Dan Opara
Senator Rochas Anayo Okorocha’s invitation to the National Assembly, to take over Imo in order to nip perceived heightened insecurity, was comedy in very poor taste. That call could only come, and did come, from a deluded man who bullied his way to the Senate on a mission to become clown of the chamber, to encourage nonsense, to introduce his unfinished shenanigans as governor of Imo State to the national polity.
Obviously without any calling for law making whatsoever, and to the disservice of his constituents, his time as senator is consumed by parties, pretending to run for president ahead of the 2023 polls and fighting to retain what he cornered during his sham reign as governor of Imo State.
GACIY recalls that during Imo’s (especially Orlu Zone’s) darkest hour of insecurity, not only did Sen. Rochas Okorocha (representing Orlu Zone) keep mute, he even justified his silence in the face of hardship faced by his constituents.
On March 3, 2021, his spokesman, Sam Onwuemeodo, thundered during a primetime interview on MyRadio 101.1 FM Owerri: “We have a chief security officer of the state who is the governor…. Between you and me, security issues are not political issues, are you listening to me? Security issues are not political issues.”
Have security issues suddenly become political?
Is it not a conundrum that when it mattered most, Okorocha held his tongue, but chose to raise dust at the national assembly now that the security situation has largely stabilized?
As far as GACIY is concerned, Okorocha’s fake empathy is part of his Marshall plan to frustrate the popular asset recovery programme of the Uzodimma administration. This of course is gospel on the streets of Imo.
It is why his handlers are always quick to ask ‘how come Uzodimma’s predecessors never encountered this level of insecurity?’. The reason is that none of Uzodimma’s predecesors made any legitimate attempt to retrieve state wealth from the grip of those who stole it. Even as an impostor, Emeka Ihedioha tried (using controversial extra judicial methods) to recover assets from Okorocha and that threw the state into chaos. Imo boils each time the government tries to retrieve our commonwealth from Okorocha.
The Awomamma incident occurred just barely 24 hours before the courageous Uzodimma administration was to rollout a historic giveback to legitimate owners of over a thousand assets including lands and buildings seized and converted to personal use by Okorocha.
That Awomamma saga was therefore diversionary and the government is correct to accuse Okorocha of orchestrating it. If not for it, the world would have been reeling from the shock of what Rochas seized from his people. The world could have been asking “what about the property of widows excites Okorocha?”. Instead, the focus shifted to a gunfight and arson in a market. And Okorocha escaped the banner head-lines.
For emphasis, GACIY categorically condemns the recent violence in Awomamma where a clash between soldiers and the so-called unknown gunmen led to the death of a soldier as well as wanton destruction of business and personal property. We join other well meaning Imo people to call for restraint from all actors; to urge the military to adhere strictly to the rules of engagement while asking aggrieved interests to refrain from acts that would attract ruination to our people.
But we strenuously reject the deceitful, double agency of Owelle Okorocha and his ilk who have been accused of investing in the upheavals that have rocked Imo State, who try to cast a pall over the once peaceful Eastern Heartland just for selfish ends.
If Okorocha really has nothing to hide (and we know that his closet rattles of skeletons), he should turn himself in to the police and unlock his chests for comprehensive investigation. We recall that when the police on Feb, 22, 2021, arrested Okorocha for breaking into a property sealed by court order, he secured his release through phone calls placed to his friends in high places, including the President of the Senate.
His tongue-in-cheek call on the IGP to probe him (knowing that he will once again throw his weight around and frustrate the process) doesn’t excite us. We urge him to turn himself in not only to the Police but to the EFCC and the ICPC, instead.
It is our believe that if Okorocha atones for his many unspeakable travesties, peace would permanently return to our homeland, Imo.
The Press Statement was signed by Sir.Collins Ughalaa KSC , the (Convener of GACIY, on Nov.29th 2021.
