This is a precious time I most certainly desire I was spending cooling off somewhere near Oguta lake or picnicking at some resort in the Calabar main City. However, when the misplaced pen of an unfortunate writer begins to ooze out decayed ink, it beckons on the place of journalistic service to offer justice. Like my humble self and the rest of Imo people we are really sick and tired of this old refrain of Rochas’ investment in Eche and others. Appointing the most qualified and most senior accountant into the Accountant-General’s Office surely couldn’t be such a big deal. But clearly it was a job neither Sam Onwuemedo nor those he worked for was qualified to do. Let’s be clear on this, if Sam’s “family of grace” had anyone, even a graduate at the time, (is there one now), they would have kept it for themselves. As for the investment in Eche as with others, Sam, in his unhinged and incoherent English, should be asked if Mr Eche’s right to aspire, to vote and be voted for was in any way vitiated by the appointment that he was amply qualified for. Or was his appointment an attempt to gag and bottle him up as mentally as they spiritually do?
And how come every one is Mr. Perfect until he parted ways with our unthinking Sam and his people. How come all the flaws in Eche were unnoticed until he left the stable. We recall with freshness that same was the case with Dr Ekechi who was demonized only after he disagreed with the 3rd term bid. And then it was Prince Charles Amadi, before a demon was suddenly discovered in Dr Acho Ihim. The list is endless. So once any one decides that Imo Governorship and Governance are not sexually transmitted and not passed down in a generational hereditary fashion, ugly Sam’s watery ink gets triggered for the kill. From Distinguished Senators Ararume to Hope Uzodinma, all of Imo is supposed to sit down and watch our common patrimony mischievously put in the greasy hands of a never- do- well who reportedly couldn’t even graduate from Imo State university, who served under the NYSC scheme in the breach by allegedly forging discharge certificates. This was the same Onwuemedo who vilified the former Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere, abused the ego of the Mbaitoli born administrator because of his (Madumere) insistence never to offer a pretentious smile while being raped at the market square at gun point. So all one has to do to attract Sam’s stinking bad breath powered by the deep and filthy purses of his paymasters is to reject the tenure elongation that cost Imo Billions of taxpayers’ money.
And if Eche became an idiot just because he walked away to pursue his ambition elsewhere, let the failed publisher of the non-selling, subjective and grossly vituperious WhitePaper Newspaper tell Ndi- Imo who and who are left in his master’s stable. Doesn’t Sam with his brood of vipers feel sorry for the harm they have inflicted on all those whose aspirations had anything to do with their cursed platform? a platform whose only qualification was mental blindness? Those who decided to think took a walk but good old Sam, reserved only for the ruins and totally unemployable in decent environments, publisher of a 2-page newspaper stayed back, of course naturally. It is the submission therefore of sane minds that it is Imo people that made a terribly negative investment eight years ago. And they are sullenly and regrettably reaping the dividends in terms of acidic rains and roads, in terms of the death of the once cherished public sector dehumanized and paid 70% of their salaries, in terms of pensioners (those remaining) being forced to sign away 60% of their allowances, in terms of the traditional institution being debased, in terms of the decapitation of the Owerri Master plan, in terms of disrespect for the Rule of Law, and Due Process etc.
Eche was the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Finance when Rochas became Governor. He was inaugurated Permanent Secretary on the 27th of October 2010. If that is Sam Onwuemeodo’s definition of obscurity, then he obviously is a disappointing illiterate. The credit, as with all other Imo resources, should not be misappropriated please, it belongs to former Governor Ohakim please!
Eche would be another Sam Onwuemedo not to be grateful to Rochas. But it was Governor Ohakim that inaugurated him Permanent Secretary in 2010 when one of Sam’s sub-bosses and co- travelers was simply an unemployed and destitudenal young man who kept himself busy disrespecting and erotically molesting the children of his boss. So the credit of Eche’s appointment really belongs to former Governor Ohakim. In any case no one around Sam and his people was qualified, in the remotest way, to be so appointed. Eche had a Master’s Degree even when others were forging NYSC certificates. He was a Fellow of the most respected Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, the Chartered Institute of Taxation, and the Chartered Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Nigeria even at that time. In 2009, Eche became a nominee and winner of the State level National Order of Merit Award hence the NPOM that follows his name. That’s only a few of who Eche was back in the days when Sam was displaying crass and criminal unintelligence in the media world. May we therefore pause to ask Sam if in his over eight years of licking his paymasters’ arses, he had found among them, their family and friends anyone, even one, so certificated.
