There is this man with a deceptive appearance from the South-east, Imo State to be precise, who pretends he has what it takes to be the president of Nigeria. In his convoluted and banal imagination, he believes he is the best thing to have come out of the South-east. His snow-white teeth and seductive smile were put to good use in the 2011 governorship election which he won. He won not necessarily because he was the best of a bad lot, but more because the people got carried away with the freshness of his candidacy and maybe his charming smile.<\/p>\n
I dare say his pledge or should I say – message that he would fix Imo didn\u2019t quite resonate with the voters as much as his cheerful beaming face. In the process, the people either glossed over his shortcomings, or forgot to interrogate his background, acclaimed business successes and his spectacular failure as a presidential aspirant. When the people fail to look deep beneath the veil of make-believe; when they allow momentary emotion and media hysteria to becloud their sense of judgment; when they see the truth and embrace well packaged falsehood; they usually pay a price – and for Rochas Okorocha\u2019s Imo, it has been a huge one.<\/p>\n
Owelle Okorocha\u2019s first term appears to have been a curse rather than a blessing. His re-election means the people of Imo State will have to endure another four harrowing years of the same non-performance, wastefulness and the elevation of the merry-go-round of inanities to statecraft – which the man with snow-white teeth has come to personify.<\/p>\n
Before now, he could even pretend some deference to the people. Unfortunately for them, he is now emboldened to be more reckless and wasteful than ever before since he feels he is no longer eligible to seek another term in office as governor and as such, he is no longer\u00a0 beholden to the people. That is the nature of politics in this part of the world \u2013 politicians appear to prefer to be remembered for their vain indulgences to enduring legacies of peace and economic growth that usher in prosperity for the greatest number. And it is precisely why Nigeria is languishing at the very bottom of the development ladder vis-a-vis other nations.<\/p>\n
In a rather outlandish move that has confounded many, the governor has embarked on a futile and wasteful exercise of running adverts on Cable News Network (CNN) presumably to showcase the economic potential of his state. A state that is staring bankruptcy in the face; a state that cannot pay workers\u2019 salaries; a state that lacks basic infrastructure is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to advertise on CNN?\u00a0 To advertise what? Owerri, the capital of Imo State is in a sorry state, with no good roads, no public water supply, and no standard health infrastructure.<\/p>\n
The problems are further compounded by poor sanitary conditions. These harsh realities provide a cautionary tale for any foreign investor. Now, if I may ask, is this the place Okorocha is wasting taxpayers\u2019 money on frivolous foreign trips calling on foreigners to come and invest in? Is it not an irony that a governor who is showcasing the potential of the state he superintends to the global community \u2014 a state which has been in the doldrums for many years \u2014 cannot harness the very same potential<\/p>\n
he chest-thumps to revive the state, and create an atmosphere conducive to foreign investments to complement the efforts of his government?\u00a0 Anyone who has been to Owerri recently would find it hard to reconcile the promises he made in 2011 and the revenues that have accrued to the state\u2019s coffers, with what is on ground. It is a tragedy of unimaginable proportions that instead of moving the state forward, Okorocha has engaged the reverse gear. How can one explain that five months after his re-election, Owelle is yet to constitute the state executive council? He has become an absentee governor practically leaving the day to day running of the state in the hands of his relatives.<\/p>\n
How can a leader be so unmindful of the precarious financial situation of his state to the extent he flew a 100-man delegation to Turkey to showcase business and investment opportunities\u00a0 in his state less than a year after he first flew a similar number to the same country for the same reason? And the binge was at the taxpayer\u2019s great expense. One is tempted to call for a psychiatric examination of the governor because clearly, something is wrong with a chief executive who wouldn\u2019t construct roads, and who begs for a bailout to pay workers\u2019 salaries \u2013 only to go on a wild spending binge abroad with scarce foreign exchange in the name of attracting foreign investors to his state.<\/p>\n
It is almost unbelievable the level of decay and rot that confronts anyone who visits Owerri. The roads passing right in front of the Government House gate, leading to the State Police Command and the Department of State Security (DSS) front gates are impassable.<\/p>\n
Likewise all the roads within the Works Layout (Madonna Schools, FMC to Okigwe road, Police Command to Alvan Nursery School, IMSU roundabout to Works Layout). Chukwma Nwoha road,\u00a0 Ihechuwa street, World Bank road, Egbeada Housing road, Orji road, Nwafor street leading to Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu\u2019s residence, Trance Egbu road, Amakohia roundabout, Okigwe road roundabout and many more within the metropolis and beyond are in such bad condition that you are left wondering whether there is governance in the state or a vacuum has yet to be filled. But unfortunately, there is a governor who is wasting taxpayers\u2019 money chasing imaginary foreign investors. The people of Imo State should ask Okorocha about the state of the roads he drove on in Turkey, and he should make a comparison with what obtains in Imo.<\/p>\n