Douglass House Owerri: A peep into Okorocha’s empire

By Obinna Ezugwu

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State

A few months ago, Governor Rochas Okorocha in alluding to his credentials as a potential candidate for Nigeria’s presidency, proclaimed that the ideas in his head were driving him crazy. He was absolutely right. Indeed, in Imo where he reigns supreme, there is no better word to describe his ideas for governance than “crazy.”

Okorocha is a phenomenon of sorts, an unstable character with extreme sense of drama and humour. Truly a man of ideas; some of which have had both pleasant and tragic consequences on the people of Imo State as he experiments with them. There is hardly any love lost between him and the people. He is variously called a dictator, emperor; an absolute ruler who listens to no one and does whatever he pleases without recourse to the feelings of the people.

But six years ago, it was an entirely different story. Okorocha was a man of his people. He had worn governorship election on the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) platform, an emerging Igbo party. He sold himself to the masses as a philanthropist who has come to rescue Imo people from poor governance. He started out with introducing “free education” programme up to university level. Within a short time, his government registered a presence in nearly all the 27 local government areas in the state with caterpillars busy at work.

“Okorocha was loved then,” Nnaemeka Ezekwe, a resident of Orlu recalls. “Each time he passed, people hailed him wildly. But now nobody pays attention. Much of that goodwill has gone.”

However, the loss of such goodwill was not immediate. Although the turning point was in 2013 when he abandoned APGA to join the emerging All Progressive Congress (APC), an act for which many have not forgiven him, he continued to enjoy the support of many in the grassroots because of his initial work.

In Orlu, his home zone, Okorocha did a stretch of road from Okigwe junction, through the popular Anyara Town in Mbano, to Orlu town all the way to Owerri. It was a feat that earned him the admiration for many in the area, and for which a few people still praise him till this day.

But it did not take long before the newly built road began to break apart. It had been of very poor quality. Presently, the narrow and risky road from Okigwe to Anyara and from Anyara to Orlu is riddled with port holes. Okorocha is a man now widely known to do poor quality projects.

Orlu can be called a city by many standards; it’s people are sometimes called the internal colonialists of Imo having dominated governance in the state for the greater part of its existence, but there is little in the main town and the suburbs to show for it. The streets and roads are mostly in ruins, dusty, dirty and full of pot holes.

“Rochas’ road, helped to change the face of Orlu,” a bike man, Mr. Okere says. “But other than that major road, he has not done anything tangible here. Look at how the whole place is. We have no roads, nothing.”

Recently nonetheless, the governor said he would now face Orlu. He is presently destroying stalls and buildings by roadsides with the intention of dualising the roads. He had instructed traders in the area to relocate to the Imo International Market in Umana, Orlu. But the International Market has little or no extra space. Yet, with its dusty and unkempt environment, the market makes mockery of the the name.

The ongoing demolition is supposed to be a welcome development, but for the affected traders, it is a tragic loss of source of livelihood in an environment where the populace is already seeing hardship in ways they say they never before witnessed.

“I understand that constructing roads is good,” a trader, Tony, whose shop was affected says. “But this is the where we earn a living. Rochas has already impoverished Imo people by not paying workers and pensioners; there is hunger in this land. People are suffering.”

There is also the concern that he may after demolition, abandon the place. It is the case with the recently demolished Eke Ukwu market in Owerri. Presently, the place is abandoned. Some of the completed projects have suffered similar fate. He built blocks in different schools; primary and secondary school, but many have never been in use because of their state.

The hospitals he started in each local government, which have been subject of media campaigns, are also not functional. The structures lie fallow, completely unmanned. He has however opted to lease them out to private investors and institutions as according to him, the government will mismanage it. But even so, getting people to take them over, especially those in the interiors, has been a huge challenge.

Imo is largely a civil service state, and like in most civil service states, the economy picks up when workers are paid, but for Imo workers, it has been tales of non-payment and partial payment of salaries. The pensioners are worse off; they have not seen money in two years and their plight have been well documented. The consequence has been poor economic activities.

State viability index for 2016 by Economic Confidential put the state at 27th, making it the second least viable state in the South East after Ebonyi State. Yet the state owes about N120 billion in debts making it the top three in the country. Its’ N5.9billion internally generated revenue represents only 8.7 percent of its N68 billion federal allocation. It is also an oil producing state.

“There is actually no economy because there are no meaningful economic activities going on in the state. All the aspects of governance are either wholly or partially occupied by Rochas and his family,” says Okey Okoroji, former governorship aspirant in Lagos State and an indigene of Imo.

“Okorocha has nothing but contempt for Imo workers, a civil servant who prefers anonymity says. “He is no longer paying full salaries.”

But the governor insists he does not owe any civil servant in the state. “We do not owe any worker, you can find out. We don’t tell lies, we are up to date with salary payment,” the governor said through his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo. “It is only pensioners that we owe few months and we are working to clear it.”