And what’s all the fuss about gratitude? Everyone gets help from someone at some point. Appointing a very highly qualified, efficient, effective, proficient, prolific and celebrated accountant as Accountant-General was an obvious beneficial plus for Sam’s Government. At the time, Eche was the most senior Accountant not only in his beloved Civil Service but also in the entire Public Sector of Imo State. Sam can call the usual Family meeting for verification. The Solomon Lars, Kumasis, Gambos et al on whose cushioning shoulders Sam and his people rose from adject poverty to wealth, prominence and power have not demanded their blood in return. Haba!!! And we put it to Sam that if anybody in their Family Tree, dead or alive, could have done the job, even Sam would not be offered one. He would be here drinking alomo bitters with tramadol for another person’s “High”.
While we are at it, someone should tell lousy Sam that Mr Eche’s house in Owerri was built in year 2000, eleven long years before he got the track-dog job he’s now straining to do with so much hard labour. Who expects more from Sam, can he be cerebral? Can he dwell on issues? We understand that he has been stepped- down from serving d State to serving a man and for his clownish mediocrity will soon be demoted to serving an in-law!
And by the way, those Sam works for and listens to are advised to give him a year or two off so he can embark on some journalism course that will include “how not to misguide your principal”. When Sam was “in power” he displayed what he learned in the “Divide and Rule” school of thought by dismantling his own professional union the INPA. Before the cock could crow once, Sam, in a bid to corner for himself a fraction of the pitiable “Trans” laboriously released to publishers on an irregular basis, divided the Association. Those who tried to hold the Government accountable and responsible were discriminated against and wise-man- Sam kept back their money for himself!
And who is surprised at Sam anyway? He has shifted his foul mouthedness to the new Government headed by his own towns man even when a thorough assessment of the eight-year locustic and ravaging damage they posted on the State has not been made. Only a clueless man without pedigree and brains can do the hatchet man’s dirty job Sam does.
When it’s time to ask about sudden billionaires, we suggest that Sam should revert to his Principals before he starts what he can’t finish or run where they wouldn’t want him to tread. Eche is a technocrat and professional Accountant and save for attention seeking people like Sam, would not be dragged into how in a few years, people around d unseeing Sam became multi-Billionaires owning hotels in Owerri, Abuja, Lagos, Califonia, South Africa and a number of other cities, filling stations, schools, appropriating Government House Layouts to themselves, owning other choice pieces of land and serviced estates, fleets of exquisite vehicles, mounting billion naira campaigns etc. Even his houses in World Bank low income housing estate (where else could a small time fry be?) and in Mbutu, in Aboh Mbaise, are proceeds of fraud and crime. Let Sam just shut up.
At the time Eche left office as AG, not one kobo was ever reported to have been owed in pensions till date. Sam has access to the records. Pension cheques were printed by Diamond bank and flown into Imo State through Aero Contractors Airline unfailingly on the 24th of every month. These customized Pension cheques, minted in Abuja, were subsequently distributed to our suffering pensioners right in their Local Government Areas through Sub-treasuries. This was done also unfailingly on the 28th of every month baring weekends and public holidays. It’s people of Sam’s genre and haters of anything good and orderly that killed the system after Sir Eche was moved in 2014 to Ministry of Works as Permanent Secretary. Someone should ask back-biting Sam what became of the people that were instructed to probe Sir Eche so that they can hold something against the irrepressible young man. Or doesn’t Sam know that Eche’s staff who was made to succeed him was expressly instructed to dig up and throw up accounting and financial dirt to shut the mouth of her former boss? Doesn’t Sam know that it was people working with him in their unholy and imperfect family alliance that encouraged petitions to the EFCC and other Agencies even when Eche was working to cover their dirty stinking arses?
Anyways the Eche we know can never be used against anybody. Sir Eche has his own mind which endlessly pained Sam and his fellow destroyers of our fledgling State. He is humble and respectful and believes in order. He will not insult even children, quite unlike those who were hired to do nothing else than annoy our collective sensibilities with bad English, foul language and warped logic, defame the integrity of high profile Imo sons and daughters, and ridicule the noble profession of journalism he should promote with some sanctity.
