Imo: Rochas, do not rejoice yet

The supplementary election of May 6, 2011 in Imo State that culminated in the declaration of Chief Rochas Anayochukwu Okorocha of the All Progressives Grand Alliance as the governor-elect is generally regarded by most indigenes of Imo State as one of the best things to happen to the state since it was created in 1976.

Never in the life of Imo State has the emergence of a governor-elect elicited such a monumental excitement and an overwhelming outpouring of emotion by a majority of the people like what happened on Saturday May 7, 2011 when the returning officer for Imo State, Professor Hilary Edeoga, declared Okorocha the winner after the results of the three local government areas whose results were not taken during the April 26 election in the state, were announced.

The governorship poll was earlier declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission as Okorocha and Ohakim ran neck and neck in the 23 councils declared by the commission on Wednesday, April 27, 2011.

Specifically, the INEC had ordered that a supplementary poll be conducted on Friday, May 6 in four councils comprising Ngor Okpala; Mbaitoli; Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta as well as a ward in Orji in Owerri North LG.

However, in the results declared on Saturday by Edeoga in three of the four councils and Orji ward, Okorocha swept the poll, scoring 15,234 in Ohaji Egbema against Ohakim’s 11,588; Ngor Okpala, APGA, 17,370, PDP, 9237; Mbaitoli, APGA 24,305, PDP, 12,278; and Orji ward, APGA 22,723 and the PDP 8,025. Media reports said there was no election in Oguta as youths and women in the council protested against the late arrival of voting materials.

Edeoga, who is also the Vice-Chancellor, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, thus declared Okorocha the validly elected candidate and winner of the election having satisfied the constitutional requirements and polled above other contestants had been declared the governor-elect.

I had cancelled my trip on Thursday to observe the election following conflicting reports that a Federal High Court may rule against the holding of the election. But when on Saturday 7th May, the INEC announced Okorocha as the winner; I got several calls from jubilant indigenes who were happy that Ohakim, the incumbent governor, has suffered electoral defeat.

One of the many calls that came through was from one of my civil society partners who shouted on top of his voice that the entire Imo State was in a jubilant mood because of the political tsunami that has just swept away Ohakim, regarded as one of the worst governors to have presided over the state. I also got several calls from Arondizuogu, my home town, which is one of the most marginalised and neglected towns in the entire state. My callers informed me that the elderly, children and women were in jubilant mood that at last a humane politician has been elected to govern Imo State and that they are optimistic that he will not forget Arondizuogu like most other former governors including Ikedi Ohakim.

Another caller spoke with me from Ohaji/Egbema and expressed similar sentiment of worry that most rural communities in Imo State have suffered longstanding neglect from almost all successive administrations particularly in the hands of the outgoing administration.

On Sunday May 8, I did a quick content analysis of about seven national papers that ran the story of the Imo election on their front pages and I can confidently say that SUNDAY PUNCH did one of the most thrilling and graphic stories of the victory party that spontaneously happened in Owerri and other parts of the state soon after the announcement was made.

Some climbed the top of moving vehicles, some half-naked, while others took over the major junctions, expressways, roundabout and streets, dancing, singing and celebrating in grand style.

A jubilant resident, who craved anonymity, said the victory of Okorocha was an end of slavery, poverty and trampling of fundamental human rights of people.

Okorocha’s victory, he said, would teach politicians lessons that things go wrong when they disconnect with the people.

Also, the APGA National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, said the party would not disappoint the people and that they had made a very wise choice in voting Okorocha, whom he described as an agent of change and transformation.

That said, as one of the stakeholders in Imo, I am not one of those that will embark on elaborate celebration because what Okorocha needs to do is not to keep celebrating the victory handed to him by the people. Instead, he should go into deep reflection on what steps he needs to take to rebuild Imo from the ruin that it is right now.

We know that Okorocha made name for himself as a philanthropist but he must know that Imo people are neither beggars nor lazy but are only interested in seeing good governance whereby transparency and accountability would become the watchword of whomsoever they have elected to govern the state for the next four years. Governor-elect Okorocha should therefore not see his election as a call for philanthropy but rather a call for genuine transformation of the state so that the people can become self-reliant and the economy of the state would become one of the best in the entire country within the shortest possible time.

I also think that Okorocha need not dissipate energy in jubilation over the mandate given to him because his road will be rough and tough and he will surely experience the roughs and tumbles or rather the extreme difficulties that await him if he truly wants to serve the people of Imo State because in the past decades, Imo State according to popular saying has gone from bad to worst in terms of governance.

Okorocha must rebuild the education, health, agricultural and environmental sectors of the state and also transform Imo into an industrial hub of the South-East by creating the enabling environment for genuine investors to come in and aggressively establish private manufacturing firms that would boost the productive sector of the state and engage the hundreds of thousands of graduates who have been compelled by circumstances of past and present political misgovernance to become petty transporters on tricycles or Keke NAPEP.

Places like Arondizuogu and parts of Orlu that have rich soil for rice farming must be given proper attention and infrastructure of roads and power supply must be equitably distributed in the entire state. The era of media governance of Imo State must be buried with the outgoing Ohakim’s regime and genuine, credible, transparent, and good governance must become realistic in Imo State.

Okorocha should please stop dancing and start putting together those critical ingredients for the rapid transformation of Imo State and he must ensure that every Kobo stolen from Imo State’s treasury by whomsoever is retrieved back to the state to be used for public good and interest.

