UNDERSTANDING THE BITTERNESS OF CHIEF IKEDI OHAKIM
UNDERSTANDING
THE BITTERNESS OF CHIEF IKEDI OHAKIM
ONWUASOANYA
FCC JONES
Before we
get into this discussion proper, some disclaimers are necessary; even though I
belong to the All Progressives Congress, I am not an official of the Party at
any level, even though I am a supporter of the Rescue Mission Government in Imo
State, I do not hold any position in the government, either formally or
informally, hence, I do not get instructions on what to write or what not to
write from any quarters. This article, like others before it, is borne out of a
conviction in me; that lies must not be allowed to thrive in our society.
Speaking and writing the truth are both a passion and a calling, and I will try
as much as possible to remain in this lane without deviating. As a former
supporter of Dr. Ikedi Ohakim, I do not have anything personal against him, but
I put this essay forward as part of my service to humanity, especially,
Imolites, so that they may understand what I think are the motivations for the
former governor’s recent pastime in harassing the hardworking administration of
Owelle Rochas Okorocha, by unnecessarily heating up the polity with badly
created fictions. I appreciate that no opinion is indisputable, and it will be
my pleasure to engage those who feel they owe the former governor a duty to
defend him in the media, if they can come up with arguments based on the issues
I have raised, here. Now, we can talk.
Recently,
most newspapers that are published in Owerri, the Imo State capital, featured
an interview credited to the immediate past governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi
Ohakim, with a good number of these papers trying to sensationalize the
interview by crafting a news article out of the interview and featuring same on
their front pages, with sensational headlines. While the editors of these
newspapers, expectedly, chose different words in carrying the news, the one
that particularly caught my attention was that which chose to go with the
following words; “I WILL LEAD A PROTEST AGAISNT OKOROCHA’S GOVERNMENT- IKEDI
OHAKIM”. The editor of this particular newspaper is both a good editor and a
fine businessman. He plotted this farce so well, made mockery of the former
governor and also had his paper sold out. People rushed to buy the paper, just
to read what the former governor wanted to lead a protest against. A friend
told me he bought the paper so that he would know if the former governor’s
hatred for Imolites had gotten so bad that he wanted to lead a protest against
an administration that has freed the people from the bondage he put them in.
There are many reasons why that paper sold out, but all of them are disdainful
to the former governor.
Everybody
has a right to protest, and in fact everybody can protest, but what should
matter to us is the reason for any protest being embarked upon by any
individual or group. It is important to note that the first ever recorded
protest in the history of the world, is that led by Satan, the Devil. The Devil
led a protest against God, because he was envious of God and sad that God had
prepared great things in stock for mankind. Did the Devil succeed in winning
some Angels of God to his side? He did, and even succeeded in winning humankind
to his inglorious protest. How did he succeed in wooing even those for whom God
had great plans? Through lies, well-coordinated blackmail, propaganda and
telling the people what they wanted to hear. Today, we have demons in Abyss who
were originally angels in Heaven. They are condemned forever, because they
allowed themselves to be taken in by lies, instead of dismissing the Devil and
his cocktail of tactful lies.
People
get angry for different reasons, people protest for different reasons and
people also get happy for different reasons. It is not by mistake that we have
a word ‘sadist’ in the English Dictionary. There are people who do not feel
happy when things are looking good for a majority of the people. Oppressors
will do everything to stop the freedom of the people.
Why is
Shekau fighting? The head of the Boko Haram sect is unrelenting in his protest
against the Federal Government and the people of Nigeria because he does not
want the people to go to school. That is actually the meaning of ‘Boko Haram’;
Education is forbidden. This sounds similar to what a former governor openly said
during his time at the helm, when he openly declared that ‘education is not for
poor people’. There are similarities between this former governor and Shekau,
the leader of the Boko Haram sect. Shekau is fortunate to have accessed formal
Western Education and is deploying the benefits of formal education even in his
fight against the people and government of Nigeria, yet preaches that people
should be barred from accessing formal education. This former governor did not
have very wealthy parents, but he was able to access education up to tertiary
level, yet, he insisted that education is not for the poor and even made it
clear that ‘free education is impossible or non-practicable. Is it possible
that this same former governor is bitter to the point of wanting to lead a
protest against the present administration because the administration has put a
lie to his assertion that free education is impossible and the poor should not
go to school?
