In the 2011 election in Imo State, there was a political earthquake. For the first time in the history of the state, an incumbent Governor of a ruling party was defeated in an election, without completing his second term.
And this singular history was made using Owelle Rochas Okorocha of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, to dislodge Chief Ikedi Ohakim of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from Douglas House, Owerri.
Then, the song on the lips of Imo people was “Change”. And they were so consumed with this spirit of change that they did not care whoever the beneficiary of that change would be.
As destiny would have it, Owelle Okorocha, a son of Ogboko in Ideato South LGA played into the hands of destiny and in the end became the fifth elected Governor of Imo State.
Since then, a lot of water has passed under the bridge. The Imo electorate who defied all permutations to make Okorocha Governor have since had what they wanted. However, as the 2015 Governorship election approaches next month, Okorocha will once again come face to face with Imo electorate, who will either renew his mandate, or otherwise.
Indeed, a lot of things have happened ever since Okorocha was sworn-in on May 29, 2011. These changes could be found in the policies and politics of the state, and in Okorocha himself as a human being.
In the first place, Okorocha has ditched the political party under which he begged the Imo electorate for their ballots. The Governor who was of the APGA has since moved to the newly formed All Progressives Congress, APC.
Since 2011, Okorocha has designed Imo State to his own whims and caprices. Never before in the history of the state has the citizens witnessed the type of administration which could be described as civilian cum military, in the way it carries out its responsibilities. It is glaringly clear to Imo citizens that the Governor does not give a damn of what the masses think about any policy of the present administration, provided it satisfies Okorocha and his cohorts.
Although the administration has done some good works, but what rankles the masses is that Okorocha hardly listens to the masses, whose collective wealth he is looking after in their trust.
For instance, for the nearly four years Okorocha has spent as Governor, he has given deaf ear to the calls of Imo people asking that the monthly state clean-up Exercise be restored. The Governor refused and till date, Owerri, which was the cleanest state capital in Nigeria when he was sworn-in in 2011, is now the dirtiest.
Politicians say Okorocha stopped that well-accepted programme because it was initiated by his predecessor, the Ikedi Ohakim administration. No. The reason was that it took the Ohakim regime millions of Naira to keep Owerri sparklingly clean, and Okorocha is not ready to spend such sums in a project that will not bring him returns, even though it will keep the state clean and the citizens healthy.
Today, Owerri has been defaced to the extent that all the Artisans which took the previous administrations time and energy to be relocated out of Town have returned back into the City, with its attendant detriment; crime.
The worse is that there are motor parks with Thugs everywhere causing Traffic jams in the city, with mad people and Beggars loitering at strategic points of the state. Whether this was what the electorate bargained for in 2011 is in the belly of time.
It is quite unfortunate that since Okorocha came on board, the Imo LGAs, which used to be the foundation of Imo economy, have been abandoned to the detriment of teeming Imo youths looking for where to eke out a living.
Imo LGAs employ the greatest number of Imo citizens. During the Chief Achike Udenwa and Dr Ikedi Ohakim administrations, there were Local Government elections. You may say the elections were not perfect. But what is important is that the Council Chairmen, Councillors, Supervisory Councillors and the various Personal Assistants were all sons and daughters of Imo, who go out every morning to pursue their businesses in the various LGAs.
Do you imagine how many Imo electorate that would have been gainfully employed today if Okorocha had conducted Local Government elections? He was the person who also shut the forty-four (44) development centres created by the Udenwa administration, which the Ohakim regime retained and sustained.
These Development Centres had four members each. Think of what that would have done in the redistribution of wealth in Imo economy, as these members have dependants too, who they take care of.
Today, the entire funds that went to the Local Government Areas in the state go straight to Okorocha, who sends a token to the Sole Administrators in the LGAs, while the rest goes back to Douglas House.
It is true that Okorocha claims these LGA funds go back to the LGAs through road projects. But unfortunately, the Contractors have since formed an Association to fight for monies owed them by the Government. Therefore, where did the monies go to if Contractors are demonstrating over unpaid bills?
