𝐁𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐍𝐳𝐞
Certainly, these are not the best of times for the former Governor of Imo state, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, his woes first started when the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole denied his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, the gubernatorial ticket as a consensus candidate of the party in Imo state without the usual primary election, after collecting well over half a million dollars from Nwosu, who was then the Chief of Staff to Okorocha, and incidentally, the husband of his first daughter, Uloma.
Okorocha who before then had a good relationship with Oshiomhole, and contributed immensely to the latter becoming the party chairman, thought that it would be a very smooth transition of power from him to his stooge, Nwosu, was highly disappointed when Oshiomhole dealt him the first blow which was literally in obedience to the order of the Nigerian Northern Caliphate not to allow Okorocha build such political dynasty. Okorocha and his son-in-law fought gallantly but unfortunately, the odds were already against them, and they could no longer get the endorsement of APC.
Swiftly, Okorocha pushed his son-in-law into Action Alliance party, and formidably fought for the gubernatorial race, again, failure hit him, and Nwosu really hard, this time after spending nearly ten billion naira. Imo indigenes, completely rejected Nwosu, and anything that represented Okorocha, and voted massively for the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Honourable Emeka Ihedioha, whom they voted against in 2011 for Okorocha to emerge as the Governor.(But the second tenure, he rigged himself back into power) That defeat by PDP not only hurt the ego of Okorocha but a clear prelude to the crashing of his proposed political dynasty.
Okorocha, as cunning as a fox, had cleverly schemed his strategy of replicating what Asiwaji Bola Tinubu did in the South-West, where he now controls the political structures of the South-West geopolitical zones not just as a Mafia boss but Capo Di Tutti Capo. Okorocha’s schemes would have been pretty successful like Tinubu’s, given the deteriorated Nigeria’s polity, which has given rise to unemployment among the youths, hunger, and extreme poverty in the country, if he had not been greedier than Tinubu, and restricted the loot from Imo state’s coffer to him, and his family. Okorocha only rewards loyalty in his family thus beyond that, he has nothing to do with it.
Okorocha’s greed earned him so many enemies in the state including his kinsmen who hardly benefited from his thievery. The masses disdained him with indescribable passion. Perhaps he would have been tolerated or even liked among majority of Imo indigenes if he were a ‘sharer’ who regularly dished out public funds to loyalists like Tinubu did, since the Nigeria of today, appreciates such rakishness which has been plaguing the country. Tinubu, as a looter, before the 2019 elections had two bullion vans fully stocked with cash ferried into his Bourdillon mansion, gathered quite a number of people who were to vote in that election, and shared the money to them. The results after, were that his party won Lagos both for the Governorship and Presidential elections. He craftily bought the conscience of the people in the name of votes.
The indigenes of Imo state would have truly ignored Okorocha’s imposition of stooge in the person of Nwosu if he had actually fulfilled even a quarter of his ‘too good-to be’ true campaign promises via the manifesto of, “Imo Rescue Mission.” Okorocha who was elected as the Governor of Imo state on a platter of gold due to the perceived public image of him, possessing a great humane personality, and the lenient way he was giving free education however many very oblivious of the fact on how Okorocha was getting so much international funding for the cause but remitting very little of it for the same project.
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Imo people saw him as a Messiah, when he came on the platform of All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA) to run for the Imo Governorship election in 2011. To people of Imo state, he was actually, the succour they needed to assuage the grief they had been subjugated to by the Chief Ikedi Ohakim’s administration.
In fairness to Ohakim, he had a clear blueprint of how he wanted to turn Imo into a model city but, his approach towards the realisation of that goal was very crude, which the sophisticated, and highly civilised Owerri people, that were from the state capital saw as a big affront to their intellect, and high level of education, they tried ceaselessly to reach out to Ohakim, but all efforts were futile as the Governor was bent on doing things his own way. Owerri people felt slighted that Ohakim who hails from Okigwe,(a zone quite big however not considered as highly civilised as Owerri), could terribly humiliate them, and they rejected his continuation.
Ohakim’s rejection was further worsen when he fell out with the Catholic faith, and Imo state is predominately Catholic. It was alleged that he ordered his aide to flog a Reverend Father but in actuality, Ohakim knew nothing about the incident. And his rash way of talking to Imo people made them want him out of the way, not that he owed backlog of salaries and pensions.
In the hit of the Reverend Father assault saga, and election drawing closer, the Archbishop of Owerri, Dr Anthony Obinna, a charismatic cleric, and highly revered, organised debate for the gubernatorial candidates at the Maria Assumpta Villa in Owerri , and the prominent candidates in attendance were: Chief Ikedi Ohakim,(the incumbent Governor), Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, and Owelle Rochas Okorocha, among the three candidates, Ohakim had the most salient manifesto, and pragmatic presentation then followed by Ararume, Okorocha’s was the least but the most acceptable by Imo indigenes, even though he was being hilariously entertaining with his points, which earned him several rounds of applause and cheers, Imo people literally fell in love with him, the body language of the Archbishop was clear that Okorocha was his preferred candidate, and as much as the Catholic faithfuls were concerned, the decision of the Archbishop was incontestable. Shortly, election day came, and they graciously voted for Okorocha, he defeated the incumbent in a landslide victory.
