By Austin Ekene (08071263491)
Okorocha
I read a publication credited to one Barrister Emperor Iwuala in which the Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha was accused of Administrative recklessness and poor projects management within his 1st 100 days in office. The said publication no doubt, was aimed at distracting the attention of the State Government through malicious accusations and misguided information. Permit me to use this medium to clarify some issues raised by Barr. Iwuala in the said publication.
1. Contrary to Iwuala’s claim that “ Owelle Rochas Okorocha had presented himself as a hooligan and anarchist owing to the vandalization of properties belonging to Nigerian HORN Newspapers” and alleged “abduction of the Newspaper’s Editor to the office his (Rochas’) Chief of Staff by his supporters prior to the gubernatorial election in Imo State” I want to set the records straight by stating that Owelle Rochas Okorocha did not at any time encourage his supporters to attack any media establishment or to abduct anybody. The alleged law-less action was discovered to have been carried out by some over-zealous Party supporters in reaction to the role played by the Newspaper Company in a false publication which portrayed Rochas as a member of the Reformed Ogboni Confraternity based in Benin. The then Editor of Nigerian HORN had conspired with Fourth Force (some elements loyal to former Governor Ikedi Ohakim) to clone Rochas’ photograph with a regalia associated with the Ogboni cult and attached a congratulatory message to him purportedly signed by some members of the cult group. Investigations later revealed that though some valuables were vandalized by the irate youths who had stormed the Nigerian HORN office to protest against the false publication, nobody was assaulted or abducted and the said publication turned out to be a hatchet job executed by FOURTH FORCE and Nigerian HORN for which the latter was paid N2, million.
2. The claim by Iwuala that “governor Rochas Okorocha has breached the Imo State Local Government Administration Law and Section 7 of Nigeria’s Constituton by dissolving the elected Local government Councils and replacing them with Caretaker Committee Chairmen’’ does not hold water. As a lawyer, Barrister Iwuala should have made extensive investigations before going to the press. From existing records, the August 7th 2010 Local Government elections in Imo State which brought the sacked Local government Chairmen to power was illegal because it was conducted in total disregard to the rule of law. It will be recalled that before the election was held, many petitions and protests were made by various groups of people to ensure that the exercise did not hold. This includes the suit filed by one Obinna Chinedu and 7 others VS ISIEC in suit no FHC/OW/CS/176/10 at the Federal High Court Owerri on the 29th of July 2010, which came up for hearing on the 2nd August 2010. Presenting his case before Justice Lambo Akambi ( the trial judge), the counsel to the plaintiffs, Barr. L.M Alozie (ESQ) had insisted that his clien ts were of votable age, were citizens of the federal republic of Nigeria and indegens of Imo State, and therefore deserve to be given the opportunity to exercise their franchise. He stated that he was not challenging the competence of ISIEC to conduct a free and fair election, rather he asked the court to suspend the election pending when the voters register is reviewed as provided by law so that his clients who are now of votable age, and who represent the interests of thousands of their kind in Imo State can participate in the election. He suggested that since INEC had proposed a review of the voters register in November2010, it would be ideal to re-fix the date of the election to December 2010 by which time the voters register would have been reviewed. The plaintiffs later secured a court injunction restraining ISIEC from conducting the election on August 7th ,2010. The said court injunction was not vacated by the defendants before the election was held, thereby making the exercise illegal.
3. The allegation by Iwuala that the Imo State governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha sponsored the impeachment of the former Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Honorable Goodluck Opiah is seen as an idle talk especially since there is no evidence to support such claims. Even if the said impeachment was sponsored by somebody, I don’t see anything wrong in that so long as the sponsor had good reasons for his action. Similarly, the claim by Iwuala that Governor Rochas Okorocha used illegal means to remove the Chairmen and members of statutory Commissions whose appointments have fixed terms and who have not served out their tenure is totally false and baseless since he could not identify any Chairman or member of a Commission who was illegally removed from office.
4. The sacking of the 10,000 newly employed civil servants in Imo State without regard to public service rules as claimed by Iwuala is not a true representation of the situation on ground . It will be recalled that the first batch of 2,000 successful applicants among the 10,000 jobbers were not offered employment until nearly one year after taking the requisite recruitment examination, by which time the tenure of office of the former governor was approaching to an end. Perharps in a bid to entice the applicants to offer support for his second-term bid, former governor Ikedi Ohakim had in the heat of his electioneering campaign, doled out employment letters to another batch of 2,000 applicants while the rest of them got employed after the re- scheduled re-run elections in Imo State held in May 2011. Statistically, it would not have been possible to manage the 10,000 jobbers, considering the fact that the State Civil Service do not have vacancies for such number of applicants. This is made worse by the fact that the former governor did not make provisions for job opportunities outside the civil service for them. This situation is seen by critics as a high level of administrative recklessness anchored on political vendetta. It is better described as an act of mischief unparrarelled in the history of labour management, considering the fact that few days to the general elections which ousted him out of office, former governor Ikedi Ohakim had in a public forum at Maria Assumpta cathedral, admitted being indebted to some banks to the tune of 18 billion naira. Upon assumption of office on May 29th 2011, the Imo State governor, Owelle Rochas who is celebrated within and outside Nigeria for his acts of charity and unreserved care for the less priviledged refused to over-stretch his ability and sensibility by under-taking the payment of huge wage bills to the 10,000 jobbers. However, recent pronouncements by him indicate that the suspended 10,000 jobbers will soon be properly placed as the State government have already commenced the total revival of some moribund industries in the State, including Adapalm and Avutu Mordern Poultry, amongst others which upon completion, is expected to provide jobs for many of them.
