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Since I started pointing out the autocratic behaviours and lack of arithmetic
knowledge of governance of embattled Governor Rochas Okorocha, I have been
branded so many unprintable names by a selected group of unproductive,
uninformed, money hungry, favour seeking, paranoid supporters of the
government and accused of being biased and sponsored by political opponents .
But this is not true. I'm disappointed that the governor’s supporters resorted to
name-calling rather than addressing issues of poor performance raised, but I'm
not surprised given the embattled governor’s hooliganism way of confronting
those who disagree with him .The stories of when he ordered his supporters to
vandalize the office of the Nigerian Horn Newspaper, assault its staff and abduct
the paper’s editor during the campaign period are still fresh.
A governor is supposed to be a role model, who, because of his prominence
and the moral authority that emanates from his office, should set standards of
behaviour for the people he serves. His duties also includes the stewardship of
our values. So no matter how much a governor or others may wish to
"compartmentalize" the different spheres of his life, the inescapable truth is that
a governor’s conduct can and often does have profound public consequences.
The public expects high standard and decency in the conduct of public business
from elected officials so can someone tell me why, I as a concerned citizen of
the state, can’t speak out against the ills going on currently in Douglas House
Owerri?
During the election campaigns, Governor Okorocha made a lot of land mark
promises to provide a government that will meet the expectations of the people?
The people of Imo state expected the self-proclaimed rescue commander to on
assumption of office, study, modify, amend laws for the good of the state. They
expected their Chief executive officer to provide jobs,electricity in their homes,
manpower development, educational development, prompt payment of salaries
and better roads among other things. These promises are now seen as part of
electioneering which cannot be fulfilled. Little did Imo people know that Owelle
was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. To their displeasure Okorocha turned to a
military governor and is oppressing the people
The worst hit of the Okorocha’s autocratic government is the state civil service
and the LGA’s. Owelle dissolved elected council chairmen via radio broadcast
and appointed his boys as caretaker ‘ share men’ of the LGA’s to loot council
funds. The governor used force to chase the chairmen and councilors out of
office and collected all government property in their possession .According to the
country’s constitution, local government is an independent level of government
and not an appendage of the state or federal government. It is abuse of power for
Governor Okorocha to install his boys as caretaker ‘ share men’ of the LGA’s . It
is a breach of the Imo State Local Government Administration Law and Section 7
of the country’s constitution .The governor now loots the LGA funds ,goes to the
media to announce allocations sent to the LGA’s while the money he claims in
the media that he gives the local government councils is different from what
actually gets to them. Currently, local government workers are still owed arrears
of salaries.
Another hit of the imperator Owelle is the sack of 10,000 legally employed civil
servants via radio broadcast. He left the workers sad .Broke the brittle heart of
their loved ones into two; and that is very bad . This was the same Owelle that
when he was campaigning for governorship, deceived Imo people into believing
that Ohakim did not employ any single person in the public service and
promised to create thousands of jobs if elected. Immediately he came into
power, like a con man ,instead of creating jobs ,he sacked the 10,000
workers and lied to the people again that Ohakim employed them two weeks
to his departure and that he will review the employment. Then came another lie
that he has reemployed 4000 out of the 10,000 workers . Till now, none of them
who were sacked have started work including the ones he claims to have re-
employed. I fear that the governor has undercut the efforts of thousands of
parents in Imo state who are naturally trying to install in their children the value
of honesty. As any mother or father knows, kids have a singular ability to detect
double standards. So we can safely assume that it will be that much more
difficult to convince our sons and daughters in the state of the importance of
telling the truth when the most powerful man Imo state evades it.
Governor Okorocha sees the governance of the state as mere con art and the
loud protests of Imo people does not bother him. He believes that he can
manipulate the minds of Ndi-Imo through his rescue Imo sweet talks when all
he had been doing is playing a game of deception and rescuing his own pockets.
Can someone tell me why he has to create a fourth tier government in the state
without legislation? Can someone tell me why he is running Imo state with his
relatives and with relatives of his wife and his personal associates as if Imo state
is his personal property?
Can someone tell me why Rochas has not been able to pay the 18,000 naira
minimum wage? Owelle was the first to promise to pay the 18,000 naira
minimum wage to workers and workers were all happy and eager. Days wear
by and they became agitated for the money like the Israelites in the wilderness.
