May I commend several callers who reacted differently to last week’s piece on this column titled ImoDrama. I must particularly mention a caller from Colorado, United States, an Imolite in Diaspora, Chief Reuben Onuoha, who read the piece on the newspaper’s website www. imotrumpeta.com. According to him, he said he was delighted with the article on the basis that it informed him of the divided opinions that has trailed Owelle Rochas Okorocha’s Administration in Imo State.
It is not in my character to expose private discussions with individual or group of individuals’ on this page, especially discussions that go beyond what is written on this column. But I had to break this rule on the basis that I am delighted that Imolites in Diaspora are properly informed of events going on in our beloved Imo State. As citizens of the State who are far away from home, whose toil and broil in foreign lands have contributed to the socio economic development of the State, it is important they are accurately and correctly informed of events at home.
For those who faulted the configuration of that piece for myopic reasons that are not in line with the crux of the matter, let me state here that I have no regrets or owe apologies to them. The intent of that article was to capture different perception and divergent views of on goings in our dear Imo State. It succinctly captured divided views of the Imo citizenry who have come to see the Okorocha Administration from different and various standpoints.
Those who know what Journalism is all about will attest to the fact that Imo Drama was an objective and balanced commentary styled in the mould of a ‘play’ to capture the feelings of vast majority of Imolites about the policies and programmes of the present Administration. I have severally on this page stated that I have nothing against the present Administration.
I am neither anybody’s boy nor an instrument hired by anyone to do the bidding of whomever through this medium as wrongly postulated by those who have decided to portray yours sincerely in bad light through sheer blackmail and deceit. At the same time, I have not ceased to praise the present Administration, especially in areas they have performed creditably and I have never hesitated to thoroughly criticize, not the personality of the governor, but some policies that I consider might not be for the overall benefit of the people.
However, for those who have refused to accept this postulation by bombarding yours sincerely with silly text messages, I will rather say that their action exposes their shallow understanding of the crux of the matter contained in that piece. Let me reiterate that as long as the language and the intent of issues addressed on this page does not run foul of the law that regulates the ethics of modern journalism, I owe it as a duty to my conscience and to God to air my views as it affects the welfare of my humble self, my family and the society in Imo. Case Closed!
Let me say here that the topic of today’s piece originated from on-goings in the State in the last few weeks, especially the lingering feud between the sacked Local Government Chairmen and the Okorocha Administration. I decided to use the title of a popular soap opera ‘Sensible Nonsense’ aired on then Imo Television (ITV) now Orient Tv to vividly capture the message I intend to propagate here.
I was informed that the sacked Local Government Chairmen and Councillors were instructed by the State Government to go to the Ministry of Local Government and collect their salaries for May 2011 and July 2012. This is a new dimension in the ongoing cold war between the Council Chairmen and the Governor. And I have tactically avoided this issue because it is before the law courts, but I will say here that the on going legal wrangling will only lead to sensible nonsense if it is allowed to continue unabated. The reaction of the chairmen to Okorocha’s payment was expected. They fired on all cylinders rejecting the offer which they described as brutus.
As a concerned citizen of the State, I can only say that the ongoing feud is worrisome. The face off between the Chairmen and the Government has lingered for so long and when one considers its effects and consequences on the Local Government Administration in the State, we all pray for the end of this sensible nonsense. I have always believed that only a political solution and not the legal brick bats will resolve the impasse that has kept the Local Governments in the State in quandary. I will reproduce here a write up which I had written but was unpublished during the heat of the crisis between the Chairmen and the Okorocha Administration. This piece below captured vividly why the impasse has degenerated to the level it has. Read on
‘I watched with awe how the political drama between the Okorocha/sacked LGA Chairmen saga which took a new dimension.
Governor Rochas Okorocha set the stage for the second phase of the drama with his press briefing/ broadcast where he invited the Chairmen for a heart to heart talk. The move by the State Governor, who may have been having sleepless nights over the resolve of the 27 Local Government Chairmen to take back their seats, was a good one, but could not produce any result because of several factors which I will attempt to explain in the course of this piece.
In the broadcast, our dear Okorocha made a deft political move as he invited the Chairmen to a parley last Friday at Government House. An invitation the Council Chairmen, mainly of the PDP shunned. According to them, they spurned the invitation on the basis that they were not officially invited by the Governor.
The refusal of the Chairmen to honour Okorocha’s invitation must have been a setback to series of strategies designed by the Governor’s political think tank to find a lasting solution to the impasse that has seen the Local Government system in the State grind to a halt. The face off has put the Local Government Administration in the State in the quandary.
