and cannot afford to run negative balances. He must restore
taxpayers’ confidence that their naira are being used wisely and in the best
interests of all people. He should be
honest to the people and stop
playing to the gallery.
The
professional sycophants should tell Okorocha to sack his present cabinet if he
wants to succeed. The fact of the matter is that Okorocha’s cabinet which is
his toolbox has unfit tools in it and he needs better tools. His unfit tools
are the cause of his administration’s political missteps. He should do away
with the unfit tools in his toolbox and get better ones. Some of those in his
cabinet are spent forces. They have no ideas on how to lift the state to an
enviable height. I am of the view that his cabinet is overdue for a shake-up.
Sacking his cabinet has become very imperative in order to inject fresh blood
that will correct all his administrative missteps.
What
is the Commissioner that collected 5 million naira bribe from his classmate as
reported in the media still doing in government. What about the Commissioner
that was slapped by a sex hawker at a high flying night club in Owerri. What
about those that advised Okorocha to relocate IMSU sited in Owerri to of all
places, Ogboko, his village in Orlu zone. Okorocha should
surround himself with people with sound ideas of how to put ‘Imolites’ into
jobs; people who have the passion and capacity to develop the state; people who
can look him in the face and challenge him on the workability of the state,
people that will remind him that the sycophants around him will not remember
him beyond the present if he does not leave behind concrete and credible
achievements.
(Uwadi
Wrote From Mmahu-Egbema, Imo State, Nigeria)
