Date Published: 07/25/09
IMO IS IN THE HANDS OF THE GODS.
By Stephen Nwahiri.
“Ol boy, you don hear wetin I de hear?”
“Na so you de hear all the time, what is it this time around?”
“They say our sleeping on duty president wan visit Imo State again”.
“Haba, for what again? This is his third time of visiting Imo State since his forward-never, backward-ever regime began, what did he forget in Imo State that he must be visiting the state every now and then?”
“Me I no know o. The governor of Imo State, Ohakim and his men say it shows that Yar’Adua loves the state”.
“Rubbish! With Yar’Adua’s love, I bet many people will prefer to go rather loveless. Fact is that Yar’Adua is horrible news and if this guy Ohakim takes him to measure himself, he will end up a failure”
“Na u sabi. Wetin the man do you sef? He is a nice guy who cannot hurt a fly.”
“Nice man, my slippers. Was he not the one that refused to give up a rotten mandate he was handed over by that old fox?”
“Which old fox? Please, don’t make me lose my appetite by bringing that chimpanzee into our discussion.”
“You mean Mathew Okikiola Igbochukwu Obasanjo? By the way what happened to his real father? I mean the Onitsha man, Igbochukwu, the late police officer?”
“Please, let us not digress, Obasanjo is bad news any day so don’t bring him into our conversation.”
“So, who is good news? Yar’Adua or his idle deputy, Goodluck?”
“Men, I don’t like this argument at all. Any discussion about Nigeria and its worthless leaders affects my appetite so I don’t want to discuss them at all”.
“So who do we discuss? Is it Ojoro Maduekwe who said that Obama told him he would visit Nigeria very soon?”
Please, don’t go there. I have never seen man in his bestial best. If you see the way Ojoro related that lie, you would think that Obama, who cannot be as old as Ojoro’s last son relished his concocted encounter with Obama, you will realize that Nigeria is in real shit with these
“By the way, what is Yar’Adua coming to fo in Imo State this time around?”
“Me, I no know o. I don’t think he has a credible mission going by official manifest about his coming.”
“Really?”
“Yea, there is allegation that Ohakim has no project for Yar’Adua to commission because he had been busy gallivanting everywhere celebrating himself, buying up newspapers and televisions spaces, buying up editors and columnists, mounting billboards everywhere, all celebrating Ohakim and family”.
“It is really tragic. I thought they say that guy is doing very well? When Yar’Adua came the first time, he laid the foundation of the government house and commissioned a water scheme?”
“That is exactly what the people are saying. Where is the said government house after the foundation stone was laid two years ago? I even heard that the water scheme the president commissioned was fed with a tanker of water and after that ran out, the project has gone kaput. You may not know the danger of bringing a non-entity to power u until he starts his show.”
“You are right my brother. What of the Oguta wonderlake, the expressway that will link Port Harcourt and Imo Airport and so many other projects Ohakim promised to build within his first one hundred days? Seems that man is good at talking and not doing?”
“I should ask you that. The worst is that no road has been built in Owerri and many parts of Imo State for the past two years yet that fellow makes the funny boast that he had built more roads than all the regimes that have ruled Imo State.”
“And that should include Mbakwe”..
“Are you alright at all or don’t you understand simple English?”
“So, where are the Ohakim roads?”
“It exists in newspapers and propaganda mills but my brother, Imo State is in for a horrible experience.”
“Wait a minute, this Ohakim guy, I thought they say he is doing well?”
“Who said so?”
“The papers say so. I read quite some fantastic stories about how he is transforming Imo State and I am marveled that you insist he has no project for the president to commission.”
“Well, there you got it wrong. If he had projects he had executed, why drag a whole country’s president to commission the mere demarcation of two kilometers of Egbu Road, when the same project was also commissioned by Ohakim to mark his second year in power?”
“So where did you get this idea from?”
“His Information Commissioner, Amanze Obi was reported to have briefed newsmen the other day where he read out the manifest of the visit. He said the president will commission two kilometers of Egbu Road, go to Oguta to flag off the dredging of River Niger…...”
“Wait a minute, is it River Niger or River Nworie you are talking about?”
“Who brought in River Nworie here? Where in hell is River Nworie?”
“I should ask you that because I heard that N10billion contract was awarded to dredge River Nworie?”
“Hmmmm, don’t drag me into that Nworie issue. I don’t know of any River called Nworie. I know of a narrow stream that dries up in October called Nworie but I don’t know of any river by that name.”
“So what really is going on? How can the state government plough that huge amount of money into dredging a stream when numerous problems stare the state in the face?”
“Me I no know o. many Imo people say the Ohakim government is the more-you-look, the-less-you see. So I believe that Nworie River stuff was to provide money for the boy.”
“For the boys? You are beginning to sound like a 419er and by the way, there is this whisper that Ohakim was practicing 419 before he became governor, is it true?”
“I reject any attempt to force me to confirm a fact every Imo man is beginning to realize, in Jesus name!”
“C’mon, be serious, what was the man doing before he became governor?”