We recall that Sir Eche once published in the social media that if anyone wanted to discuss families n ‘loosed waist”, whatever that means, let them bring it on. We won’t discuss wife-beaters and HIV carriers here, even healthy ones. We also know that Mr Eche will not let us discuss such travesties as incest, bigamy, lesbianism, bisexuality and all d rest. And by the way, who’s dripping with people of polygamous marriages, home and away? Let Sam look in the mirror and ask questions around him in his immediate environment,! Let him also try and read his bible, that is if his several marabouts and the ‘jazz’ around his waist will allow him, about what sent Joseph to jail in Egypt before talking about Mr Eche.
As for demarketing the APC, even Sam is a culprit. Reports have it that he made no attempt whatsoever to disburse the N80million or so he received to sell his unmarketable product to his ward, probably the only wise decision his gonorrheaed mind may have taken in eternity. Well I think I agree with him on this, afterall , what’s d need spending millions on a project in which even the number two man has widely withdrawn from, calling it a failed ‘project”.
But that the Government of the past administration grossly demarketed their own APC party is clear. That Sam’s folks were thoroughly rejected even with the billions they spent is also a truism. That the voting population voted against Sam’s people despite the N10,000.00 or so per vote on offer speakes volumes…but wise Sam kept his own loot. Wasn’t it this same man that arranged his own Golgotha, gave his phone to his staff to video him in 2015 while ‘arrangee soldiers ‘ beat him up and rolled him on the ground. Talking about dubious wisdom, with the video, we hear he collected a parcel of land in dubious pacification.
In his filthy piece, Sam averred that the Imo APC did well. REALLY? Somebody should remind this brain-drained Sam that the Imo House of Assembly is not populated by APC legislators as we speak. Is that good for a Government that entered into an election as the folk in power? Thank God for our two Senators who practically passed through the stormy eye of the needle to make it. Let statistical Sam tell the world how many of the 10 Federal House members representing Imo state are of APC extraction. Last time we checked, the present occupant of Douglas House is not of the APC stalk and yet billions of naira were disbursed. For crying out loud, Sam and his people led the APC to an inglorious position, not 1st, not 2nd, not 3rd but a distant 4th position eventhough the APC was the party in power and reasonable Sam is still vibrating. If Imo APC that lost the Government house did well and Sam thinks it’s ok, what would have happened if APC was properly led to win three more states in the south east. And yes, it was achievable if Government did not recklessly burn its goodwill from all ends including the Civil Service, the LG system, the Pension system, the Market system, the Transport system, the tertiary institutions and the entire education system excepting the over emphasized and over touted free education programme, the clergy and the church including deliberate attempts to dichotomize and polarizing the catholic church along zonal fault lines. Which group was left untouched. Where would the votes come from?
Let’s recall the wave of popularity and populism in which the then APGA Government was ushered in. Sam should recall that for years all of Imo State fought anybody and everybody who talked Ill of the Government. Even some Governors in the south east were uncomfortable hearing that our person was visiting! Recalling one visit to Aba city, both Imo and Abia citizens closed shops to welcome their very august visitor. What happened to all that goodwill. Sam’s people sold it on credit and are unapologetic. Their boy simply is a N25billion naira ‘bad market’, a colossal and monumental disaster.
No one needed a soothsayer to tell the Imo APC stakeholders that they were badly placed going into the 2019 guber elections. How could a house stand when it was divided against itself…and all for one man? An APC man could be seen discussing with his fellow APC man simply because one belonged to the “Coalition”. You would rather be seen with opposition people than your fellow party members! Growing up we were thought that a pig had this uncanny attitude of eating her babies (piglets) if very hungry. How wrong they were! The Imo APC built a big beautiful house and then went out to hire hoodlums with Monday-hammers. Sam’s folks destroyed this boisterous house and instead of reconstructing it, ugly Sam is busy spreading dog rabies with his infection-ridden teeth.
The statement that Eche and others were empowered between 2011 and 2019 is neither here nor there. Let Sam name anyone empowered by the Imo APC under his principal who was not a hypocritical member of the dubious and very unpopular ‘unholy imperfect alliance’.
