The consensus opinion in Imo State as of today is that Rochas Okorocha, the state governor since May 29, 2011, has failed abysmally. Okorocha rode to power in 2011 on the back of the goodwill of the masses of Imo State, admitting shortly after the election that it was the first time he had prosecuted an election without spending a kobo of his personal money. The masses of Imo State, who saw Okorocha’s touted philanthropy as a sign that he would be a good administrator, made voluntary contributions to the Okorocha campaign.
Soon after he came to power, Okorocha further won the affection of the people when he announced plans to grant free tuition to all Imo citizens studying in the state’s institutions of higher learning. He also had a similar welfare package for primary and secondary school children in the state. He embarked on massive opening up of roads, especially within Owerri capital city.
READ ALSO: Imo state IGR hits N I.2bn dwindling IGR expected
This honeymoon period was, however, short-lived, especially following Okorocha’s numerous misadventures, including his dumping of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), a party under whose platform he won the election and which he in 2011 described as an Igbo identity and culture, to the extent of urging all Igbo to join the party to be identified. Analysts say the governor’s rating among Imo people dropped considerably long before the 2015 elections as he no longer enjoyed the kind of massive support that brought him to power in 2011.
Okorocha’s dumping of APGA for the All Progressives Congress (APC), largely perceived by the people as a Yoruba party, and his efforts to win victory for Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 elections, against popular sentiments in the South-East, convinced Imo people that he was anti-Igbo. That he won his re-election bid is still a mystery to many.
The governor’s imperial style of governance has put him on warpath with even prominent members of his party in the state who have accused him of running the state as a personal empire, favouring only members of his family and friends in appointments to public offices.
READ ALSO: Imo guber: Again court affirms Uzodinma’s election
Some of his sins, according to a press statement by Imo People’s Action for Democracy (IPAD), a coalition of civil society groups, activists, faith-based groups, professional bodies, community-based organisations, among others, include lack of due process and respect for rule of law; waste of scarce resources on non-economically viable and life-improving ventures; refusal to fully pay workers’ salaries, pension arrears and gratuity to pensioners; issuance of dud cheques to pensioners; failure to account for the bailout funds, Paris refunds and other loans collected; use of state fund and apparatus in conducting his personal business, and illegal demolitions and displacement of people resulting to loss of means of livelihood by thousands of Imolites even against restraining court orders.
Others are nepotism and ‘familiocracy’; unending grabbing of land using government powers and conversion of same to personal properties; refusal to conduct local government election and failure to account for the trillions of naira that has been allocated to that tier of government for over six years, and construction of poor quality infrastructures and increasing multiples of abandoned projects in the state, IPAD said in a statement announcing that it would hold a one-week peaceful rally tagged OCCUPY IMO from December 18-24, 2017 in Owerri as a response of the people to the increasing height of bad governance in the state which is now attaining its peak.
“The time and venue for this protest have been strategically chosen to ensure that the state government’s usual ploy of diverting the attention of Christmas returnees away from the rot in governance through impressionist cosmetic beautification of the state is thwarted. The protest will therefore keep the people conscious about their sufferings in the hands of the government,” IPAD said in the statement.
Beyond these, Imolites have not forgotten the way Okorocha sacked the 10,000 Imo graduates employed in the state civil service by his predecessor, his shabby treatment of duly elected local government chairmen and councillors, his attempt to pass the so-called ‘Abortion Law’ which drew the ire of the Christian faithful in the state, among others.
READ ALSO: MPC hails Supreme Court’s review of Imo governorship election judgement
The governor has recently become a butt of many jokes following his unveiling of the statue of South African President Jacob Zuma in Owerri, as well as the recent appointment of his sister, Ogechi Ololo, who is deputy chief of staff, as Commissioner for Happiness and Purpose Fulfilment.
But the last straw may be his ploy to install his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, as his successor come 2019. Even though Okorocha has yet to make a categorical statement in this regard, political observers say the signs are not lost on them.
Recall that in the build-up to the 2015 elections when he was consumed by his bound-to-fail presidential ambition, Okorocha had relinquished the APC governorship ticket to Nwosu to contest in the party’s presidential primaries. When he lost out at the primaries, he had quickly returned to take back his ticket. Had he succeeded in his presidential bid, then his son-in-law would have flown the APC flag in the governorship race in the state in 2015.
