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There is no tactic too bizarre for a man in a tight corner to deploy. What matters for a man in difficulty is to secure some reprieve. Senator Rochas Okorocha knows this very well. And the senator is in a tight corner.
Early last week, in a press conference bereft of any political party symbols and backdrop, Senator Okorocha announced his entry into the swelling crowd of presidential aspirants.
Anyone who has followed, if not studied, the psychology and behaviour trait of typical Nigerian politicians would have known much earlier that it was only a matter of time before Rochas Okorocha declared his intention to seek nomination to contest for President. That gives them a kick. Rochas, for one, has been doing so almost every four years since he entered partisan politics. The only time he did not aspire to be a presidential candidate was the period he was governor – that outing for which he insists Imo people owe him perpetual gratitude, considering as he was wont to remind them, that he actually ought to be President and not a mere governor. And he was indeed more than a President while he reigned in Imo. He was actually something of an emperor. Now, he is out to seek a ride to where he believes he should be.
Those who do not understand the workings of such minds as Okorocha’s are likely to be asking such a question as, how can he come out to seek to become President of Nigeria? The response is, why not? Why not him? This is Nigeria. With some walking frauds noisily strutting the arena and insisting also on becoming President of Nigeria, Senator Rochas Okorocha cannot but rightly ask why he too should not aspire to be President.
Simultaneously, as Okorocha was announcing his offer of himself to Nigerians to be their pilot to the future, as he poetically put it seven days ago, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was revving its engine to possibly pilot the senator to prison, if they can. The very day the senator formally announced that he aspires to be President, the anti-graft agency slammed a hefty 17-count charge on the former Imo State governor. The charges border on allegations of stealing and conspiring to steal a whopping N2.9 billion while he served as governor, that selfless service he rendered to Imo people without receiving due compensation, according to his own account.
From the reaction of Okorocha to the EFCC charge, it certainly was a heavy blow to him. Interestingly, the major pain did not seem to have come from the reality of the charge, disconcerting as it may. His apparent anguish was in the timing of the charge against him. The reality of the same national network news bulletins that carried the story of Okorocha offering himself to be President also carrying the jarring story of Okorocha being charged with allegation of stealing N2.9 billion not too long ago was something of a knockout. That must be what is call spoiling someone’s party.
Even for a society where the threshold for shock has been stretched by scandals and tragedies to a level of extreme elasticity, the two-sided story on Rochas and the import could not be missed. The senator realized the damage and has been striving since that fateful day to talk the blot out of public consciousness. A difficult task.
Did the EFCC know that Rochas Okorocha was billed to step out with his public expression of interest to seek nomination to contest for President and, therefore, compiled and announced the 17-count charge against him at the same time? It does not seem likely. Considering that the two developments occurred almost simultaneously, it seems quite inconceivable that the EFCC set out for such a serious assignment simply to spoil a party for someone. That is not to deny that stuff happens.
However, it is not how strenuously Okorocha has been working the media to give himself a clean bill of health, in the face of the EFCC charges, that is of paramount interest to many. What has a grave public import and should, therefore, be a source of alarm to the society is the former governor’s latest gambit in the efforts to wriggle out of a tight corner. Senator Okorocha reportedly visited President Muhammadu Buhari late last week and requested him to ask the EFCC to let him be, as it were.
According to Okorocha, the basis for his request to the President was that the charge against him was politically motivated. What the definition of the phrase “politically motivated” is remains, at best, nebulous, but let us not go into all that. Rochas simply wants President Buhari to call EFCC to order.
In his heyday as chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, high on the intoxicant that power is to many, openly told politicians that once any of them joined the APC, that individual’s sins (read corruption) are forgiven him. It seemed a reckless comment for someone at such a prominent public position to make.
Nigerians watched in awe, however, as what the ruling party’s helmsman said seemed to hold. As many politicians carrying heavy luggage steadily streamed into the ruling party, where a reasonable measure of comfort, if not protection, seemed available to them indeed; many Nigerians virtually wrote off the anti-corruption flag that the Buhari regime loved to wave. One or two sacrificial fall guys were thrown overboard quite all right, but that never convinced the public that Oshiomhole was talking nonsense. Till date.
Of course, the EFCC has not helped itself over the years. The jackboot tendencies of the agency’s immediate past head, Ibrahim Magu, did not effectively conceal the stories of the rot within nor allegations of selectivity in waging war against corruption. There were also allegations of a proclivity by some of the agency’s operatives to cut deals with many who had cases to answer. Magu has gone, of course. But is the perception of the EFCC any different?
Right from the outset, the EFCC has lived with the public suspicion that it can, and does, serve as an instrument in the hands of the ruling government to harass opposition politicians. Even for all such suspicions and fears, however, at no point has anyone openly and brazenly asked a President to direct EFCC to back off from his case. Senator Okorocha said he only asked President Buhari to direct EFCC to obey court orders favourable to him. Can anyone beat that?
It is true that the war against corruption has been raging more on the level of tokenism than with designed intensity. Still, it is shocking and unbelievable that someone, a top-ranking elected official of the state for that matter, could publicly seek to lead a sitting President into such temptation.
Whatever the shortcoming of the EFCC may be, it is better that the society believes that it still has a modicum of independence and neutrality than for them to believe, as Rochas wants everyone to do, that politicians who are in trouble can run to the President and get him to call the agency to back off.
Okorocha has not done himself any good with this dangerous gambit. Although there was no report of what President Buhari’s response to his desperate plea was, now the public is keenly watching them.
