Last week, I made a detour in my usual brief by handling several topics in what I branded “Random Mudsling”. It was supposed to continue this week as promised since there is several minute but interesting issues that deserve mention.
I would have continued to “sample” this week but for certain salient issues happening in our dear Imo state that should not go unnoticed. Few weeks ago, yours truly took time to discuss issues that hinged on the planned relocation of courses from the Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo-Ohaji, to other places under the guise of multi-campus system and the indifference approach of the present government to the plight of oil producing communities of Imo state. While my initial write-up, “Okorocha and the planned Balkanization of Imo State Polytechnic” induced reactions from a group claiming to be Imopoly stakeholders who embarked on public demonstration to protest the attempted relocation of courses, which Okorocha bluntly denied during a meeting with the stakeholders at the Government House, Owerri. The State Governor in apparent response to the perceived neglect and abandonment of oil producing communities, again hurriedly arranged for an empowerment scheme for youths of Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta, to the tune of N500m.
Matters arising from these issues and the utter perfidy exhibited by the self-styled protagonist of “Rescue Mission” in Imo State, warranted this topic, “His Excellency and Executive Deceit.
Piqued by unconfirmed reports and inflammatory remarks in several quarters that courses/departments in the School of Engineering and Management Studies would be relocated to Technological Skills Acquisition Centre, Orlu, and Management College, Ehime Mbano respectively, the Imo Poly Stakeholders including the host communities employed civil procedures to express their displeasure towards the rumoured plot. Armed with placards and a mock coffin, the stakeholders staged a three-day protest. By the second day, a prominent government functionary, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Chief Jude Ejiogu was dispatched to Imo Poly, where the protesters had maintained passive occupation of the school gate. While addressing the gathering, Chief Ejiogu bluntly denied any plan, adding that it was figment of imagination of government detractors poised to incite the people against the Rescue Mission government.
To disabuse the minds of the protesters and the general public about the rumoured plan, His Excellency, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, (OON), who graciously invited the aggrieved stakeholders to the Government House, Owerri, in a meeting not only denied about the proposed relocation of courses, but also said in the full glare of journalists and other stakeholders in the state that “such a proposal is not part of his administration’s program”. According to Gov Okorocha who spoke in the presence of the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt Hon Ben Uwajumogu, and Fr Madu, “there is no such law whatsoever to undertake such action. Anything you heard is unfounded lies bandied about by detractors of the state government”.
The Governor reassured those present that “not even a single department will move out of Umuagwo campus to any other place”, adding that the named institutions, namely TESAC, Orlu and Co-oporative College, Mbano will only be “affiliated to Imopoly to award certificates bearing Imopoly insignia, like UNN does to ALVAN”.
Few weeks after the episode, Okorocha’s non-relocation version to the good people of Imo state seems to be a story told to the marines and another smokescreen employed to deceive the general public on the “relocation agenda”. In contrast to his sworn claims and promises to the stakeholders, some vital departments have started moving to the aforementioned schools under the multi-campus system.
Against his multiple denials of not being informed about the planned relocation of courses, Okorocha who bluntly denied before Speaker Uwajumogu of the plot had in December 12, 2012 appended his signature to a controversial Bill said to have been passed into law by the Imo State House of Assembly, to reflect the multi-campus system and movement of disciplines from the permanent site at Umuagwo to Orlu and Ehime Mbano campuses. The law was endorsed by the Clerk of the House, Barr Chris Duru and presented to the Governor for accent which he hurriedly endorsed and sealed his power in 2012.
But his Excellency failed to tell the Imo Poly Stakeholders this simply truth, rather, he chose to employ perfidy in his approach to his subjects, he fondly called “my people, my people”
Few weeks after his denials about the relocation plot, affected academic staff and heads of departments have been instructed to get set for onward movement to Orlu and Ehime Mbano. In the last academic board meeting of the Institution held on July 25, 2013 at the school premises, departments in the Schools of Engineering and that of Marketing, Purchasing & Supply as well as Corporative Studies of Management Studies School were directed by the Rector, Rev Fr Wence Madu to proceed to Orlu and Ehime Mbano respectively. The directive is not only causing disaffection within the polytechnic but has resulted to uneasy calm and tension within the stakeholders community who are aggrieved that the on going relocation programs are not in tandem with Okorocha’s verbal expressions and promises to the general public when the stakeholders took to the streets.
It would not amount to an overstatement to state that lies and deceit may be a fundamental trademark of the Rescue Mission government propelled by the number one Rescuer, Owelle Rochas Okorocha. Similar evidences showcase this point.
Beneficiaries of the 10,000 job will not forget in a hurry how they have been maltreated and cajoled by the Okorocha administration since inception two years ago. In his maiden broadcast on June 7, 2011 few days after he was swore-in as Executive Governor of Imo State, Okorocha without recourse to legal and constitutional provisions sacked some existing structures he met. In the process he suspended the job given to numerous unemployed graduates in the state. It would be recalled that the Ogboko-Ideato South born politician had during the pre-election era used the job provision as a campaign weapon against the immediate past government by claiming that it never existed. According to him, it was a mere paper work bandied about by the immediate past government to create effects. Irrespective of the processes that heralded the job program, it never existed in the mind of the APGA candidate who was seeking the mandate of the masses. Having gained public vote and support to succeed Ikedi Ohakim, Okorocha decided to visit his anger on the innocent and defenseless 10,000 job beneficiaries.