* Emmanuel Onwubiko heads Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, Suite A 37, Maitama Office Complex, FHA, Maitana. He can be reached via doziebiko@yahoo.com

The supplementary election of May 6, 2011 in Imo State that culminated in the declaration of Chief Rochas Anayochukwu Okorocha of the All Progressives Grand Alliance as the governor-elect is generally regarded by most indigenes of Imo State as one of the best things to happen to the state since it was created in 1976.

Never in the life of Imo State has the emergence of a governor-elect elicited such a monumental excitement and an overwhelming outpouring of emotion by a majority of the people like what happened on Saturday May 7, 2011 when the returning officer for Imo State, Professor Hilary Edeoga, declared Okorocha the winner after the results of the three local government areas whose results were not taken during the April 26 election in the state, were announced.

The governorship poll was earlier declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission as Okorocha and Ohakim ran neck and neck in the 23 councils declared by the commission on Wednesday, April 27, 2011.

Specifically, the INEC had ordered that a supplementary poll be conducted on Friday, May 6 in four councils comprising Ngor Okpala; Mbaitoli; Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta as well as a ward in Orji in Owerri North LG.

However, in the results declared on Saturday by Edeoga in three of the four councils and Orji ward, Okorocha swept the poll, scoring 15,234 in Ohaji Egbema against Ohakim’s 11,588; Ngor Okpala, APGA, 17,370, PDP, 9237; Mbaitoli, APGA 24,305, PDP, 12,278; and Orji ward, APGA 22,723 and the PDP 8,025. Media reports said there was no election in Oguta as youths and women in the council protested against the late arrival of voting materials.

Edeoga, who is also the Vice-Chancellor, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, thus declared Okorocha the validly elected candidate and winner of the election having satisfied the constitutional requirements and polled above other contestants had been declared the governor-elect.

I had cancelled my trip on Thursday to observe the election following conflicting reports that a Federal High Court may rule against the holding of the election. But when on Saturday 7th May, the INEC announced Okorocha as the winner; I got several calls from jubilant indigenes who were happy that Ohakim, the incumbent governor, has suffered electoral defeat.

One of the many calls that came through was from one of my civil society partners who shouted on top of his voice that the entire Imo State was in a jubilant mood because of the political tsunami that has just swept away Ohakim, regarded as one of the worst governors to have presided over the state. I also got several calls from Arondizuogu, my home town, which is one of the most marginalised and neglected towns in the entire state. My callers informed me that the elderly, children and women were in jubilant mood that at last a humane politician has been elected to govern Imo State and that they are optimistic that he will not forget Arondizuogu like most other former governors including Ikedi Ohakim.

Another caller spoke with me from Ohaji/Egbema and expressed similar sentiment of worry that most rural communities in Imo State have suffered longstanding neglect from almost all successive administrations particularly in the hands of the outgoing administration.

On Sunday May 8, I did a quick content analysis of about seven national papers that ran the story of the Imo election on their front pages and I can confidently say that SUNDAY PUNCH did one of the most thrilling and graphic stories of the victory party that spontaneously happened in Owerri and other parts of the state soon after the announcement was made.

Some climbed the top of moving vehicles, some half-naked, while others took over the major junctions, expressways, roundabout and streets, dancing, singing and celebrating in grand style.

A jubilant resident, who craved anonymity, said the victory of Okorocha was an end of slavery, poverty and trampling of fundamental human rights of people.

Okorocha’s victory, he said, would teach politicians lessons that things go wrong when they disconnect with the people.

Also, the APGA National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, said the party would not disappoint the people and that they had made a very wise choice in voting Okorocha, whom he described as an agent of change and transformation.

That said, as one of the stakeholders in Imo, I am not one of those that will embark on elaborate celebration because what Okorocha needs to do is not to keep celebrating the victory handed to him by the people. Instead, he should go into deep reflection on what steps he needs to take to rebuild Imo from the ruin that it is right now.

We know that Okorocha made name for himself as a philanthropist but he must know that Imo people are neither beggars nor lazy but are only interested in seeing good governance whereby transparency and accountability would become the watchword of whomsoever they have elected to govern the state for the next four years. Governor-elect Okorocha should therefore not see his election as a call for philanthropy but rather a call for genuine transformation of the state so that the people can become self-reliant and the economy of the state would become one of the best in the entire country within the shortest possible time.

I also think that Okorocha need not dissipate energy in jubilation over the mandate given to him because his road will be rough and tough and he will surely experience the roughs and tumbles or rather the extreme difficulties that await him if he truly wants to serve the people of Imo State because in the past decades, Imo State according to popular saying has gone from bad to worst in terms of governance.

Okorocha must rebuild the education, health, agricultural and environmental sectors of the state and also transform Imo into an industrial hub of the South-East by creating the enabling environment for genuine investors to come in and aggressively establish private manufacturing firms that would boost the productive sector of the state and engage the hundreds of thousands of graduates who have been compelled by circumstances of past and present political misgovernance to become petty transporters on tricycles or Keke NAPEP.

Places like Arondizuogu and parts of Orlu that have rich soil for rice farming must be given proper attention and infrastructure of roads and power supply must be equitably distributed in the entire state. The era of media governance of Imo State must be buried with the outgoing Ohakim’s regime and genuine, credible, transparent, and good governance must become realistic in Imo State.

Okorocha should please stop dancing and start putting together those critical ingredients for the rapid transformation of Imo State and he must ensure that every Kobo stolen from Imo State’s treasury by whomsoever is retrieved back to the state to be used for public good and interest.

* Emmanuel Onwubiko heads Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, Suite A 37, Maitama Office Complex, FHA, Maitana. He can be reached via doziebiko@yahoo.com

-Punch

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Posted by admin on May 10 2011. Filed under Headlines, Imo, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry