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A Trip With
Ambivalence (1)
By Acho Orabuchi
Newsdiaryonline Sat Aug
27,2011
“God sees us through our
Mothers' eyes and rewards us for our virtues.”- Ganeshan
Venkatarman, Indian philosopher
“Mother is the name of
God in the lips and hearts of children.” - William Makepeace
Thackeray, English novelist
Mother is the name of
God in the lips and hearts of adults, too. Mom, my only
surviving parent, was with us in the United States for a while, but I received a
frantic message that she was seriously ill in Nigeria with stroke level blood
pressure readings. The news prompted my emergency trip to
Nigeria,
Imo State in particular.
As I left
Dallas
on a Delta flight in a hot sizzling summer afternoon with a
temperature of about 110°F (43°C) for
Minneapolis en route to Amsterdam for the final destination—Abuja,
I did not know what awaited me across the
Atlantic. Though my ticket read Delta, but my
connecting flights to Amsterdam
and Abuja
were on KLM aircrafts. On arriving at Abuja at about 8:00 P.M.
local time, I took the first morning flight to Owerri the next
day.
Worrying about mom’s
condition, smooth connecting flights with minimal layover time
mitigated my anxiety. While in the air, I either slept or read a
book. I was reading the “Renegade: The Making of A President” by
Richard Wolfe. I found it pleasurable and fascinating as it gave
me more insights on the psyche of Barack Obama’s campaign,
victory, and early moments in the office.
At
Amsterdam
we went through another screening irrespective of the fact that
I checked in my luggage in Dallas
to Abuja, and I never left any of
the airports’ security areas before boarding a KLM flight from
Amsterdam to Abuja. I thought the activity was redundant!
However, for safety purposes, I did not mind the exercise.
Well, on arriving in
Abuja, my friend Engr. Casmir Anyanwu and my nephew,
Dr. Nnaemeka Onyeakusi, were already waiting for me at
Nnamdi
Azikiwe
International
Airport. Surprisingly, the
immigration processing and baggage handling at the airport were
efficient and smooth. Soon after, I proceeded to the outside
where Casmir pulled in and Nnaemeka wasted no time to help put
my luggage in the trunk; they immediately drove me straight to
Protea Hotel, where I spent a night before catching a morning
flight for Owerri. Well, I was impressed with Protea Hotel—the
facility is up to standard and comparable to what is obtainable
in the western countries. After freshening up, I came down to
the restaurant for a buffet dinner at a whopping cost of N4,800
per person. Well, needless to say the food was good;
scrumptiously, the menu was replete with Nigerian cuisine of
assorted types. I opted for the goat meat pepper soup, moi-moi,
akara, and two other soups—ogbono and okazi without the
accompanying solid. These foods are rare in my household—we
seldom eat them. Thereafter, I retired for the night.
Next day the guys took
me to the airport to catch a flight to Owerri. I boarded the
Arik Air for a hitch-free 45-minute flight, which was on
schedule. By the time I arrived in Owerri, Ikenna Anibeze was
already waiting for me. On getting my luggage, he immediately
took me to Links Hotels where I checked in. From there, I
shuttled to Aba to see my mom. Before departing the United States,
I filled mom’s blood pressure medication, but was worried about
the condition in which I would see her. Well, by the time I saw
her, she was stabilized and had become stronger—a welcome relief
for me and unparalleled joy for both of us as I hugged and held
her for a little longer with a parting kiss on her forehead; as
I was releasing her, I muttered “I love you , mom”. You may not
have known that it was uncommon for parents and their children
to verbalize their love for one another. When I was growing up,
my parents never said, “I love you, son.” I knew they loved me,
which they expressed in many ways. In the same token I never
uttered, “I love you mom or I love you dad.” I loved my parents,
but it is not the culture to verbalize love within an African
family. Mom and I sat and chatted about everything in the
company of my other siblings, nephews and nieces. It was a good
feeling to be with mom, who sacrificed tremendously for my
siblings and me. As an adult, mom is still protective of me.
Noticeably, this was my
first trip to Imo
State
since the controversial supplementary gubernatorial May 6th
election that brought Owelle Rochas Anayo Okorocha into power.
Gov. Okorocha campaigned furiously promising to rescue Imo from
the imagined excesses of Gov. Ikedi Ohakim. It appears that the
rescue mission was a mirage and the wheels of the rescue machine
had come to a screeching halt with exhilaration of supporters
and campaign workers turning into exhaustion and exasperation.
At least, reviews on the ground attested to the above assertion.
People in Imo
State
are talking with a great disappointment of Governor Rochas
Okoracha. I rode ‘keke’ on several occasions to take the pulse
of the people regarding the situation in
Imo State. Shockingly, the majority of people
expressed grave disappointment of Gov. Rochas Okorocha. I tried
to find out if the sentiments were just veneer emotions, but to
my greatest surprise, the sentiments were deep-rooted.
The sentiments were
reinforced by several factors. Some people argued that Owelle
Rochas Okorocha was not prepared for the job and never knew what
to expect. They further expressed that Gov. Okorocha’s decisions
in office so far had been erratic and lacked thorough,
thought-processing evaluation before implementation. In some
instances, they expressed regrets for supporting Rochas Okorocha.
Since I was a passive observer, I could not probe for more
information. In some cases the conversation centered on Gov.
Okorocha’s recent bloated appointments that received damning
editorial comments in the national dailies. The people alleged
not only that Gov. Okorocha bloated his administration with
incompetent people, but that he flooded his appointments with
his relatives and friends—anathema to the populace—who have no
intentions to uplift the masses in Imo State. It is ineluctably
true that the quality of any administration is in its individual
appointees.
Perhaps, the most
scathing and baleful allegation came when one of the passengers
riding ‘Keke’ quoted Gov. Okorocha as saying in Igbo language,
“Ochichi na-amalite n’usekwu nne.” This means that before
the governor will ever help others or embark on any development
in Imo
State, he must first
enrich his relatives starting with siblings of the same
mother—one’s blood relations come first before others. They said
that the governor continued, “Ochichi wu onye ritu onye-efe onye
ozo eritu.” Invariably, he holds that the primary purpose of
public service is to enrich self.
The allegations
continued with another passenger cutting with an accusation that
Gov. Rochas Okorocha furtively sold the government-owned Concord
Hotels to his associates; there was neither a public hearing nor
public notice. Henceforth, all government meetings are conducted
at Rochas
Foundation
Building. Morosely, the glum looks
on their faces testified to the seeming phenomenon which was not
perfect for their palate as they unwittingly winnow the campaign
promises from hard reality.
Interestingly, the
chatters were never vacuous pockets of din from the opposition,
which was nonexistent in the first place. At least, the people,
in their veiled criticism of Ohakim, indicated that they
supported Owelle Rochas Okorocha during the election. Perhaps
the rants revealed the sudden and quick erosion of public
support for Governor Rochas Anayo Okorocha. Gov Okorocha’s steep
decline in favorability is reminiscent of Governor Rick Scott’s,
the 45th Governor of Florida State.
Dr. Acho Orabuchi, an
Opinion Writer/Commentator and Analyst, lives in
USA.
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