“Me, I no know but he said he was a consultant and I believed him till his abracadabra regime started and I don’t know what to believe again.”
“So, what again is our dearly beloved president-on-bed-rest coming to do in Imo State this time around?”
“Those things I have told you that came from the official mouth of Amanze Obi. And again, they said he is coming to commission the office of the PDP.”
“So our president is coming to Imo State to commission PDP office? By the way, I thought that Ohakim was elected on the platform of the PPA, what business has he with a PDP office?”
“Oh, haven’t you heard he will also decamp to the PDP during the president’s visit?”
“I heard it as a rumour and never believed it because he was chased away from the PDP and that was why he went to the PPA and became governor. So you mean he is returning to the PDP again? For what reason?”
“For 2011 my brother, he believes that they will steal the votes for him then, remember the PDP is the vote-stealing machine and Ohakim is hated with passion by Imo people because he is seen as a huge disppointment?”
“So what is his party, the PPA doing about it?”
“Their leader, Orji Kalu has threatened to drag him to the Supreme Court to recover the party’s mandate if he returns to the PDP. He says that the Supreme Court judgment on Amechi versus Omehia was unequivocal that the mandate belongs to the party and not the candidate. He insists that Ohakim should leave the PPA mandate and join the PDP if he wants.”
“Exactly! He has my full support for that. These opportunists should not be allowed to trade with the interests of the people. That is what Ohakim wants to do be licking his vomit with this shameless return to the PDP.”
“I don’t pity Ohakim at all. He still has the Agbaso case hanging on his head and you remember that the Appeal Court has already described his election as a purported election. I believe that if justice is still justice, he would be thrown out as governor of Imo State by the time the Agbaso case is determined.”
“What of the PPA threat?”
“That is another potent threat and it will also affect Governor Yuguda and Dakingari. I believe they will all loose their seats for taking that opportunistic plunge.”
“But those ones have married the president’s daughters? I feel the president will never allow them to be humiliated out of office.”
“You are right but let’s watch and see. After all, Obasanjo as president, lost all the cases he entered against Atiku in the country’s courts so it can still happen again.”
“You seem to read much into the integrity of these our judges but I don’t. If they really are upright, the PDP would not have pocketed up to five governors because they never won more than that.”
“Well, let’s keep our fingers crossed.”
“My brother, you should not forget we are in Nigeria where 1 plus 1 equals eleven and not two. Why do you think the Supreme Court made that long adjournment in a simple case to decide the jurisdiction of the court of appeal to hear the Agbaso case? I fear that is a typical Nigerian attempt to pervert justice so don’t be too optimistic.”
“No wahala, let us watch and see what they will say on the case because it is like an open sesame.”
“Yes, but in Nigeria, anything can happen so we must prepare ourselves for any eventuality. If you note well, Ohakim’s open courting of Yar’Adua is not for nothing. He hopes to once again, take advantage of the system by soliciting their intervention in the judicial process.”
“I don’t know about that. But I heard that during his book launch in Lagos, he just fell short of saying that the sultan of Sokoto is his god and maker.”
“And you feel such shameless, unsolicited and open gravitation is for nothing? And after that, he will come and claim he is promoting Igbo interests? He knows what he is doing and it is all about remaining in power through crooked means.”
“In fact, bros me, we need a very bloody revolution in this country. That is the only thing that will reverse the degeneration.”
“No one will argue that but the problem is, who will bell the cat?”
“That was the question when Nzeogwu and Orkar struck. I have a firm hope that some guys down there will not watch these crooks completely destroy all of us as they have almost done.”
“Please. Lets keep our fingers crossed.”
“So will you be at the stadium this Saturday?”
“To do what? To watch Ohakim and Yar’Adua, two fellows that signify our present decay as a nation?”
“At least to hear them.”
“To hear them recite Vision 202020, the seven point agenda and clean and green which are all open scams? Pray won’t Yar’Adua commission the ocean which Ohakim built to connect the new ITC park, just behind the stadium? I will happily be there if that is part of the program.”
“Don’t bring that abeg. Yesterday, I nearly drowned trying to access the ITC park and the pool of waters I and other people waded through going to the ITC got up to my neck. I thank God that I didn’t drown in that dirty water otherwise what would my obituary have read like?”
“Ask Ohakim and his people about that. Sebi he is doing well? To think that such man-eating, water logged ditches are all over the state while Ohakim goes about clanging like an empty cymbal beats me.”
“My brother, I am tired. Imo is really in the hands of the gods or don’t you think so?”
“I think so o. I don tire jare. Let us continue another day. Imo state experience under Ohakim will take years to tell.”
“Yes o, I agree but as you go watch out for kidnappers because they have relocated to Imo State.”
“Sure, I will do that but I now believe that Imo is in the hands of the gods.”
“You mean Ohakim and the kidnappers?”
“I said gods and not Ohakim and the kidnappers, my friend.”
“This discussion is getting real dangerous, I am going, see you some other times.”
“OK, he who talks and runs away lives to talk another day.”
“Good night”.
To be continued……..