Another issue is, had the LGAs had elected Chairmen, the Governor would have realised that not all communities have the same problems. Each people have their own peculiar problem. It therefore means that not all communities need roads.
And talking about roads, how much did these roads cost? And did they worth the amounts spent on them?
One thing nobody can say about the Okorocha administration is that it did not construct roads. It did. But the problem is that most of the roads will not last more than two years, which many Imolites see as not conversant with an administration that wants to be remembered years after it had left office.
Today, roads constructed by Mbakwe, Udenwa and Ohakim are still standing firm. With all due respect, you cannot say same of the Okorocha administration. Go check all the roundabouts in Owerri. Check all the roads. Either they are half-done or abandoned. Okorocha’s projects lack finishing touches, as if they were constructed in a hurry.
But there is one thing that baffles observers. All Okorocha’s Castles within Imo or outside the state were neatly planed and constructed with international best standards. Visit any of his houses including the one at Spibat, Amakohia. They all have executive trappings.
The question now is, why is it that when the same Governor is executing projects that belong to Imo people, the Contractors will execute them as if they were given a dateline and pursued by a Devil.
Another issue is that Governor Okorocha is leaving Imo better than Imo people met him in 2011. If the stories going about are authentic, the Governor had told the Imo electorate at many fora that his family can never be poor again until the Lord Jesus comes again. That poverty, which he described as more deadly than AIDS, has left his household forever.
These allegations have infuriated Okorocha’s friends and sponsors in 2011, who lament openly that they have been used and dumped. These fellows can be found in Churches, Hotels, Private Parties, Burials etc swearing that they can only be in their graves than see Okorocha renew his mandate. They believe that the Governor simply used them as a ladder to enter the paradise and shoved them aside.
These crops of abandoned friends have constituted a Pressure Group to iron it out with Okorocha during the coming election. But as usual, Owelle Okorocha does not care, as he exudes his usual charisma and nonchalant attitude, making Imo State look like a captured people under a spell.
As part of his own political strategy, I assume that Okorocha believes that allowing money to flow in the state like during the Udenwa and Ohakim regimes will make it go into many hands, who in the process would not be allowed to be controlled like robots.
Therefore, in other to whip everybody into line, let there be no money in the system, but only to a chosen few.
This was the reason that only contractors paid after executing projects were those who are close to the “Ruling House”. Or in most cases, contractors who are not from Imo State, so that they can take their money out of the state and not use it to fight the powers that be. This is the reason there is capital flight in Imo, with the masses wearing long faces, while little things like School Desks, Uniforms, Sandals etc that can be produced in Imo State are awarded to foreigners.
Despite these scenarios, there are those who are ready to lynch you if you utter a word that is not commensurate to how they hold Owelle Rochas Okorocha. Certainly, there are those who have become millionaires since Okorocha assumed office. In every administration there are those who are bound to benefit more than others.
But the general submission is that in the case of Okorocha, the “sharing formula” was dangerously altered that just a few are smiling, while the rest carry the can, unlike the Udenwa-Ohakim era, when majority smiled and a few grumbled.
The major plank on which Okorocha anchors his regime is the free education mantra. But the masses seem to have deciphered the subterfuge surrounding the free education policy.
The policy flew in the last three years because it was an innovation in the state. But with time, the people have decoded the Key.
Okorocha was accused of not accommodating due process which many hold against him. In fact, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) alleged that he has disobeyed court orders more than any other Governor in Nigeria.
Does that mean the Governor is not tolerant? I remember in 2011 how Okorocha at the Odenigbo Centre, as the APGA Governorship Candidate then, stole the show as he promised that Imo State was too rich to borrow.
However, just a few months in office, the Governor borrowed sums in the neighbourhood of Billions. At that event, the then APGA Candidate even insulted the sitting Governor, Ohakim who attended the event.
But three years after, the same Odenigbo Cultural Centre where Okorocha had a free air to voice his wish for Imo people, was fouled with alleged Government sponsored disruption when Okorocha faced the judgement day like Ohakim.
This is a lesson to all that nothing changes fast like change, And that nothing lasts forever. But unfortunately, politicians hardly learn. Do they?