Okorocha’s victory then in 2011 threw the state into a frenzy of excitement, the young and old were delighted that eventually, their liberator had arrived but the few who really knew him, cried and tried to explain to Imo people who cared to listen that Okorocha was simply a crook. Of course many ignored them for labeling their ‘Messiah’ with such a derogatory name.
Immediately, Okorocha was sworn in as a Governor, he borrowed over 5 billion naira from one of the new generation banks in Nigeria, settled Chief Martin Agbaso, who practically relinquished his party ticket for him with 1 billion naira, and accepted the offer he agreed with Agbaso to make his younger brother Jude Agbaso, a Deputy Governor. Everybody was happy. Martin Agbaso was already seeing himself as a Godfather, and would still become a Governor after the one tenure, for he had a gentleman’s agreement with Okorocha that he was going to do only one term but quite a pity, Agbaso did not realise that he had been deceived. Owelle orchestrated a scam, and nailed his brother Jude, with it, and he was impeached, labelled a looter until recently, that he was cleared of the allegations but unfortunately the damage had been done.
The percipient Okorocha succeeded in dismantling Godfatherism in the state’s politics, and overtly became an emperor. In his shrewdness, he tried to make the bank forgo the loan but the financial institution bluntly refused, and nearly embarrassed him before he managed to use the state’s funds to pay off the loan. Then he began his massive looting, made governance in Imo, a family business by bringing almost all his relations into the government house, and ministries. The most ridiculous was when he created the ministry of happiness, and placed his younger sister in charge of it as a commissioner. His immediate family entirely ran the affairs of Imo state, and no one had the right to question him, and his selfishness.
Okorocha became a god unto himself. And even renamed Buhari, ‘Okechukwu’, an Igbo name which literally means, ‘God’s Gift’ while struggling to gather votes for him in the South-East. He managed to pull quite a considerable amount of votes for his ‘Okechukwu,’ compared to the other South-Eastern states. Finally, ‘Okechukwu’ just as he, Okorocha defeated the incumbent, sent Goodluck Jonathan packing from the presidential villa, and was sworn in as the first President in Nigeria that defeated an incumbent. The Caliphate was elated, the North gloried in their victory, that power had returned to the North after six years despite the fact that they had already held it far longer than all the tribes/ethnic groups in Nigeria. Okorocha was their man, or rather their willing stooge, and they loved you so much.
Years later, towards the end of his second tenure as a Governor, Okorocha made it known that he wanted to be the President of Nigeria, and the Caliphate realising that he meant business, got infuriated with him for having such a lofty ambition only suitable to them hence they calmly waited for him to finish his tenure, then made sure he did not hand over to his son-in-law, they used his fellow Southerner, Adams Oshiomhole to frustrate his efforts. As if that was not enough, they moved quickly and subtly to deny him his mandate as a Senator by using their willing tool – INEC. He threatened and even wept before the Caliphate had pity on him with the hope that he had learnt his bitter lesson, and ordered INEC to issue him, his Certificate of Return.
Confidently, that his woes were over with the Certificate of Return granted to him, he relaxed, and subtly preached his message of 2023 presidential ambition which aroused the suppressed wrath of the Caliphate, and they lurched viciously at him with another of their tool – the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC), sealing his numerous properties acquired as a serving Governor, and seriously indicting him with fraud. The Caliphate compounded his afflictions by expressly giving his successor, Ihedioha, the permission to further humiliate him, and his family, and the recent meeting Ihedioha had with the presidency, was among the things agreed upon if he does not want his own dirty dealings exposed as a former Member of the Federal House of Representatives, and thoroughly dealt with. And Ihedioha, being extremely careful not to get into trouble with the Caliphate is complying happily, while Okorocha and his family are lamenting, their burden has become unbearable, and can only be alleviated or completely taken away by the same Caliphate that slammed it on them in the first place on the condition that Okorocha abjures his presidential ambition, and continues being their slave but, Okorocha is tired of being a slave, and wants the highest office in the land.
Sadly, that is the corner, Okorocha boxed himself, and family into, due to his voracious, and insatiable desire for material acquisition, and political power. He completely betrayed the trust of Imo indigenes, and pledged his unalloyed loyalty to the North. Frankly, everybody has the right to their political or religious affiliations however when one’s allegiance is based on greed and not on conviction of principles then it becomes an uncontrollable lust that would finally lead the individual to ruination.
What Okorocha is facing currently, is just a tip of an iceberg, compared to the severe manner the Caliphate would deal with him. The Caliphate knows pretty well that all of the Southern politicians namely: Bola Tinubu, Rotimi Amaechi, Godswill Akpabio, Adams Oshiomhole, Chris Ngige, Willie Obiano, Orji Kalu including Okorocha betraying their own people to side with them are nothing but hypocrites with ingenuine loyalty, and that is why the Caliphate never hesitates to brutally deal with them when they slightly over step their bounds in order to set an example with them, and scare badly those who might wish to toe same path in the near future. And this for a while has been making most of the Southern politicians, political slaves and stooges of the Caliphate
It is slavery, those Southerners willingly walked into because of their greed for material possessions, and political ambitions. And it is unreasonable for any rational Southerner among the masses having any form of sympathy for them when their task master – the Caliphate begins dealing with them, just as they are humiliating Okorocha.
