This is election time. All manner of things happen. Today, some governors are up in arms with their party, the All Progressives Congress, APC. Or more particularly, they are up against their chairman. Adams Oshiohmole talks a lot, but itโs through talking especially in the labour unions, that got him where he is today. But that’s a story for another day. Also the governors of Zamfara, Imo and Ogun are in deep confusion. They don’t know whether to go right or left. They are in a bind sort of. They can’t stay in one position for long either. They have to move or be moved. This is not a position a typical Nigerian governor wants to find him or herself. You know, in Nigeria, the governors are gods. They do and undo. They reinvent the wheel at will. It is what it is.
But things are not as they used to be. The landscape is changing but the governors do not want to change or plan according to the wheel of the change; instead they want to turn a wheel to a box. Itโs not funny, but that’s what we see. Itโs horrible. I do not normally have a problem with how a politician finds a way around torny political battles. Follow the rules! But most times for our governors, they are the rules. It was the governor of Ogun that began this round of absurdities (during this primary season). He just woke and concocted a list of everyone that can get any ticket in his party. Only him wrote out who gets the governorship, deputy governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives and House of Assembly members tickets. He tucked it under his armpit and bolted to Abuja. Such audacity.
But we are here because of another man. Governor Rochas Okorocha! He is the chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum. He is a senior member of the APC. Not necessarily because he is a governor but because of the circumstances that led to the formation of the party. To be fair to him, he popularised APC in the South East and when he was needed most he delivered. President Muhammadu Buhari scored about 40 per cent of the votes in Imo state even during a time nobody wanted to identify with APC din 2014/15. But that’s all there is to say. Every other thing he did for their party is just like what other party chieftains did. But this primary season again hit where it hurts most. Now we know the real Rochas Okorocha. In my opinion his claim to a good heart, a champion of the masses and a king of the less privileged have evaporated. His handling of his party’s primaries in his state confirmed that he is a very greedy man.
Okorocha prefers his son-in-law to succeed him as governor. To be fair, there is absolutelynothing wrong with that. His son-in-law, Uche Nwosu is a human being with his personal ambitions which his family relationship must not prevent. He is from Imo state and has worked in high capacities. He is qualified to be governor if his party picks him and the state votes for him. But I have a problem with Rochas going to the senate, his sister going to the House of Reps, his in-law, minister of state Education, his wife House of Reps, another of his sons-in-law,ย going to House of Reps too and his younger brother, the likely deputy governorship candidate to his son-in-law! Phew. How can this be? What society tolerates this? More so the one that sees politics as a means to escape poverty? You can’t cow people all the time, something will give eventually.
The shenanigans relating to the two committees that conducted separate primary election in the state for governorship found meaning after the primaries for other offices in the state. when stakeholders saw that other candidates for other positions have been privatized by Okorocha it became apparent that the ticket for governorship for his son-in-law was going to be contested vigorously. Rochas hasn’t done well, he may have shouldered a lot of problems but you don’t resort to this kind of primitive allocation of leadership to your immediate family. It is sickening. Does it then mean that other members of the party are bench warmers? How do you hope to win the general elections if you relegate every other person to the background and turn them to wailers?ย Rochas is simply mismanaging his goodwill. Itโs pathetic and people must tell him. By his actions, he is killing his own party on the altar of greed and ignorance.
We should not have this kind of scenario again. Politics is about consensus. The whole Rochas clan can partake in the election; but you need to get stakeholders’ buy in, so long as stakeholders are happy, you do not have any problem even if the entire Okorocha family populates Imo state House of Assembly. Okorocha should learn humility; I know it is not in his vocabulary. But itโs important. He should also learn how to work with others. He can learn how to keep his clan out of his selfish agenda because when tomorrow comes, there may become a Joseph that never met a Pharaoh. It is tough out there. Some of these things will come back to haunt him in Imo state; the state with a very heavy dose of petition writers. His handling of that primary election in his party has exposed his legacy to ridicule. Those from other parts of the country who thought of him in high regards have changed their minds. He once looked like a presidential material, but his greed now makes him look like a councillor. Too bad!