It is less than an hour journey from Orlu to Owerri. The road, which had been done by the governor, is already largely in bad shape. It is a mixture of dual carriage and single lane; fully tarred and half tarred; gutter in some areas and not in others, but potholes are a common feature. It seemed like a project executed by an amateur contractor.

The road from Owerri, through Nekede to Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) is in similar state… But credit must be given to him for conceiving and executing the road projects. In fact, even his critics, and there are many of them, admit that he has done relatively well in terms of infrastructure.

The governor continues to insist he has done better than any government in the state’s history. “This government, what we have achieved surpasses those of all the people that have government before,” Onwuemeodo says. “ It is a claim that we have successfully made. Anybody with a contrary opinion should come out, we are waiting.”

Throughout the full stretch of the Orlu-Owerri road, police and military checkpoints are the real torment. It is the case in all South East states. Usually drivers must pay a bribe called “roger” if they must continue their journey.

“I don’t want to hear stories,” one SARS officer screamed at a driver who tried to explain he didn’t have money. The driver folded a note of N100 and squeezed it into his hand.

Close to Owerri, another officer, Ikotun Babajide, had grown impatient with a driver who did not immediately obey his order to stop. “If I shoot you now, your wife and children will cry. That’s all,” he told the driver.

Interestingly, once in Owerri, the whole negative perception about Okorocha’s lack of performance vanishes, at least for a moment. From the Akanu Ibiam Road…the popular Warehouse Roundabout, to Okigwe Roundabout to the left and Assumpta Road to the right and almost all areas within the Owerri metropolis, it is a beautiful sight to behold. Expanded roads with well constructed gutters and roundabouts adorned with statues… apparently Okorocha has special liking for statues.

Late last year, he caused national outrage when he unveiled a giant statue of Jacob Zuma, the embattled President of South Africa, and followed it up with that of Ellen Johnson Salif, the outgone Liberian President. But surprisingly, not many in the streets of Owerri have either seen or could tell where the statues are located. It took several minutes of asking and wondering up and down before finally, a commercial driver gave the correct location to be Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Convention Centre.

The convention centre has beautiful scenery, but to access the statue, you had to pay a bribe.

“You see the area is cordoned off,” a security officer at the gate explains. “It is not yet open for the public, but you can reach an agreement with the person in charge. Give him something to buy drink and he will allow you.”

The person in charge, a middle aged man of average height, dark in complexion told the same story as the security officer, but said it is the officer who should be given money for drinks. That settled, and into the arena of statues. Only two had been unveiled thus far, but there are 10 of them, including those of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Dr. Michael Opara, Olusegun Obasanjo, Kwame Nkrumah and a host of others. While that of Emeka Ojukwu is still being expected. Certainly, there would be more unveiling to come, and more outrage.

But Okorocha is not a man moved by criticisms. For him, criticisms only come from the “Pharisees,” the enemies of his administration. In Imo, it is either you are for him or you are against him. Opposition is allegedly haunted down.

“Kidnapping rate in Imo has driven people of consequence out of the state – business men and politicians alike. There are two levels of kidnapping going on in the state. One is the upper level kidnapping that is targeted at politicians who are looking to vie for offices, they can’t return home,” Okoroji who is an APGA chieftain notes. But his party is gradually waxing strong in the state. It has more presence than the PDP at the moment.

It must be emphasized however, that the governor is a man full of ideas, some albeit very ridiculous. And residents say he does not listen to advisers. Sensing that people are not happy, he created a ministry of happiness and purpose fulfillment, and put his sister in charge. It is a move that has been counterproductive. It led to even more anger. Just as his alleged reduction of Imo governance to family business has put many off.

The governor had in December 2016, boasted that his wife was in control of four ministries in the state. He had also appointed her as chairman of the state’s amnesty programme. His brothers and sisters are also said to be having portfolios in government, while his daughter’s father in-law, Prof. Anthony Anwukah is Minister of State for Education after serving as Chief of staff and secretary to the government.

Ultimately, he is said to be planning to install his son in-law, Mr. Uche Nwosu who is married to his first daughter, Uloma as his successor. But it is a move many say he will find difficult.

“If Okorocha is to stand for election today, I am hundred percent sure he will lose,” said a lecturer in Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), who said he does not want his name in print. “He plans to make his son in-law governor, but he can only succeed if he decides to rig the election completely. From what is happening, he has completely lost people’s support.”

Okoroji says he will meet his end in 2019. “He will meet his Waterloo. Not only will he be driven out of the State House, none of his cronies will enter there as his successor.

“A lot of us sit down and blame Buhari for nepotism, but I don’t think there is a more nepotic government than the Rochas administration in Imo; a government where only family members and in-laws run the government from the beginning to the end.”

The Chief Press secretary nonetheless, is optimistic, maintaining that the Okorocha administration is focused on developing Imo and will not pay attention to critics

“The man is developing Imo, it is not everybody that will be happy, but we are focused on developing Imo.” He concludes.