Perhaps it is in the bid to stop Okorocha that some governorship hopefuls are showing their feet early enough ahead of 2019. Nigerian Horn, an Owerri-based newspaper, reports that political activities are gradually gathering momentum in the state as those who are interested in replacing Okorocha in the Douglas House are beginning to make their intentions known. While some have declared their interests openly, some are giving hints through fan clubs or youth movements drumming their support, while yet others are engaging in underground consultations with notable stakeholders and the electorates in their bid to gain a foothold before INEC officially opens the political window.
Governorship hopefuls
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) parades the likes of Hope Uzodinma, a senator representing Orlu Senatorial zone. Uzodimma, a two-time senator, was first elected into the Senate in 2011 on the platform of the PDP, defeating his opponents Achike Adenwa, a former governor of Imo State who ran on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and APGA’s Rajis Okpalan Benedicta.
Uzodinma, who currently heads the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise & Tariff, wielded great influence in Imo PDP during the time of Udenwa as Imo governor. The duo, however, fell out in late 2002 when Uzodimma declared his interest to join the race for Douglas House. Uzodimma decamped to Alliance for Democracy (AD) under whose platform he prosecuted, and lost, the April 2003 governorship election. In February 2004, he returned to the PDP and, in December 2006, ran in the party’s primaries for the state governorship slot. Again, he lost the bid.
Former Governor Ikedi Ohakim is also said to have numerous interest groups in the state canvassing for his return. Ohakim lost the governorship seat in 2011 to Okorocha despite having the power of incumbency as well as other factors in his favour. He was practically rejected by the masses of Imo due to his numerous perceived sins against the people. He is the only governor in the state since 1999 who has lost a re-election bid. He tried to stage a comeback in 2015 but lost the PDP ticket to Emeka Ihedioha.
BD SUNDAY also gathers that Ihedioha, the PDP candidate in the 2015 governorship election in the state, has not relinquished his ambition. Ihedioha, a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, is said to have a well-oiled political machine that is currently traversing the nook and cranny of the state seriously wooing the Imo electorate through many youth groups and fan clubs.
Ihedioha, who hails from Aboh Mbaise, Owerri zone, came second in the 2015 Imo governorship election. He polled 320,705 votes out of the total 806,764 votes cast in the election, behind Okorocha’s 416,996 votes and ahead of the 28,434 votes gathered by APGA’s Emmanuel Ihenacho.
Frank Nneji, chairman of Associated Bus Company (ABC) Plc, is another son of Aboh Mbaise who has made known his intention to run for the governorship ticket of APGA. The transport magnet, while declaring his intention at the state party secretariat, called on Imo citizens to join the process of rebuilding the state.
The University of Nigeria-trained scientist, who served as director of transport in the university’s Student Union Government (SUG), told party faithful that his business, ABC plc, remains the only Imo State-based corporate business organisation that is quoted at the Nigerian Stock Exchange and that the conglomerate continues to power Imo economy as the highest employer of labour outside the public sector.
Meanwhile, Okey Ezeh, who lost the APGA ticket to Ihenacho in 2015, is still in the fray. A reliable source, who confirmed that Ezeh has made his intention public, quoted him as saying that as a newcomer in the party, Nneji ought to queue up behind older interests.
Ezeh, who has a wealth of banking experience spanning over a decade and a half, rising to senior managerial cadre with core competence in relationship management of public sector, infrastructural and telecommunications businesses, is currently chief executive officer of Savvycorp Limited, cutting-edge treasury management, financial and investment advisory located in Victoria Island, Lagos, which caters to a slew of multinational blue-chip clientele.
In 2006, Okey Ezeh was the first franchise holder of the European Armoured Trucks Bureau (BV) of the Netherlands to introduce secure armoured Cash-in-Transit transport for Nigerian banks, setting the stage for the authorities to make armoured transportation compulsory for CIT operations of all Nigerian banks in late 2007. He was foreign investment partner/adviser to the Nigeria Investment Promotions Commission (NIPC) at the 5th edition of the Nigeria-China Business and Investment Forum in 2007.
The Ahiazu Mbaise-born Ezeh graduated top of his class (Mass Communication) in 1991 from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from University of Benin.
Phillips Oduoza, a former group managing director/chief executive officer of United Bank for Africa (UBA) plc, is being urged to join the race for Douglas House even though he has not shown any interest. Many believe that Oduoza, who hails from Ogbaku in Owerri zone of the state, has what it takes to turn the fortunes of the state around.