What did Owelle do? He turned round to say that the demands of the workers
are most unrealistic in view of the peculiar financial position of the state. He
claimed that labour was demanding 90.4 per cent wage increase across board
which would shoot up the state’s wage bill from over N2 billion to over N3 billion
monthly, if implemented. And when workers in Imo state embarked on strike in
protest of the non-implementation of the 18,000 naira minimum wage ,the
governor jumped into a plane and ran out of the state to USA in pretence of
scouting for foreign investors .Is this not a case of going after rats while your
house is on fire? This action is insensitive, callous and a total disregard for the
people
Can someone tell me why Governor Okorocha is trotting the globe? When it
comes to globe-trotting jamboree of Nigerian governors since may 29th this
year, Governor Okorocha has few peers. .He is failing to attend to pressing
issues in Imo State because he is always traveling out of the country. Okorocha
, who became governor on May 29th this year hardly spends up to one weeks
in the state capital, Owerri, without travelling out.. Okorocha has been junketing
from one foreign city to the other. Either he is in the United Kingdom or Germany
or USA or Saudi Arabia,China or the United Arab Emirates.He is being
panned for trotting the globe, traveling the world and cartoonists are having a
field day as he is saddled with the unflattering name of Vasco da Gama .
Additionally to funding the overseas trips with the state funds, the governor
receives huge out-of-pocket allowance for each trip, which he does not have to
account for. While the rank and file workers in Imo state are being asked to
forget about their 18,000 naira minimum wage,the governor continues to enrich
himself more and more at the expense of the citizens. If one were to count the
amount of overseas trips, times the amount of out of pocket allowances that
Okorocha receives plus what is going on in our LGA’s in the name of caretaker
government, it exposes the ugly underbelly of what he means when he said he
was on a rescue mission.He is really rescuing his pocket.
We now have an Imo state of unemployed youths; Imo state were minimum
wages are denied workers, Imo state were workers are owed salaries, Imo state
were 10,000 young people are being denied employment in spite of their
potentials; Imo state of escalating executive lawlessness, Imo state were LGA
funds are looted, Imo state of disregard for constitutional rights. Oh yeah, rather
than giving the people jobs our governor one time turned himself to public
retailer of kerosene, hoping to use it to gain cheap political points. Governor
Okorocha falsely gave Imo people the impression that he was the donor of the
federal government’s free kerosene.
Like Dr Herbert Nwankwo said “ Our job is not to support Rochas the man no
matter what. Our job is to support what is good for Imo people no matter what. If
he move along the lines of making Imo what we expect her to be, we will give
him our full support. But right now, Imo got to be rescued from the rescuer’
By Kenneth Uwadi, Mmahu-Egbema, Imo State
knowledge of governance of embattled Governor Rochas Okorocha, I have been
branded so many unprintable names by a selected group of unproductive,
uninformed, money hungry, favour seeking, paranoid supporters of the
government and accused of being biased and sponsored by political opponents .
But this is not true. I'm disappointed that the governor’s supporters resorted to
name-calling rather than addressing issues of poor performance raised, but I'm
not surprised given the embattled governor’s hooliganism way of confronting
those who disagree with him .The stories of when he ordered his supporters to
vandalize the office of the Nigerian Horn Newspaper, assault its staff and abduct
the paper’s editor during the campaign period are still fresh.
A governor is supposed to be a role model, who, because of his prominence
and the moral authority that emanates from his office, should set standards of
behaviour for the people he serves. His duties also includes the stewardship of
our values. So no matter how much a governor or others may wish to
"compartmentalize" the different spheres of his life, the inescapable truth is that
a governor’s conduct can and often does have profound public consequences.
The public expects high standard and decency in the conduct of public business
from elected officials so can someone tell me why, I as a concerned citizen of
the state, can’t speak out against the ills going on currently in Douglas House
Owerri?
During the election campaigns, Governor Okorocha made a lot of land mark
promises to provide a government that will meet the expectations of the people?
The people of Imo state expected the self-proclaimed rescue commander to on
assumption of office, study, modify, amend laws for the good of the state. They
expected their Chief executive officer to provide jobs,electricity in their homes,
manpower development, educational development, prompt payment of salaries
and better roads among other things. These promises are now seen as part of
electioneering which cannot be fulfilled. Little did Imo people know that Owelle
was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. To their displeasure Okorocha turned to a
military governor and is oppressing the people
The worst hit of the Okorocha’s autocratic government is the state civil service
and the LGA’s. Owelle dissolved elected council chairmen via radio broadcast
and appointed his boys as caretaker ‘ share men’ of the LGA’s to loot council
funds. The governor used force to chase the chairmen and councilors out of
office and collected all government property in their possession .According to the
country’s constitution, local government is an independent level of government
and not an appendage of the state or federal government. It is abuse of power for
Governor Okorocha to install his boys as caretaker ‘ share men’ of the LGA’s . It
is a breach of the Imo State Local Government Administration Law and Section 7
of the country’s constitution .The governor now loots the LGA funds ,goes to the
media to announce allocations sent to the LGA’s while the money he claims in
the media that he gives the local government councils is different from what
actually gets to them. Currently, local government workers are still owed arrears
of salaries.
