Chidi Nnadi, Enugu
The Oguta Local Government Area Transition Chairman, Gerald Tuesday Mgborokwu (Onochiee) has given reasons Governor Rochas Okorocha has not conducted local government elections in Imo State.
Mgborokwu, a lawyer, said the governor could not do so as he was in court with former elected council chairmen, adding that the transition system adopted by the Okorocha administration has done more work at the grassroots level notwithstanding.
He also said the statues erected by the governor in Imo have put him at the centre of African history.
Governor Rochas Okorocha is serving out his tenure in 2019, yet he is running the local government with transition chairmen; many in Imo believe this has hampered development at the grassroots…
That it is not the position. I retired as a director of administration and I know the trends of development in the local government system.
First of all, there is a litigation which is currently at the Supreme Court at the instance of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ex-elected chairmen which barred the governor from conducting local government election in the state because it would be contemptuous of the Supreme Court for Governor Rochas Okorocha to conduct council election when there is a litigation going on in court. The law does not permit him to do so; that is the angle of law. From the angle of facts, there is massive development in the local governments than ever. The position is that there is a state law that provided for local administration which empowered the state to supervise the local government through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and that is what they are exercising, the money comes to the local government, but because of strict supervision of the local government by the state, since Okorocha came on board, there has been more development in the local governments. For examples, the local governments are now building ICT centres in the 27 local governments on the directives of the state government and there is uniformity of purpose which is the objective of establishing the local government system. In the 27 local governments, you will also see 27 chapels built by the local governments, the ministry supervising the local government ensures that monies coming to councils are not diverted. Before I was appointed the local government transition chairman, no local government has been able to tar one kilometer road, but right now I am tarring six kilometers of roads for the first phase in Oguta Local Government. This is not the ones tarred before me. In Oguta One, my road construction is at the point of putting stone base. So, which of the local government chairmen before me were able to do it? They could not do it, they were busy sharing the money to their supporters, they take the money from federation account and then share the money and they think that governance was about sharing money. Now under
Okorocha, we are doing things that people can see. We are tarring roads, renovating offices; once the directives come from the supervisory ministry, everybody keeps to the standard and that is the position. Under the TC, there are more developments in the local government than ever.
Is it only tarring of roads and ICT centres that you have done in your council?
No, there are more things. We have built magistrate court at Agwa, health centres at Agwa and we have renovated all the offices in the local government secretariat. Now, we have gone into environmental, cleanliness at the local government, we have built quarters for the DPO, and for the National Youth Service Corps. We have built revenue centres in my local government as in the other 27 local government areas of the state. These are things we are doing. For roads, the Amakohia-Ubi/Agwa road is under construction, and will be completed soon, but in the budget for the second phase, Ekwe/Egbuoma road has been completed and asphalted. There are many more; even the local government road from the beginning to the end is fully completed at the instance of the local government.
Governor Rochas Okorocha’s Rescue Mission government is on the last lap, do you think it has achieved its purpose?
Yes, it has worked. If you enter Owerri today, for those who had left Owerri about five to six years ago, you cannot locate the actual route. If you go through Amakohia road, it is like Broad Street in Lagos. If you go to Mbaisi Road, Wethdral Road, it is the same. So, if you have the authority to allocate resources and develop your people, what are the things to do? One urbanization: where there is forest, you build infrastructure, good roads, hospitals, police station to provide security, schools. And these are some of the things Owelle is doing. In the area of security, Naze Road that was robbers’ den has been sanitized because there are policemen posted there on a daily basis. The kidnappers don’t have a place again to keep their victims there. Security is the life-wire of development; for you to do business, there must be security, for you to go to school, there must be security, go to work, sleep, there must be security, when you say rescue, it means people are in bondage and you rush to save them so that they can sleep well, invest, go to work and do their businesses and that is the essence of the Rescue Mission. So, we can say that Imo State has been rescued in all facets.
The government’s urban renewal efforts have come with some pains; there are people who are crying because their houses have been pulled down, their businesses closed down. At Amakohia road, there was this particular family that the bones of their ancestor were exhumed and what happened at Eke-ukwu Owerri market, some people are still gnashing their teeth, how do you look at that?
When Chief Ikedi Ohakim was governor of Imo State, he said sacrifice a little and enjoy forever. In any developmental effort, there must be sacrifice. Governor Okorocha is also sacrificing because there were governors here before him who were only enjoying the money, buying lands and property overseas, but Okorocha is here building roads.