The few who got something simply did so because they didn’t mind being used. Some sold their conscience and did dirty executioner jobs, others like Sam simply told them only the lies they wanted to hear. Party officials were totally disregarded. Appointees were only considered for inclusion if they “cued” in. Roads and drainages were funded only for the purpose of, and close to the election.
Was there a gang up? How could all known politicians in Imo state, including those that were derided as having been forcefully “retired” speak in one accord only for one person riding on the crest of our collective mandate decide our fate? Why was all of Imo, almost all 5 million wise and intelligent people united in rejecting this evil? Our people had never been so united. Imo people simply borrowed the principle of ” ohashirism”. They, in unity, cooked for Sam’s people to eat, drink and make merry. With large stomachs, billion naira deep, they could never have finished the food. Imo cooked simply too much for Sam and his people.
Most big men in Imo have drivers too. These drivers take the children of these big men to school and bring them back, intact hopefully. Some of these drivers grow to become Personal Assistants to their ‘oga’. Even if they ‘crush’ on multiple of their boss’ family members, even marry some, none among these big men have tried to foist their aides on Imo people. Come to think of it, didn’t former Governors Sam Mbakwe, Evan Enwerem, Achike Udenwa, Ikedi Ohakim have drivers and PAs? Didn’t they have children, both male and female? Didn’t they have brothers, sisters , relations, kit and kin? If Dee Sam Mbakwe’s driver, turned PA, turned this, that and the other, turned in law, forced on Imolites, would 2011 have happened?
Finally, Sam does not realize, with his people that every worthy General goes to war with a plan B, even C. If ‘Mr A’ wasn’t good, there were lots of people to choose from. From all 9 local government areas in Owerri zone, there must have been people worthy of that coveted seat. Assuming, without conceding anything, all of Owerri zone had nobody, there was Okigwe zone’s six Local Government Areas to go to. Even assuming also that Okigwe and its people couldn’t produce even one righteous man (as per the bible) the good people of Orlu could have produced 50 righteous men. It didn’t have to be one uncouched, uncoached and untutored fellow being foisted on the most educated state in Nigeria. If that evil succeeded, it would have been a case of the worst of us ruling the best of us. What’s the young man’s pedigree except that he was a former PA, never worked in any sane and organized environment, pushed, then rushed through juicy offices in a Government where due process was eloquently tagged “iberiberim” chapter 1 verse 1.
There should have been a reconsideration at some point. Must the turbulence in the party run forever? Isn’t there an end to litigation as lawyers say? Couldn’t the party have been made to salvage something? Must we continue to take the grace of God for granted? Was it too difficult to see that ‘Ohashiersm’ is, for the most part, like Karma, going to catch up with defaulters even if we were the ones who propounded the theories?
In all these, through those heady stormy days, a natural leadership ought to take stock and make projections and recalculations along the lines of project “SWOT”. And for the likes of those with defective and fatally impaired certificates in ‘Religious Studies ‘ from Alvan Ikoku College of Education, I am talking here about “STRENGHTS, WEAKNESSES, OPPURTUNITIES, THREATS “. In many cases our top leadership could have retraced their steps. Instead another PA to the glorified PA was crowned Imo APC’s topmost leader. It was only a matter of time, Imo APC was pushed to the very top of a precipice..it was going to tip and tumble.
All in all Imo APC is bleeding from self inflicted wounds, that is, if anyone is accommodating enough to call Sam and his people members of the Imo APC party. Someone should please tell Mr. Onwuemeodo that it’s time to build, not to scatter which has become their second skin. Much as I am not a member of the APC, not an apologist of the Party and infact one of those who fasted that the Party be voted out of power to save Imolites from an impending genocide it is my sincere opinion that the Imo APC and its members must move away from the deliberate but tyrannical and perfect disequilibrium it was made to suffer. With some luck and with encouraging help from both the National Office in the Villa, Imo APC will rise over and above those who selfishly and greedily supervised its installmental dismemberment. My first letter to Onwuemedo while he was yet running his office as a tyrannical CPS got him in coma until after 4 years. I hope this time, I get a reply to this piece from Onwuemedo where I hope he will know to apologize to Sir George Eche for those unwarranted vituperative remarks upon the person of this Ngor Okpala born technocrat and to me also for pushing me to pen down such a lengthy volume just to help insane people regain some sanity.
Victor Iyama (meetiyamanow@gmail.com) 08038546266 writes from Owerri.