For those who took a swipe at the elected Chairmen for not honouring the invitation, yours sincerely has a contrary opinion. I commend the Chairmen’s refusal to honour the invitation on the basis that in politics, one wines and dine with the enemy, either real or imaginary one from a distance. I say so because despite the Governor’s olive branch, there were certain actions or inactions of government officials which tend to contradict His Excellency’s hand of friendship.
While Governor Okorocha openly showed the desire for a parley as a tool to heal frayed nerves, the utterances of some of his aides on the subject did not indicate any genuine commitment to achieve what he advocated. The State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barr. Sorronandi Njoku was the first to send a signal that the round table talks between the Chairmen and the Governor does not imply that his oga was dumping the legal option for a political solution. He maintained that the only option open to Government was the legal option and this prompted why it has gone to the Supreme Court to express its displeasure with the verdict of the Court of Appeal.
Barr Njoku’s position left a sour taste in the mouth. It compelled me to ask why invite the Chairmen for talks when the consensus in government circles was to pursue the matter to a conclusion through the law courts? I asked what informed the rationale for the parley when the path of the law is considered the right path by government to put an end to the lingering face off that has turned Imo State to a theatre of political drama. And besides, if the Government believes that the law should take its course, why stifle the return of the elected chairmen to the Councils with the hurried Compulsory leave to top Local Government Administration officials?
Governor Okorocha in his broadcast said both the transition Committee Chairmen and the elected Chairmen are Imo Children and as father of the State, it is his duty to ensure that the feud does not degenerate to violence and blood letting. Good talk, but at the same time one wonders why his aides had to resort to double speak on the issues, thus contradicting the position of their boss.
This exposes the fact that the Governor and his aides are not on one page on the issue. It shows that while Governor Okorocha was interested in a political solution through a round table discussion, some of his followers were uncomfortable with the idea of a parley. While Okorocha wanted a parley- which indicated his disposition to a political solution to resolve the issue- the Attorney General of the State and other officials of his Administration sang a different tune by insisting that the legal option is the only remedy to the crisis.
Besides, the Governor’s media aides did not help matters. A press release from the office of the S.A (Media) posted in the email addresses of local and national newspapers referred the Chairmen as ‘PDP Council Chairmen’ And this puts a question mark on the information managers of Government who bungled the peace process by waving a flag of hostility between their principal and the Chairmen. In otherwords, they created the impression that the Chairmen are enemies of the State, who come from a rival political party. They failed to use the opportunity offered by the governor’s invitation to drive home his disposition to peace.
However, it appears that from the utterances and body language of Okorocha’s aides there was no unity of purpose on the part of the Government to resolve the issue. And if there was, it was poorly packaged and mismanaged. I tend to believe that the discordant tunes from Government officials were sufficient signal to the elected Chairmen that the proposed parley was a mere window dressing stunt. And this has continued to manifest even after the elected Chairmen shunned the parley. Some aides of the Governor were said to be telling anyone who cared to listen that the Chairmen’s tenure ends on August 9th, 2012 and irrespective of the verdict of the Supreme Court, it will be impossible for Okorocha and the Chairmen to be bread and butter.
If these submissions by Okorocha’s aides are anything to go by, then one can say that the outcome of the proposed parley was already pre determined even before it was conceived.
This calls to question the ‘quality of aides’ that work with our dear governor. It is absurd that they forget that in issues concerning governance the official position of their principal supersedes whatever contrary views or opinion any other official in government holds. All over the world in governance, a leader’s position on a particular issue or subject is the official policy of government. And it is incumbent on followers of such a leader to key into the official position.
This is why I am at loss that Okorocha’s position on the saga with the Chairmen as he laboriously exhibited in his broadcast did not tally with comments from his aides and political henchmen. While the Governor preached peace and showcased that he was an apostle of a united Imo, his men beat the drums of war on the sidelines.
Besides, we read in the newspapers subterranean moves by the executive to arm twist the legislature to amend the law on tenure of the elected officials of the Local Government. While nothing can be said to be wrong with such move since politics is all about applying the power of lobbying to achieve a purpose, I think it is high time members of the Imo House of Assembly erase the tag that it is plaything of the executives. The beauty of democracy is meaningless if the legislature fails to maintain its position as a check on the executive. Having considerably done a lot to prove its commitment to enact laws that will uplift the Imo citizenry, it is important members of the House at all times pander tilt towards the interest of the people in enacting laws for the people. I rest my ca