Another hit of the imperator Owelle is the sack of 10,000 legally employed civil
servants via radio broadcast. He left the workers sad .Broke the brittle heart of
their loved ones into two; and that is very bad . This was the same Owelle that
when he was campaigning for governorship, deceived Imo people into believing
that Ohakim did not employ any single person in the public service and
promised to create thousands of jobs if elected. Immediately he came into
power, like a con man ,instead of creating jobs ,he sacked the 10,000
workers and lied to the people again that Ohakim employed them two weeks
to his departure and that he will review the employment. Then came another lie
that he has reemployed 4000 out of the 10,000 workers . Till now, none of them
who were sacked have started work including the ones he claims to have re-
employed. I fear that the governor has undercut the efforts of thousands of
parents in Imo state who are naturally trying to install in their children the value
of honesty. As any mother or father knows, kids have a singular ability to detect
double standards. So we can safely assume that it will be that much more
difficult to convince our sons and daughters in the state of the importance of
telling the truth when the most powerful man Imo state evades it.
Governor Okorocha sees the governance of the state as mere con art and the
loud protests of Imo people does not bother him. He believes that he can
manipulate the minds of Ndi-Imo through his rescue Imo sweet talks when all
he had been doing is playing a game of deception and rescuing his own pockets.
Can someone tell me why he has to create a fourth tier government in the state
without legislation? Can someone tell me why he is running Imo state with his
relatives and with relatives of his wife and his personal associates as if Imo state
is his personal property?
Can someone tell me why Rochas has not been able to pay the 18,000 naira
minimum wage? Owelle was the first to promise to pay the 18,000 naira
minimum wage to workers and workers were all happy and eager. Days wear
by and they became agitated for the money like the Israelites in the wilderness.
What did Owelle do? He turned round to say that the demands of the workers
are most unrealistic in view of the peculiar financial position of the state. He
claimed that labour was demanding 90.4 per cent wage increase across board
which would shoot up the state’s wage bill from over N2 billion to over N3 billion
monthly, if implemented. And when workers in Imo state embarked on strike in
protest of the non-implementation of the 18,000 naira minimum wage ,the
governor jumped into a plane and ran out of the state to USA in pretence of
scouting for foreign investors .Is this not a case of going after rats while your
house is on fire? This action is insensitive, callous and a total disregard for the
people
Can someone tell me why Governor Okorocha is trotting the globe? When it
comes to globe-trotting jamboree of Nigerian governors since may 29th this
year, Governor Okorocha has few peers. .He is failing to attend to pressing
issues in Imo State because he is always traveling out of the country. Okorocha
, who became governor on May 29th this year hardly spends up to one weeks
in the state capital, Owerri, without travelling out.. Okorocha has been junketing
from one foreign city to the other. Either he is in the United Kingdom or Germany
or USA or Saudi Arabia,China or the United Arab Emirates.He is being
panned for trotting the globe, traveling the world and cartoonists are having a
field day as he is saddled with the unflattering name of Vasco da Gama .
Additionally to funding the overseas trips with the state funds, the governor
receives huge out-of-pocket allowance for each trip, which he does not have to
account for. While the rank and file workers in Imo state are being asked to
forget about their 18,000 naira minimum wage,the governor continues to enrich
himself more and more at the expense of the citizens. If one were to count the
amount of overseas trips, times the amount of out of pocket allowances that
Okorocha receives plus what is going on in our LGA’s in the name of caretaker
government, it exposes the ugly underbelly of what he means when he said he
was on a rescue mission.He is really rescuing his pocket.
We now have an Imo state of unemployed youths; Imo state were minimum
wages are denied workers, Imo state were workers are owed salaries, Imo state
were 10,000 young people are being denied employment in spite of their
potentials; Imo state of escalating executive lawlessness, Imo state were LGA
funds are looted, Imo state of disregard for constitutional rights. Oh yeah, rather
than giving the people jobs our governor one time turned himself to public
retailer of kerosene, hoping to use it to gain cheap political points. Governor
Okorocha falsely gave Imo people the impression that he was the donor of the
federal government’s free kerosene.
Like Dr Herbert Nwankwo said “ Our job is not to support Rochas the man no
matter what. Our job is to support what is good for Imo people no matter what. If
he move along the lines of making Imo what we expect her to be, we will give
him our full support. But right now, Imo got to be rescued from the rescuer’
By Kenneth Uwadi, Mmahu-Egbema, Imo State
By Kenneth Uwadi
African Examiner , Tuesday September 27, 2011
African Examiner , Tuesday September 27, 2011
Imo State:From Democracy to Autocracy
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