In July 2016, at the launch of a book of essays in honour of Oduoza, Alex Otti, a former GMD/CEO of Diamond Bank plc, encouraged the retiring UBA boss to go into politics and use his wealth of professional experience gathered over a period of 30 years to get his home state of Imo out of the woods.
Oduoza, a first-class brain and professional banker of repute is remembered for his key role in the successful merger of Standard Trust Bank (STB) Plc and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc. In his position as executive director, Shared Services (HCM, Operations technology, Corporate Services and Corporate Banking), and later executive director, Electronic/Transaction Banking of the then newly merged bank, Oduoza interfaced with the merger consultants, McKinsey, and led “a workforce that achieved full business integration of IT, human capital, products and business processes of the merger between STB Plc and the old UBA Plc to produce the largest financial services group in the West African sub-region”. And as GMD/CEO of UBA Plc from 2010, he “consolidated UBA’s position as a leading bank in Africa with operations in 19 African countries and three global financial centres – New York, London and Paris – offering banking and financial services to over 11 million customers”.
Apart from Uche Nwosu who is being touted as Okorocha’s anointed successor, APC, the ruling party in the state, parades governorship hopefuls like Osita Izunaso, the party’s national organising secretary. Izunaso, who recently marked his 51st birthday, was elected into the Senate in 2007 under the platform of the PDP to represent Orlu zone. It was he who dislodged the maverick Francis Arthur Nzeribe whose ambition was to be a life senator. Izunaso was, however, displaced by Hope Uzodimma in 2011. He thereafter abandoned the PDP and closed ranks with Okorocha in the APC.
Izunaso, in and out of the Senate, has continued to throw about philanthropic gestures to the less privileged using his Kpakpando Foundation. Many say this is a subtle way of watering the ground for his ambition. After all, Okorocha won the hearts of Imo people using his Rochas Foundation.
Eze Madumere, current deputy governor of the state, who hails from Owerri zone, is also said to be using groups and associations to reach major APC stalwarts in his bid to replace his boss in 2019.
Another APC governorship hopeful worth mentioning is Ifeanyi Godwin Araraume, who represented his Okigwe zone in the Senate from 1999-2007.
Araraume, who left the senate in 2007 and joined the race for the Imo governorship seat under the PDP platform, has become some sort of a serial aspirant to Douglas House.
The PDP primaries in the state in 2007 was marred by irregularities, even though some reports said that Araraume won, eventually resulting in the party declaring that it had no candidate in the governorship race.
When Ikedi Ohakim, an aggrieved PDP governorship aspirant who crossed over to Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA), was declared the winner in the election, the former senator instituted a court case against him that lasted for almost the entire stretch of Ohakim’s four-year tenure. In the end, Araraume lost the governorship seat, finances, as well as people’s sympathy.
In 2011, he ran for the governorship seat under the ACN. His campaign was poorly funded, and he lost again.
In 2015, Araraume was said to have supported Rochas Okorocha because Okorocha would, in turn, support him in 2019.
One of APC’s strongholds in Imo, he has again indicated his interest to contest the 2019 guber election and is already working assiduously towards it.
Other names being bandied about include Chike Okafor, a former accountant-general of the state under Okorocha and currently a member of the House of Representatives, who hails from Obowu in Okigwe zone of the state; Ike C. Ibe, who hails from Obowu and who has run for the governorship more than twice; and Linus Okorie, a versatile television producer and public speaker, who hails from Oguta (Orlu zone).
Others are Chukwudi Mayor Eze (Orlu zone), who is said to have floated several groups to advance his ambition; Athan Achonu, who lost the Okigwe zonal senatorial seat to Benjamin Uwajumogu, a former speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly; Jude Ejiogu, a former secretary to the Imo State Government (Owerri North); Jude Njoku, a professor, who hails from Ngor Okpala (Owerri zone); George Eche, also from Ngor Okpala; Collins Osuagwu, and Matthew Omegara, who are said to be in serious consultations.
Uche Nwosu’s controversial endorsement
Uche Nwosu’s ambition – or rather, Okorocha’s ambition for his son-in-law – seems to be tearing apart the Imo State House of Assembly.
