Okorocha and the limits of ambition

His rascality in Imo State and especially his disregard for due process has made a nonsense of all that is pure and decent in the act of governance. Recall that after the election in 2011, even before he was sworn in, he wrote to banks freezing all government accounts. The Attorney General of the federation […]

His rascality in Imo State and especially his disregard for due process has made a nonsense of all that is pure and decent in the act of governance. Recall that after the election in 2011, even before he was sworn in, he wrote to banks freezing all government accounts. The Attorney General of the federation (AGF) had to call him to order by reminding him that there was a government in place regardless of the outcome of that election and advised him to rein in his inordinate urge to assume power.
As soon as he came on board, he declared war on the system in place in Imo State, doing the unheard of by commercialising the civil service, as well as dissolving the Local Government as a tier of government. He went ahead to violate the constitution of the federation by introducing an ill conceived fourth tier of government that is, obviously, lacking in definition and focus. In Imo State today, there is no local government worthy of the name; yet the allocations to that tier of government has not stopped coming and into someone’s private pocket.
Not too long ago, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) paid the state a visit and arrested two top government officials for questioning on a N44billion scam. He is trying to divert attention from that issue by making a feeble attempt to probe his predecessor.
For him, governance is akin to show business that thrives on razzmatazz. That can be deciphered from his abuse of television air time. Okorocha’s face must appear on the screen everyday even if he has to fight for it as he did in Enugu at a State function where he fought with a protocol officer over sitting position. His colleague, the Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi for him the seat was reserved, however, had to teach him some lessons in humility and decorum.
Towards the 2007 election, he toyed with the idea of running for the presidency on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). At that time, the ante for the Igbo presidency was at its upmost. But because of the way Okorocha went about it with his nauseating display of wealth from alleged questionable sources, even the Igbo elite said if he was the kind character vying for the position, they would have nothing to do with it. Before then, he was the Chairman of a federal government parastatal, from where he was forced out because he alleged to have compromised.
Now, he is back on the beat. He wants to be a presidential candidate in 2015 and he is trying to buy into the ongoing merger talks by opposition parties, promising to bankroll it on the condition that they give him the ticket. But ambition ought to be made of a sterner stuff which the self styled Owelle lacks. The good thing is that he is going to have to deal with smarter politicians who know who he is and where he is coming from. He abandoned ANPP when he failed to get what he wanted and returned to the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to accept the position of a Special Adviser. The opportunist he is, he moved on soon after and joined the Progressive Peoples Grand Alliance (APGA) and rode on Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s booster rocket into office as Governor. To him, the envisaged mega party that would emerge if the merger talks succeeded would be a veritable platform to re-launch his presidential ambition. Of course, he will fail again and he will surely move on because he is the quintessential fair weather politician lacking in ideology and commitment.
The spoiler he is, he wants to derail the present thriving political dispensation; but Nigerians know him better. The Imo people are earnestly waiting to see how he will account for the billions that accrued to the state through the monthly federal allocation to the local government areas.  Such a character is not who the Igbo nation should offer to the rest of Nigeria as their candidate for the exalted office of the president of the country.
Eze wrote from Owerri<[email protected]>