Piqued by the Governor’s action, the 10,000 job beneficiaries took to the streets next day after the inglorious broadcast to protest their suspension. To demonstrate resentment to their unwarranted removal from offices where a reasonable percent had enjoyed salaries and allowances for months, the aggrieved graduates took hold of the Imo State House of Assembly gate where the inauguration of the state lawmakers was scheduled to hold. For hours, they disrupted activities for the day until a top Government official arrived to calm their nerves promising that Government would re-visit their case and give it the attention it deserves. Continued protests led to the setting up of committees for each of the 27 LGAs in the state for verification. The embattled 10,000 job beneficiaries were meant to undergo days of stress attending to the verification exercises. After some months, Okorocha swallowed his words when official report and recommendation by his technical committee verified that about 2,800 persons merited the employment and deserved to be re-considered for continuation in the state civil service.
Even the identities of the considered persons were made public. From days to weeks, months to two years, yet His Excellency, who claimed that the 10,000 job was only suspended and will be reconsidered after verifications, surreptitiously died the matter, prompting the aggrieved beneficiaries to seek legal options. The 10,000 job beneficiaries are still “my people, my people” who were gradually relieved of their appointments and jettisoned by the Governor’s sweet coated mouth and verbal expressions.
It was in the same manner that unsuspecting elected Chairmen, Councilors, and LGA appointees met their waterloo in the hands of Okorocha who hoodwinked them during the campaigns for his support. During the campaigns heralding 2011 Guber Elections, Okorocha promised not to sack them as well as the Co-ordinators and Members of the Development Centres. To be specific, he made the statements at Ezinihitte Mbaise and Owerri West during the campaigns which were reported by the existing media. At the end of the election, “My people, My people” that he promised to work with became his “sacrificial lamb” to be dispensed with for political reason. Even when the law courts voided his illegal dissolution of the elected council members, Okorocha turned a deaf ear and reneged on his earlier promises not to do away with existing political structures he would inherit if elected Governor.
Despite gaining the much sought after political power, Okorocha can be said to be still engrossed with the spirit of deceit if the recent meeting with youths of Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta is anything to go by. The meeting where the Governor informed the world about the N500m empowerment grant he is making available to youths of the area is an after thought born out of plethora of complaints from oil producing communities of Imo state. Yours truly was the architect of these lamentations when this Agwodinuju column in more than three editions exposed Okorocha’s misguided marginalization and sheer apartheid tendencies to the people of Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta since he assumed duty as Governor. In the piece “Who will Rescue Oil Producing Areas of Imo State”, I did showcase several shortcomings being experienced by people of the area when compared to other LGAs in the state. For instance in Ohaji/Egbema, no single kilometre of road has been asphalted whereas other LGAs benefit from the state government’s Road Revolution (RR) exercise. More annoying is the fact that the Roche-type of school blocks being constructed across the state has no foundation in the LGA despite the fact that the state’s major money spinning firm, Adapalm located in the area was sold to Roche for 20 years. I went further to weep for the people of oil producing areas in the state on the functions and operations of the Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, ISOPADEC as the Commission has failed to play the necessary interventionist role in Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta, for which it was established. I further recalled that instead of delving into projects that would impact positively on the lives of the people, only white elephant projects like the gigantic ISOPADEC headquarters in Owerri and so-called Marine University that have no direct bearing on the people of the area are considered, while the youth wallow in abject rejection.
In apparent reaction to my epistle, Okorocha momentarily arranged the “damage control” measure to mend fences with the aggrieved people. But the hurriedly arranged function did not fail to have the “tales of deceit”. In his usual style, the Governor employed distractive tendencies to deceive the audience. Instead of informing the youths what he has for them, Okorocha resorted to his “popular fairy tales” of accusing former political office holders of allegedly embezzling government funds. The Governor began his famous choruses of how some Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta past leaders “ate” ISOPADEC funds. In what could be termed a hogwash, Okorocha reportedly mentioned that the N500m he is given the youths is what the likes of his sworn political foes; Chief Arthur Francis Nzeribe and Rt Hon Goodluck Nanah Opiah had been stealing before he came into power. It was an old sermon to the people of oil producing area who have been inundated with similar tales for two years running without programmatic steps to bring them to book over the alleged offences. Inspite of concerted efforts and induced probe panels to indict former office holders like Nzeribe and Opiah, Okorocha has failed as no anti-graft body has either arrested, prosecuted or jailed the concerned persons for related offences. Instead, the Governor takes joy in pouring unwarranted invectives on the supposed political foes.
It is worthy to note that in the audited account of ISOPADEC since inception in 2007 which the Okorocha government undertook and made public, Nzeribe’s name never appeared as well as that of Opiah. None was reported to be collecting any “percent or largesse” as constantly claimed. Rather, the sum of N5m being part of the state government contribution to the burial of Late Nzeobi of Egbema, who died as Chairman of the Commission, and made available to the deceased family through Rt Hon Opiah, who represented the area and a relation of the family was what made Okorocha government to drag the Speaker emeritus to EFCC. However, EFCC laughed at the infantile excesses of Okorocha government when the receipt of the N5m cheque made available to Nzeobi of Egbema family was presented to the anti graft body for verifications.
For lack of space, this story continues next week. Please keep a date in Agwodinuju Column for more interesting
