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Why
Governor Rochas Okorocha Should Resign By Kenneth Uwadi
Newsdiaryonline Mon Aug 8,2011
Nigerian politicians
never seize to amaze me. During pre-election period they will
preach a new dawn, holding voters on their palms like raw eggs,
gently, like the last raw eggs in the world. But once election
is over the politicians will immediately tighten up their
grips on the eggs, Just a little for a start, then a big
squeeze. A little more and the hurt begins. The voters will
wrench out a cry that slides around fear. The voters’ dream for
a new dawn will then explode fiercely, like the head of
a kitchen match, shattered.
Owelle Rochas Okorocha
was ‘elected’ Governor of Imo state this year. Imolites
expect him to “hit the ground running”, according to the new
catch-phrase in our political lexicon. Okorocha has said it in
several places that he is on a mission to rescue the state from
the shackles of poverty and under-development. You would recall
that the Governor during his inauguration speech laid out in
broad outlines a set of objectives for transforming Imo state.
70 days after the
instrument of Office was handed over to him, signals from
Douglas House Owerri have failed to show any
optimism that Imo will soon begin to witness the so called real
progress rather Governor Okorocha has been behaving
like a Papa Ajasco politician. A Papa Ajasco politician preaches
sermon to the world that he is doing well for his constituency
while he is busy defecating on the peoples head. Only a Papa
Ajasco politician will be supervising (himself) the distribution
of free kerosene to women of Owerri at the Dan Ayiam stadium and
turning his back on youths in Owerri that are crying to have
their jobs back.
All the enticing
pre-election promises of transforming Imo State to an Eldorado
within a few months appear to have become a mirage. Ndi-Imo
have seen that public administration is a different kettle of
tea from the management of a private enterprise where decisions
by fiat are permissible. Okorocha has failed to understand that
administering a state requires constant consultation with
relevant stake-holders and the humility to accept advice and
that is why he has so far committed so many administrative
blunders.
My brother’s son ,a 10
years old, shocked me the other day. Good morning, Uncle!
Ain't you heard? He asked me. Heard what? Uncle, don’t tell me
you have not heard of the recent Owerri High Court judgment
that Governor Rochas Okorocha has no power to sack elected
Council Chairmen. Currently Imo has two Council Chairmen in each
of the Councils in the state, the elected ones and the stooges
appointed as Caretakers. Thanks to mal administration. The boy
murmured gently over Edris Abdulkarim’s music ‘ Nigeria Jagajaga’
and left the room.
To me Governor Okorocha
should resign for he has shown signs of incompetence. He has
irredeemably lost authority and lost the confidence of Imolites
. His polling rating has dropped drastically and he is being
disliked by so many persons in so short a time .He has lost
the confidence and support vital to the ability to lead, let
alone to administer a state like Imo state.
Okorocha should resign
for making so many administrative gaffes. He should resign for
becoming dictatorial and lawless and for bringing Imo
state close to anarchy. He should resign for announcing the sack
of elected Council Chairmen and Councilors of Imo state
despite advise from several persons .A Nigerian governor has no
legal authority to sack LGA Chairmen . They are
democratically elected officials of Councils and have specific
period to be in office. This dissolution of elected Council
officials runs contrary to the Constitution that recognizes
Councils as the third tier of government.
I remember in November
2010 when the Nigerian House of Representatives condemned the
dissolution of the Ekiti State Local Government Councils by
Ekiti State Government before the expiration of their term of
office and directed the Accountant General of the Federation to
withhold all funds due the 16 Local Governments of Ekiti until
the Local Government Chairman are returned to their offices. The
House of Representatives also passed the resolution that
federal allocation to Edo, and Ondo States be stopped until
their sacked Council Chairmen are reinstated.
Okorocha must
immediately resign as governor of Imo State and seek treatment
for anger management. He should resign for sacking 10,000
workers legally employed by the last administration. Here is a
Governor who during electioneering campaigns promised that
before his first 100 days in office, he would create jobs for
youths. Sadly, just 70 days into his administration, he has
thrown back into the labor market 10,000 highly qualified
youths. The Governor’s actions are callous. His basis for the
dismissal of the 10,000 workers was that their appointments
weren’t done according to due process and that they were cronies
and mainly family members of former Governor Ikedi Ohakim and so
he set up a joke called Jobs Verification Committee to look into
the 10,000 jobs. What other due process requirement are needed.
Someone needs to remind
him that the employment of the 10,000 was approved by the State
House of Assembly and the state Civil Service Commission. The
recruitment was conducted through due process. Advertisement
was placed in national newspapers. Governor Okorocha’s
decisions were taken in order to punish perceived enemies of his
administration. To Okorocha what is good for Imo youths is
unemployment, the angry hunger, that’s what the 10,000 Imo
workers deserve for voting him into power. The 10,000 suspended
workers are now at home jobless. Even the 2,035 persons he
claimed to be the genuine workers out of the 10,000 have not
been fix into payroll. He has continued to blame his
inadequacies on lack of fund but he forgot that we know that Imo
state is the 5th richest state in Nigeria
Okorocha should resign
for sponsoring an illegal impeachment of Chief Goodluck Nanah
Opiah as the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly with
only 10 members of the House of Assembly out of 27 members just
five days to the expiration of the tenure of Opiah. Imo State
House of Assembly has 27 members and impeachment of the speaker
in accordance with the provision of the Nigerian constitution
and the House Rules require 2/3 of members of the house. Ten
members were instigated by Okorocha to carry out legislative
lawlessness by breaking into the chambers of the house while the
house was in recess and announcing the impeachment of Opiah
Okorocha should resign
for his vicious disposition to the top echelon of the state’s
Civil Service and for sacking a Permanent Secretary of the Civil
Service on the ground that “his Service was no
longer required”. Just like that! He should resign for lobbying
the State House of Assembly to pass a bill for the dissolution
of the State Civil Service Commission and the Local Government
Commission
Okorocha should resign
for making things worse for the finance of Imo state with
his over bloated cabinet. His over 150 cabinet members and
committees is a perpetuation of a culture of waste. His
cabinet is jobs for the boys, and each of these
commissioners and aides will have a convoy of aides and
they will also travel and be paid fat salaries and allowances.
This is just a waste of our resources. The size of Okorocha’s
cabinet is another sign of poor leadership traits.
Okorocha should resign
for suspending the 106 new autonomous communities that were
created by the last administration. Some indigenes who reacted
over the suspension of their new traditional rulers questioned
the rationale behind the government’s decision. They lamented
that their communities went through due process in the selection
and presentation of their traditional rulers. Okorocha has
already lost the support of the 106 affected communities with
an estimated population of 1.6 million.
Okorocha should resign
for the removal in office of the chairman of Imo state Council
of Traditional Rulers, Eze Cletus Ilomuanya without due process
and for privatizing the Imo State Transport Company (ITC).
Contrary to the laws establishing the Traditional Rulers Council
in Imo state which guarantee a specific tenure for Ilomuanya,
the governor just woke up and removed the chairman. Go Okorocha,
resign now for you have indeed failed in your
obligation under the Constitution to uphold the laws of the
land. Resign now
Kenneth Uwadi
writes from Mmahu-Egbema ,Imo State,Nigeria
Related:
Gov Okorocha’s blunder on the 10,000 job programme-By Kenneth
Uwadi
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