Owerri! Owerri!! Owerri!!!

By Emeka Opara . . .

And so, here’s the more serious part of my trip to Imo State last week, which gave me a better opportunity not only to explain the wailing (oh dear!) and gnashing of teeth currently happening there, but to also confirm conclusively that both Christmas and good governance may have been postponed indefinitely.

Let me start by confessing that I was one of those who campaigned for Gov. Rochas Okorocha, whether he knew or not won’t change the price of a plate of manure along Concorde Boulevard, but the fact, sad as it has turned out, is that I did campaign for him. So, I apologize to my brethren, who, justifiably, may be thinking I sold them bad market and then absconded to Lagos, where it seems things are better, but…..

Brothers and sisters, uncles and aunties, wailers and liars, Imo State is well and truly snookered. In the 96 hours or so I spent between Mbaise and Owerri and some in Aba (I shall tell the story separately), my left ear, which I thought was deafer than the right suddenly showed surprising capacity to bear the onslaught of complaints from almost everyone I met about Rochas’ government.

First off, on the Wednesday I arrived, Imo workers were said to have been protesting somewhere in the precincts of Douglas House, the moniker for Imo Government House, and while that was raging, His Excellency, it was alleged, was hosting a lavish birthday for his darling wife. I didn’t bother subjecting the veracity of this information to any authentication-because certain things are beyond question. Anything can happen.

Then, Peter Onu, my friend and classmate told me, with ruthless candor, what’s up with Imo House of Assembly. It is being alleged, and I have no reason to doubt it, that the House has been turned into an appendage of the executive “harm” (as my ofe mmanu friends would say) of the government. Like the Biblical Pontious Pilato would have done, some of the IMHA members have been appointed as Local Government Caretaker Committee Chairmen while the rest of them head one task force or the other, including motor parks-headed by the honorable (???) Speaker.

I’m aware a group has written to the National Assembly to urgently take over the legislative and oversight duties in Imo state since the elected members of the house have abdicated their responsibilities. Hopefully, and I mean hopefully, that will save the state from total chaos, and if the NASS are not reached by the same gang, then some semblance of governance may return and then the honorable members can carry on with the pursuit of the more lucrative and profitable executive assignments.

Incredible it may seem but when, as Peter put it, the governor not only sponsored their elections and their battles at the electoral tribunals, the members of the house cannot have balls? At best, their balls, if not yet fried and eaten, by his excellency and his friends at the Bush Bar, will be in his custody or that of his amiable wife. By the way, the workers of the IMHA who are currently owed over 9 months salaries, have locked down the complex and made it even easier for the legislature to go into bed, with the executive and Imo people are painfully watching the evil romance!

A group, which calls itself the Association of Unpaid Contractors have written a public letter of protest to His Excellency demanding for the payment of N480m debt. The story is that Rochas doesn’t pay contractors. His interest, it is said, begins and terminates after the fanfare which follows the launch of a project. I sincerely hope this is untrue or else, Imo people have been scammed big time.

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My stomach was thoroughly churned by the allegation that a whopping N600m has been earmarked for the decoration of the state capital at Christmas! The amount is too big to be true, but you never know with some of these cowboys called Governors. Rochas wouldn’t dare do such a thing. Ara ona agba ya? Eh? I’ve asked my sources to verify this allegation and report back to me ASAP.

Meanwhile, most of the roads within the capital city are horrifying, for want of a better description. A first time visitor, who’s been to a typical state capital would probably think Owerri is a glorified village and a dwelling place for the sick, hungry and angry.

Doctors have been on strike for God knows how long. Perhaps, only teachers are not owed salaries, for now and one is, therefore, tempted to ask what the bailout money was, or is being, used for.

Lest I forget, I was reliably informed that most of the restaurants and joints in Owerri are shutting down due to lack of patronage. This one I tested at Manure. When I was hailing the quality of the delicacies at the joint as well as the seemingly large crowd, I was told that what I saw was incomparable with what would normally be the case-had it not been for hardship inflicted by the government via non-payment of salaries. At another notable restaurant, which normally would be a beehive by 11am, I met a howling empty hall!

Now how does one expect or wish anybody a happy Christmas in Imo this year? How are people going to travel to Imo this Christmas and peacefully enjoy the season? Everywhere one went during the visit, one was assaulted by images of hungry, beggarly men, women and children, who, ordinarily would be getting in the Yuletide mood but have now been snookered by the folks they voted into office.

I didn’t have the contacts of my brother and classmate, Sam Onwuemeodo, who’s the governor’s spokesman, but I’ll hasten to get it this week so he can respond to these disturbing and weighty allegations. Imo is in trouble, serious trouble.

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