While I sympathize with the families whose ancestors bones were exhumed in the process of road construction, I say it is part of sacrifice they have to make for the development of their state. I am sure that today when they look at the road they will have cause to smile and say this is urbanization. If the shops they had at that time were rented for, say N5,000, now they will be more than that and they will recoup their lost resources. Coming to the traders, they are the same people rushing to the new International Market constructed by Okorocha, and they are happy. The governor gave them three months to stay free and they are rushing to occupy the shops now. The shops have standards that they will not experience fire disaster because the shops are decked. I believe that in the few years to come when Okorocha might have left office, Imo people would come to appreciate him as their best leader.
There is this controversy trending in the social media about Akpuala gi coming from the erection of statues in Imo State by Governor Okorocha. Since you are one of the apostles of this government, what is the relevance of this, especially those of foreign nationals put up in Imo?
I want to tell you in the area of foreign policy, the constitution of
Nigeria reserved the power to invite foreign leaders to the Federal Government. For a governor of a state to have the leverage, to have the contact to attract foreign dignitaries or president, not one, not two, into Imo State, it means that Rochas is at the centre of making international history in Africa. But little minds will be under-rating it, but these are the dreams of the likes of Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela… These were their dreams that Africa must be united in order to discover their destiny. Okorocha is one governor that is not a president, but he is discovering the destiny of Africa by assembling five children from 55 African countries to reside in Nigeria. It means that the long struggle of which country is the leader of Africa is over. What some of our past leaders could not do Okorocha has done, so it means that Rochas has conquered Africa. It can be said that Rochas is at the centre of historic process of Africa. If you travel outside the country, you see statues of great leaders either from that country or elsewhere. If you go to UK, you see the statue of Nelson Mandela.
That is what Okorocha is replicating in Nigeria and in little Imo State and he said the place they are located is called Hero’s Square.
There are apartments there built for heroes; there you see Ojukwu’s statue, you see other heroes of Africa. All former governors of Imo State living and dead have one structure there free of charge, yet there is none for Rochas, the serving governor. He had no provision for himself and he said if he leaves office, if they remember him, let them do for him. From what he has done, it means South Africa will be interested in Imo State, it means Liberia will be interested in Imo.
Any state the statue of their governor or president is there will be interested in Imo State. When they come to Imo, they feel at home. So it is kudos to him. It means that Rochas has conquered Africa without being a president.
By August, political activities will be heightened. Do you think that your party (APC) has what it takes to retain Imo?
If Rochas as a candidate could flush out an incumbent governor to occupy the seat, the presumption in my mind is that while leaving office he will have the capacity to disallow anybody to push out his own candidate. He has done exceedingly well that the people are not saying he does not merit producing a successor. Rather people are only bringing in trivial sentiments into it. Who is he bringing out? Does he have a relationship with Rochas? These are the things; they are not saying that Rochas does not have the capacity to install a good successor. As much as I know and can analyse politics, Rochas is going to produce a successor that will continue with the good work he has started. There are enormous reasons he should produce his successor; if another person comes who is not in tune with the programmes of the government that person will stop the good works of the government like the free education. As a voter I will not want to support anybody that will not continue with the programmes and policies of the present administration, especially the free education in primary, secondary and even in the university. So, the Imo people will like to put someone who will continue with this good work.
You have been at grassroots politics, what is your future political ambition as the Okorocha’s administration comes to an end?
My future political ambition is a tall dream and I cannot realize it
alone. If my people call me tomorrow to go for the Senate, I will go, if they say I should be governor of Imo State, I will go, if they say go for House of Assembly, House of Representatives, I will go because I have the capacity to represent them anywhere. For example, I read over the newspapers that the governor said that there will be mock primaries for gubernatorial aspirants and if on the appointed date, I am nominated to be the governor of Imo State, I will accept because I have the capacity. There was one other meeting they had at the Imo International Conference Centre and the governor called for those who wanted to go for positions and I was not there, but somebody nominated me. But I must wait for my people to say to me before I can come out.
It is like checking my blood pressure. And if they did not say anything I will remain like that. There should be a vocal demand and that is why people remain in the parliament for 35 years in the UK because their people demanded that they should continue. But in
Nigeria, after one tenure, people say you come back, but
representation has no expiring date.