The street with the police station on it has one street light burning. The
\npolice station itself was dark and still. The City\u2019s cheap road crunched
\nloudly under my feet, as I hurried to catch up with Mr\u00a0 Onyenna (not his
\nreal name). The clock in my head said it was past two in the afternoon. I
\ngot to Onyenna\u2019s house\u00a0 in Owerri. He briefly glanced around the four walls
\nand the one window of his sitting room, saw me and asked the man at the
\ngate to let me in.\u00a0 It was an ordinary looking low rise building set in a
\nmixed used neighborhood that contained historical homes in various state of
\neither decay or restoration. His Sitting room was painted yellow below a
\nnarrow cream waist-high band and light green above. It had a brow metal
\ncabinet stacked with file folders and oversized brown envelopes. Unknown to
\nme, Onyenna invited me over to try to see how he can talk me into joining
\none of the Uche Nwosu\u2019s governorship support groups. My answer was a flat
\nNo. I did not give the offer a second thought. I have always made it known
\nthat I write what I write as service to humanity. My concern is the
\nwell-being of the people. I think, speak, write and act as the unknown
\nservant. My intentions are pure. I never write to promote evil. I act for
\nthe general interest. Remember the words of the master Jesus: \u201cI come into
\nthis world to show the way to sinners and not to the just, since it is the
\nsinners and not the just who need guidance\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The qualities I expect of a leader include honesty and integrity, goodwill,
\naltruism, foresight and a love of peace and justice. Uche Nwosu does not
\nhave those qualities. He sponsors thugs and takes great delight in seeing
\nthe people cry.\u00a0 Also, Nwosu is the son In-law of the governor of Imo State
\nand his governorship is a third term agenda of\u00a0 Governor\u00a0 Okorocha. The
\nmistake of electing Owelle\u00a0 in 2011 has been a huge price that Imo has
\npaid. His seven years in office appear to have been a curse rather than a
\nblessing. Giving him a third term through his son in-law means the people
\nof Imo will have to endure another four horror years of\u00a0 wickedness,
\nnon-performance, wastefulness and merry-go-round. For the Imo working
\nmasses, Okorocha\u2019s regime is nothing short of absolute disaster and
\neveryone is praying for this madness to come to an end. When the people
\nfail to look deep beneath the veil of make-believe; when they allow
\nmomentary emotion and media hysteria to becloud their sense of judgment;
\nwhen they see the truth and embrace well packaged falsehood; they usually
\npay a price. I actually was not willing to be part of something that will
\ncause Ndi Imo further pain. The truth must always remain the truth.
\nOkorocha should finish his second tenure and go and rest. No third tenure
\nfor him through his in-laws.<\/p>\n
The fact that the Governor of Imo state even had the temerity to moot the
\nidea of continuing to remain in power through his Son in-law is an insult
\non Imolites and any one supporting him deserves to be pelted with rotten
\ntomatoes, eggs and sachet water .The vast majority of Imo working masses
\nand the youths live in abject poverty.\u00a0 Imolites\u2019s\u00a0 are in crisis of
\npoverty in the midst of plenty. Vicious attacks on living conditions, wages
\nand social services have reduced the mass majority to a state of\u00a0 misery.
\nAccording to statistics, about 70% of Ndi-Imo exists on less than one
\ndollar per day. The capitalist anti poor, anti peoples Governor of Imo
\nState continues to loot the collective wealth of the people without
\nremorse. Apart from direct pilfering of the public treasury, the flip side
\nof this corruption is that he sold public corporations and utilities in Imo
\nto himself as well as the doling out of public resources to his cronies.
\nWhat cannot be disputed is the fact that his high profile corruption has
\ncompounded the problems of the working peoples who while earning poverty
\nwages are rendered jobless or under-employed.<\/p>\n
You can see why we desperately need someone else outside the family of the
\ngovernor to take over governance in 2019. We want to try new ideas. We want
\ngood ideas, someone who will implement pro-masses policies as against the
\nexisting pro-rich, pro-imperialist cum thieving policies in the state. We
\nall know that it is seven years of Okorocha\u2019s government and our LGA\u2019s are
\nin comatose, begging to be attended to. Lack of basic amenities has made
\nthese LGA’s a ghost environment. We see him using Imo LGA monies to fund
\nhis private concerns and award inflated contracts to his companies and
\ncronies. The state of things in Imo are direct reflection of Okorocha’s
\ncommitment to enslaving the people, a situation reminiscent of biblical
\nIsraelites in bondage in Egypt. Nothing is working out in Imo and in our
\nLGA\u2019s; no light, all government establishment are starved of funds,
\ngovernment buildings are dilapidated, markets are falling down, no
\nsecurity, no social infrastructure, majority of borehole water system are
\nbad, LGA workers are starving, pensioners are dying due to none payment of
\ntheir pensions .So huge is the level of economic and political failure of
\nOkorocha\u00a0 in Imo that if you visit our LGA\u2019s you will shout Jesus twenty
\ntimes. He has even made Imo state a subject of mockery worldwide. Yet he
\nwants a third tenure through his son in-law .God forbid!<\/p>\n
Those turning emergency philanthropist to deceive Imolites should note that
\nonce a fool is no fool but twice a fool is foolish. Our mumu don do. It was
\nthe same style adopted by Rochas before the 2011 elections. His snow-white
\nteeth and fake empowerment were put to use in the 2011 governorship
\nelection which he did not win anyway, but was imposed on us. The powers
\nthat be forgot to interrogate his background and acclaimed business
\nsuccesses. The powers that be got carried away with his charming smiles and
\nwith his fake empowerments. We will not try another fake philanthropist,
\nnever again, not to talk of when the fake philanthropist is the governor\u2019s
\nson in-law. This fake philanthropist was unemployed in 2010 and wrote but
\nfailed the 10,000 jobs exam known as the Ohakim jobs. Today, he is a multi
\nmillionaire. How did he make his money? That\u2019s a question for next week.
\nGovernance in Imo cannot continue to be like Baba Salah\u00a0 nkwobi and pepper
\nSoup joint. \u2018Mbanu!<\/p>\n
*-Kenneth Uwadi writes from Mmahu Egbema, Imo State and can be reached via
\n08037982714*<\/p>\n
The street with the police station on it has one street light burning. The police station itself was dark and still. The City\u2019s cheap road crunched loudly under my feet,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n