Only recently, Henry Ezediaro, chairman of the House of Assembly Committee on Petroleum, Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission and Niger Delta Development Commission, announced to a press conference in Owerri that the House had unanimously anointed Uche Nwosu as the man to succeed Okorocha in 2019.
Ezediaro, who represents Oguta State Constituency in the Assembly, claimed the decision to endorse Nwosu was reached after the majority of the state’s lawmakers declared him the best to run for the position.
But Acho Ihim, Speaker of the House, reacting through a press statement issued by his chief press secretary, Marcel Ekwezuo, debunked Ezediaro’s claim.
“Uche Nwosu is one of our own and is eminently qualified to contest the governorship of our dear state. No doubt, he is a member of the APC and a citizen of lmo State and these, therefore, give him the right to vote and be voted for,” the statement said.
“However, it needs to be made clear that at no time did the members of the lmo State House of Assembly, which comprises elected members of the APC and the PDP, meet and endorse Ugwumba Uche Nwosu as our preferred governorship candidate or any person for that matter,” it said.
The speaker said the job of elected members of the House of Assembly is to make laws and make resolutions at the plenary that will impact positively on the lives of the people of lmo State and that endorsement of candidates for whatever position is not part of it.
Ezediaro, however, insists that the fact that the House leadership says it is not in support of the endorsement does not reduce the fact that majority of the House members met and endorsed Nwosu as the next governor, adding that they were standing on their decision and would soon make public the names of the members who endorsed Nwosu.
For his part, Nwosu is not resting on his oars as already, several groups like the Ugwumba Vanguard, Ugwumba Movement, etc, have taken strategic billboards to promote the gubernatorial ambition of the Nkwerre-born politician, who is currently Okorocha’s chief of staff.
The plot against Okorocha, APC thickens
The speculation that Nwosu is Okorocha’s anointed successor is fuelling anger and resentment among Imo people who have vowed to reject Okorocha and everything he stands for, including the APC, in 2019. Many Imolites say Nwosu would be governor of Imo State in 2019 only over their dead bodies as Okorocha would have to kill all of them before he could install his son-in-law in Douglas House.
Even Imolites in the diaspora are making commitments to be home for the election to ensure that Okorocha and his APC are stripped of their excesses and chased out of the Government House and out of the state in 2019.
Many say with all the enlightened minds and great achievers that Imo State parades, it is an insult for the Okorocha goons to shamelessly proclaim Nwosu as the best-qualified person for the governorship in 2019.
Some political observers say Okorocha’s ploy to install Nwosu is dead on arrival. For these observers, no one from Orlu zone has any moral justification to aspire to rule Imo State at least for another 20 years.
Uche Onyeagocha, an APC chieftain in the state, told journalists in Aba, Abia State, in an interview that Imo people would resist Okorocha’s attempt to install his son-in-law as successor. Onyeagocha, a former member of the House of Representatives, said the battle to stop Okorocha was hinged on equity in the governance of Imo State.
“We are working hard and we are discussing with Governor Rochas Okorocha who is trying to smuggle in his son-in-law as next governor. It is unacceptable. I think everybody must understand that it’s about equity, ofo na ogu, justice and fairness. And I’m certain that come 2019 an Owerri man will emerge as governor of Imo State in the interest of equity,” he said.
It is pertinent to elaborate that Orlu zone has dominated the Imo governorship seat since 1999. Achike Udenwa, an Orlu son, ruled for eight years, 1999-2007. Rochas Okorocha, another Orlu son, is completing the second leg of his eight years, 2011-2019. Okigwe has only ruled for four years, 2007-2011. Owerri is yet to have a go.
If Okorocha succeeds in installing his son-in-law, who, incidentally, is another Orlu, son, as governor, that would mean 20 years for Orlu, four years for Okigwe, and zero years for Owerri.
A subtle strategy
A source within Imo APC, however, told BD SUNDAY that Okorocha is not even keen on the Uche Nwosu project but is only using it as a strategy to increase his bargaining power.
“He knows that Uche Nwosu will be a hard sell, not only because Nwosu is his son-in-law but also because of the Orlu factor. So he is not very keen on that,” the source said.
“Though he is still looking at what is on the table, Okorocha seems to have his eyes on Chike Okafor, his former accountant general who is now in the House of Representatives. Okafor is from Okigwe zone. So, Okorocha wants to put Nwosu forward, and when he is rejected by the party, as he surely would, then he would play his last card, Chike Okafor, whose candidature would likely not suffer much opposition,” he said.
A political observer who prefers anonymity told BD SUNDAY that Okorocha’s desperation to rule Imo State by proxy, whether through Uche Nwosu, Chike Okafor or anyone else, may have stemmed from the fact of his realisation that he killed his political career even before it had begun. Many had thought that he was a future presidential hopeful, but his time in the Imo Government House has opened the eyes of many, who say Okorocha as president of Nigeria may even be worse than a combination of Buhari and United States President Donald Trump.
Why Nwosu must be stopped
Political pundits say Imo people do not need a soothsayer to tell them that electing Uche Nwosu – or any other candidate anointed by Okorocha – as governor in 2019 simply amounts to extending Okorocha’s evil reign by other means. Nwosu owes whatever he is in life, including even the air he breathes, to Okorocha.
Born on August 8, 1975, Uche Nwosu, who hails from Umunwokwe, Eziama-Obaire in Nkwere LGA of Orlu Zone, graduated from Imo State University, Owerri in 2000.
From his profile found online, Nwosu’s only work experience appears to have been under his latter-day father-in-law. Long before Okorocha came to power as governor, Nwosu had worked with him in many capacities. He was the personal assistant to Okorocha as president of Rochas Foundation; personal assistant to Okorocha when he was special adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo on inter-party relations; director of finance, and later national secretary, of Action Alliance, Okorocha’s brainchild; personal assistant to Okorocha in his capacity as president of the Nigerian Red Cross Society; and later, he served as deputy chief of staff to the founder, Rochas Foundation.
Nwosu is said to be among the thousands of applicants for former Governor Ohakim’s 10,000 state civil service jobs for Imo graduates in 2010. His only desire then was probably to get a government job and earn a decent living.
Then, in 2011, Okorocha came to power and Nwosu, overnight, entered the magnetic field of power. He has moved from deputy chief of staff (operations) to the Imo State governor to the commissioner for lands, to chief of staff, a position he later combined with that of the supervisory commissioner for special duties. In December 2015, Nwosu also headed the committee on arrears of salaries and pensions. And, to crown it all, he became Okorocha’s first son-in-law under marrying the governor’s first daughter, Uloma.
Matching words with action
Political observers say it is a good sign that Imolites, including those in the diaspora, are showing enough anger against the Okorocha administration and what it stands for. There is a widespread belief that left alone, Imolites resident in Imo cannot save the state. These folks have borne the brunt of Okorocha’s misgovernance. They have been brutalised, emasculated, crushed, economically mostly.
Imo’s redemption, some say, lies in the hands of diaspora Imolites with clout and wherewithal, who can call the bluff of local champions like Okorocha and his evil acolytes. They say it is time for Imo citizens in the diaspora to organise themselves and think seriously about the home front and the wasteland it has become.
While some diaspora Imolites have committed themselves to be part of the 2019 process, political analysts say words alone will not bring about the desired change. Words must be matched with action.
Compared to Anambra State which seems to have got its acts together, especially in the quality of its governorship candidates, always parading a line-up of professionals who have achieved great feats in various fields before venturing into elective politics, Imo seems to churn out crooks as governorship candidates, often leaving the people with a choice between the rock and the hard place. Many Imo people believe that since Sam Mbakwe, the state has consistently produced terrible and selfish governors who have often left the state worse than they met it.
One reason for this scenario, pundits say, is that many credible Imo sons and daughters refuse to present themselves for election. As the great philosopher, Plato wrote in ‘The Republic’, “The fate of good men who refuse to become involved in politics is to be ruled by evil men.” Edmund Burke, the 18th Century British statesman, also wrote in his ‘Thoughts on the Cause of Present Discontents’, “All that is necessary for the forces of evil to triumph is for enough good men to do nothing.”
There is ample hope that the light will again shine in the Eastern Heartland as reputable private sector professionals and achievers have declared their interest to run for the governorship election come 2019. Pundits say Imo people must look beyond party affiliations and vote in a credible candidate who would transform Imo from the present “Keke and hotel economy” into a state to be proud of. Recent experience has shown that when faced with a choice between party affiliation and a credible candidate, the people tend to choose the latter. Now that credible people have joined the race, the onus is on Imo people.
CHUKS OLUIGBO
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