5. Iwuala’s claim the “the governor is in the habit of meddling with funds allocated to local government councils against legal provisions “ as well as “allegations of extra budgetary expenditures” are false and baseless. Upon assumption of office, Governor Rochas Okorocha announced his decision to cut down his security vote from N6.5b to N4.5b and to forfeit his monthly salaries so as to reduce the cost of governance. How can Iwuala accuse such a man of meddling with public funds? This cut-down-on-expenses gesture by the governor was also extended to other arms of Government especially with the reduction of the security vote due to the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly and slashing of the salaries and allowances of all political office appointees in Imo State.
6. Furthermore, Iwuala is of the opinion that “Governor Rochas Okorocha is running the affairs of the State government with his relations, relations of his wife and his personal associates without the Civil Servants contrary to the law”. I wonder why Barr. Iwuala did not make any noise in 2007 when former Governor Ikedi Ohakim appointed his son, Obinna Ohakim as his Special Advicer, his sibbling Emma Ohakim as the Chief of Staff, Government House, and his kinsman, Chief Cosmos Iwu as the Secretary to the Imo State Government, to mention but a few. The issue of political appointment is the prerogative of the governor in agreement with members of his political party. There is no outstanding case on ground to prove that Rochas has been partial or sentimental in his choice of appointees, after all both his Chief of Staff and the Secretary to the State Government are not related to him.
7. Iwuala’s claim that “Governor Okorocha has been awarding contracts recklessly without adherence to due process of the law” is another baseless allegation, especially since he failed to mention any of the said contracts or to whom such contracts were awarded.
8. Another allegation by Iwuala is the “forceful hijack by Governor Rochas Okorocha of official vehicles meant for use by the dissolved Local Government Chairmen and Coordinators of Development Areas and allocating same to his personal aides”. But the law states that at the expiration of the tenure of office of a public office holder or his exit from office, all government properties in his possession should be returned to the government. May be, Iwuala is not aware that the present government gave adequate official notice in writing to the dissolved Chairmen and Development Area Co-ordinators to return all government properties, including vehicles in their possessions shortly after their dissolution but they failed to comply thereby provoking the Government’s Task Force into using the services of the Nigerian Police to effect the recovery of the said vehicles.
9. The allegation by Iwuala that “Governor Rochas Okorocha breached the agreement he reached with the Action Congress of Nigeria” ia baseless. For the records, the House of Assembly Candidate for Mbaitoli L.G.A under the platform of ACN, Barr. Chris Nwabia, in an interview with Eastern Democrat Newspapers during the re-scheduled re-run elections in Imo disclosed that the “ACN became divided such that one part supported Owelle Rochas Okorocha while the other part supported Governor Ikedi Ohakim”. Also captured in that report which was published in page 20 of Eastern Democrat dated May 17-22, 2011 is the circumstances which led to the face –off between the ACN gubernatorial candidate in Imo State, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume and the Senatorial Candidate for Orlu Zone under the platform of ACN, Chief Achike Udenwa, and the directive given by former to his supporters urging them to vote Chief Ikedi Ohakim for a second term. Araraume’s turn around to offer support for his erstwhile political foe, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, may have been in response to an olive branch allegedly extended to him by Chief Ohakim few days to the re-scheduled re-run elections in four(4) LGAs in Imo State. Based on the facts outlined here, one may wish to ask Iwuala how Rochas could have reached such agreement with a house that was divided against itself.
10. Iwuala’s claim that Governor Rochas Okorocha lied to the public concerning the payment of 12 years arrears of pension is unfounded. It is unfortunate that a lawyer, or so he claims to be, should descend so low by peddling false information aimed at misleading the public. The issue of payment of 12years arrears of pension to retired public servants in the State first came up during a meeting of the pensioners and the governor at Dan Anyiam Stadium recently. During that meeting, the governor approved the payment of 12years arrears owed the pensioners by the past administrations in Imo State and inother to assure the pensioners that he meant business, the governor paid them 3months arrears on the spot while he set a machinery in motion aimed at paying the balance within the shortest possible time. I had expected Iwuala to commend the governor for not only approving, but commencing payment of the arrears of pension which his predecessors had overlooked.
11. The claim by Iwuala that governor Rochas Okorocha gave the people a false impression that he is the one who donated the 110,000 liters of kerosene shared to the public some weeks ago is another malicious allegation. It is possible that some local newspapers who did not get their information correct may have published some news reports crediting the free distribution of kerosene to the governor, but a visit to the Imo State government website reveals that the governor acknowleged the effort of the federal government and Capital Oil PLC in ensuring the provision of the Petroleum product which was distributed free to the people.
In conclusion, I will like to advice Barrister Emperor Iwuala to cross-check his information subsequently before going to the press and to avoid the use of some words that can portray him as one who allows his emotion to control his sense of reasoning and judgement. That is the key to a successful practice of journalism. The present administration is barely 4months old. There is therefore the need for the people of Imo State to join hands with the government to make things right. Owelle Rochas Okorocha is known to have recorded an appreciable level of successs in his private businesses before he was voted in as governor. It should therefore be the expectation of the people of Imo State that he extends his ‘midas’ touch to the management of the affairs of the Imo State Government.
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