Like
Shekau is desperately leading a terrorist attack against Nigeria because he
hates the freedom of the people, a leader who did everything within and even
outside his powers to subjugate the people and whip them into his despotic
line, will do everything to show opposition to an administration that is
dedicated to freeing the people from maladministration and guaranteeing them
their freedom. This is my analysis of the banner headline carried by one of our
local tabloids, which read: I WILL LEAD A PROTEST AGAINST OKOROCHA’S
ADMINISTRATION- IKEDI OHAKIM.
Further
enquiries into the reason for that headline, led me into reading online an
interview former governor, Ikedi Ohakim granted a journalist, Iheanacho Nwosu.
Reading the interview was a huge punishment on its own, as I could not get
myself to terms with the fact that a man I so much respect and did everything
to sell to Imolites nay Nigerians, could be ridiculing himself this much
through uncontrolled exhibition of bitterness. To worsen matters, the former
governor continues to rehash the same lies he told in previous protest matches
he had against the present government. He continues to talk about the quality
of projects. Does he not know that if he had given Imolites, one percent of the
projects Owelle Rochas Okorocha gave to them in his first year in office, he
wouldn’t have been talking as an ex-governor whom the masses rose against and
threw out of office in the most unceremonious manner, but as a former governor
who completed his tenure?
It is
disappointing to read the former governor keep rehashing the lie which he used
to deceive a lot of us, that he left some money in the coffers of Imo State
government in 2011. The former governor forgot that Imo still boasts of the
highest number of graduates in Nigeria, therefore, majority of Imolites cannot
be deceived with something they can actually research on. Imo people know what
bond is and know that it was not money anybody could have spent anyhow without
following certain laid down rules. Imoites are interested in knowing how much
of the about 900 Billion Naira Chief Ohakim received as Federal
allocation, internally generated revenue and other funds, he left in the
coffers of the Imo State government, not a loan he raised through the capital
market. If he did not leave any such money in the account, he should tell
Imolites what he did with the huge allocation he received from the FG,
especially, considering the wonderful relationship he enjoyed with the then,
President, Umoru Yaradua and the fact that some of the bills that were been
paid by the Udenwa administration were no longer paid by his
administration.
Chief
Ohakim should have known that even if he becomes a television host with the
British Broadcasting Corporation or even CNN, where the focus will be on
talking about Imo State under him and the Imo State under Okorocha, no
reasonable person will take him seriously, especially, if he does not point to
any tangible legacy project of his four years tenure as governor. It is
unfortunate that the former governor, who prides himself as a management expert
only talks about the plans he had for Imo, and not what he did for Imo State in
the four years he was governor. Is he telling us that he did not have any plans
before he became governor? Did our former governor use four years of Imo
peoples’ mandate to plan for a governorship he already had?
It is
saddening that the former governor continues to insult the youths of Imo State
by his consistent and spiteful reference to the 10,000 Ponzi scheme; a job
scheme which his administration used to distort the prospects of a lot of Imo
youths. The former governor should understand that Imolites are not foolish,
Imo youths are also not foolish. Writing the name of about 9,000 Imolites in
the Imo State Civil Service Payroll less than one month to the expiration of
his tenure is one of the worst insults any administration has given to the
youths of Imo State. The earliest, some youths got their appointment letter for
that job scheme was in Novemeber, 2010, five months before the 2011 election
and those who were employed then were less than One thousand people.
As
someone who wrote the Aptitude Test and one of the best scorers (I actually
scored 74 in that exam) I turned down the invitation to attend the interview
when it became obvious that the scheme was merely for political purposes, instead
of being targeted at helping our teeming youths get employment into the Imo
State Civil Service as they trumpeted, I know a lot not to keep quiet when this
kind of lies are deployed to blackmail the high performing government of Owelle
Rochas Okorocha. Let me make this very clear, and let it be held against me in
the future; no serious government would have retained those new recruits, if it
really wanted to move forward. About 80% of the beneficiaries of that Ponzi
scheme were yet to be properly deployed before Governor Okorocha took office,
while more than 90% of them were yet to receive a dime as salary from the
government till Owelle Rochas Okorocha took office. That former Governor Ohakim
could deliberately burden the State Civil Service with that number of civil
servants at the twilight of his administration says a lot about how much he
hates Imo State. He didn’t care about how these people would be paid, for he
knew that there was no plan for them to be paid, but he deliberately laid a
booby trap for the incoming government so the new administration would be
trapped in that mess, and fail in its bid to rescue Imo. That the incumbent
governor did not fall into that booby trap is certainly one of the reasons why
he is bitter against the governor and envious of the freedom Imo people now
enjoy.
It is
easy to understand why the former governor could be a very bitter man. It is
also easy to appreciate why he will not stop vomiting his negative bile in the
public. As a sitting governor whose Party also controlled government at the
center, His Excellency, Chief Ikedi Ohakim also had all the security
machineries in his palm. His running mate in that election, Professor Viola
Onwuliri was alleged to have handpicked most of the Returning Officers across
the State, as her husband, Professor Celestine Onwuliri (May God rest his soul)
was the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri from
where these returning officers were selected. The personal assistant to the
Vice-Chancellor (that is husband of the deputy governorship candidate)was one
of these electoral officers.
With the
system obviously on his side, and everything primed to work in his favor, Chief
Ohakim boasted to everyone who cared to listen that; "I will win and I
will win with wide margin". But Imo people proved him wrong, and voted
massively for the Rescuer-in-Chief, Owelle Rochas Okorocha. Ikedi Ohakim did
not only lose, but lost with wide margin, beyond his own imagination.
For a
governor whose signature policy was beautification of Imo State, he could be
bitter learning that apart from planting grasses in some parts of Owerri and
planting flowers in the center of some roads, there is nothing he could do to
achieve that beautification program of his. Owelle Rochas Okorocha, who did not
make any promise to beautify Imo State has shown him how to be creative in
leadership, by making Imo one of the most beautiful cities in Nigeria. Today,
all the unnecessary grasses the former governor planted with all our
allocations have been uprooted, while the trees and flowers that were
embarrassingly planted at the center of our major roads have been uprooted. In
their steads, there are now artificial waterfalls, beautiful and artistically
marvelous monuments, better structures across the State, wider road networks,
beautifully and tastefully planned and scenic environments that have made
Owerri the preferred destination for movie makers in Nigeria, as they have got
locations that can pass for London or even Paris for their films.
Another
thing that spurs people to bitterness is shame. When someone is ashamed that
another person has achieved things he never imagined, he might resort to
bitterness and frustration. The former governor could be ashamed that even in
his own Okigwe zone, the Owelle Rochas Okorocha has put up projects he never
imagined could be in Imo State. We must appreciate how frustrating it could be
for our former governor to drive down from Owerri to his Okohia Retreat and be
embarrassed by the massive structures that Imo has been adorned with. We should
also sympathize with our former governor, because the Okorocha administration
has so embarrassed him with projects and many people oriented policies that
even his Okohia kinsmen have lost every respect for him. Some Okohia friends of
mine, do not hide their disappointment in their brother. Some of them had taken
to the social media in the past to lambast their brother for wasting his
opportunity in power, with some of them stopping short of calling him a total
disappointment to them.
How does
our former governor feel seeing the progress of work at the Okigwe campus of
Imo State University, a project he could have executed for his people, but
failed woefully at? How does our former governor feel, seeing the beautiful
sight Okigwe city has become within the last six years? How does our former
governor feel, driving through the six LGAs in Okigwe zone and seeing new
projects and the smiling faces of poor parents whose children are not deprived
of their right to education? How does our former governor feel seeing the
intervention on our health sector with the new general hospitals built across
the twenty seven LGAs? How does our former governor feel seeing our civil
servants wearing new dresses and smiling so heartily because they are well taken
care of? He couldn’t have felt better than bitter. He will be ashamed and feel
defeated, hence, his resort to lies, propaganda, and constant visits to media
houses to pick holes with the policies of the present administration.
How does
the former governor feel, seeing that both the rich and the poor are living in
a new and modernized Owerri, without any threat from the governor’s wife that
those who do not have up to One Million Naira in their accounts, should be
evicted from Owerri? How does the former governor feel, seeing even widows very
close to his own house benefiting from the over 300 houses built for indigent
widows across the State by the First Lady? How does our former governor feel,
seeing that children of the poorest of the poor are not only going to school
but also getting jobs and getting opportunities to contribute their quota to
the development of the State? How does our former governor feel seeing that
people can criticize government at will and not be threatened with kidnappers,
arrested at will or even brought to the Government House to be whipped by the
governor, himself? how does our former governor feel seeing that an incumbent
governor regularly organizes an event where ordinary Imolites with any form of
complaint against the government are given opportunity to openly vent their
anger before the governor? how does our former governor feel seeing the
numerous industries and businesses that are springing up across the State as a
result of the humane and conducive business environment created by the Rescue
Mission Administration? How does our former governor feel, seeing that Imo
people are now free? Bitter, ashamed or frustrated? I shall investigate and get
back to you.
GOD HAS
BLESSED IMO STATE!
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