Okorocha: 100 Days Of What?

By Chinedu OPARA

Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Anayo Okorocha, surprised many when he announced few days after assumption of office that his government will not be celebrating 100 days in office. In the thinking of his government, 100 days was too short a period, coupled with the fact that the state had no resources which could be frittered away in the guise of marking 100 days in office.

L-R: Gov. Okorocha, Speaker Uwajumogu and others at a ceremony

However, many Imolites refused to buy the state governor’s argument. Those who spoke maintained that marking 100 days in office does not essentially mean squandering millions of taxpayers’ fund in organizing dinner parties and symposiums. 100 days, they argue, has always been and still is a mere symbolic celebration during which democratically elected governments all over the world show voters foundations laid by them. It is a period of careful articulation and compilation of these policies, programmes and projects direction which enable the electorate to know the direction their leaders are headed. For the celebrants too, taking time off the busy schedule of protocol and state functions to take stock of what has been put on ground 100 days after assumption of power also goes a long way in helping in the process of consolidating on those areas that are adjudged worthy. Similarly, leaders use the platform of the period to do away with those policies and programmes that would have no direct positive impact on the electorate.

The sum total of this position is that 100 days in office is worthy of marking even if behind closed doors because of the enormous opportunity it offers elected leaders to reflect on the steps so far taken, opportunities offered for adjustments and amendments where necessary, and generally charting a new course forward.

But Governor Okorocha, events showed, was not in the mood for either ostentatious or sober commemoration of one hundred days in office following approval granted him by the state House of Assembly to undertake a two-week economic mission abroad. The governor had earlier through a letter dated 24th August, 2011 and sent through the Speaker of the State Assembly, Hon. Benjamin Uwajumogu, requested the House to approve two weeks of economic mission abroad to enable him go in pursuit of foreign investors, especially in the areas of power, agriculture and tourism.

As it were, the timing of the economic mission effectively foreclosed any possibility or hope that the governor would in any way observe the ceremony since the two weeks sought and approved would not elapse before September 6, 2011, the exact date marking the first 100 days of his government.

Chinedu Offor, Senior Special Assistant to the governor on media matters, however, recently cleared the air on the administration’s position on 100 days in office. Offor explained that what his principal meant was that his administration would not fritter away public fund in the name of marking 100 days in office. The government, he said, would mark the day at least symbolically. He posited that the governor could decide to mark it either with a press conference or a state-wide broadcast with a view to telling the people of the state what their government has done within the past three months they put it in power. “But there is not going to be wasting public resources budgeting millions to celebrate. There is nothing to celebrate in Imo,” the SSA said.

Like all those arrayed on the side of Governor Okorocha’s administration, Mr. Offor went ahead to enumerate those things which in his thinking make his principal’s first 100 days in office worth celebrating. Top on the list was the free education which the administration declared on its inception. According to him, this is the first time in the history of Imo State that a government is declaring free and compulsory primary and secondary education complete with its ancillary services such as school bags, uniforms, shoes and building of schools in all the local government areas of the state.

Eze Samuel Ohiri, chairman of Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers, also sounded ecstatic about Governor Okorocha’s free education policy. Hear him: “If your recall during the campaign, the governor made a promise of free education in the state. Then many argued that free education was an impossibility. Now what is happening? Our children are enjoying free education. Today, students of Imo State University have had their fees slashed. Government is also going to build twelve classroom blocks in each ward of the state and these classrooms would be built to global standard.”

Another touted highpoint of Governor Okorocha’s administration is the creation of what he called fourth-tier system of government manned by the community speakers. During his maiden broadcast to the people of Imo State on June 6, 2011, the governor had among other policy statements pronounced the coming on stream of the fourth-tier of government which would function as his administration’s eyes and ears in the 535 recognized autonomous communities in the state. The community speakers who would be appointed by their communities would serve as the bridge between the governor and their respective communities, reporting directly to the state Chief Executive on issues affecting their areas. This arrangement, the governor argued, would speed up the process of grassroots development since all other intermediaries would no longer be relevant under the novel system.

However, fears have been expressed in certain quarters that the concept of community speakers for autonomous communities is nothing but Governor Okorocha’s subtle plan to pull the rug off the feet of traditional rulers who, many say, he accused of working against his gubernatorial ambition. Those nursing these fears hold that a situation where community speakers would now be accorded higher recognition above and beyond traditional rulers only conveys one message which interpretation is that traditional rulers are no longer relevant in the scheme of things.

But Eze Ohiri dismissed these fears as unfounded, emphasising that the functions of the two groups did not in any way meet or interweave. Traditional rulers, he pointed out, are still the custodians of culture, still in charge of security and peace of their communities. In other words, they are still the chief security officers of their areas. For the community speakers, their job is essentially to monitor and report the progress or otherwise of developmental projects sited in their communities.

Okorocha’s camp have also been thumbing up the recently launched Operation Rescue security outfit as another landmark of his first 100 hundred days in office. This, in the view of Chinedu Offor, is a tremendous stride because peace and security are the foundations on which the edifice of sustainable development is laid. “To have a sustainable development, you have to have peace. Imo is at peace. People are no longer scared. I mean it. You were here few years ago, those of us from the United States of America dared not set out foot here. Kidnappers and armed robbers were everywhere, but now that has gone down. That is a key concrete achievement. Imo is at peace,” he said.

But, even as the administration regales Imolites with talks about heightened peace and security, analysts contend that crimes like kidnapping and armed robbery are indeed on the upward swing. A few instances would suffice to buttress this standpoint. A few weeks ago, residents of Orlu town were thrown into midday confusion following the discovery of a corpse inside a Catholic Church in Eziachi. Soon, however, news emerged that the corpse was that of one Chief Chibuzo Okeke, business tycoon, transporter and CEO of CUO Motors. Chief Okeke, it was reliably gathered, was kidnapped two weeks earlier with the kidnappers making a demand of N60 million naira ransom.

It was similar tale of woe in Umuokanne, Ohaji/Egbema LGA on Sunday, 4 September, 2011 when kidnappers stormed a village church and kidnapped a middle aged woman. Luck, however, ran out on the kidnappers who were given the chase of their lives by the villagers who mobilized quickly and alerted security operatives. At the end of hostilities, one of the kidnappers was shot dead while one was arrested. These and many more perceived administrative misdemeanours of Governor Okorocha have provided arsenals which the opposition have been using to rubbish the administration’s 100 days in office.

Chief Blyden Amajirionwu, state publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, dismissed Governor Okorocha’s first 100 days as 100 days of executive lawlessness, administrative incompetence, workers unfriendliness and intolerance to dissenting views. With specific reference to civil servants in the state, the PDP image maker insisted that Governor Okorocha’s 100 days in office has been nothing but hell on earth for Imo workers. Said he: “Governor Okorocha claimed he came to power through the people’s vote, but now he is chastising the people with whips and scorpions. Civil servants are owed upward of two to three months salaries, which is impacting negatively on the overall economy of the state because Imo is a civil service state. Trading and other petty businesses are no longer moving because civil servants do not have purchasing power again. This same administration, because of millions it is making on cut on turn-over, COT, has made it a standing order that every civil servant, even those on eighteen thousand naira, must open a current account. What else can be more anti-people than this?”

Amajirionwu also slammed the administration for what he termed its lack of vision. He opined that it was this lack of clear cut action plan that brought the deluge of appointments that characterize the administration, noting that the unwieldy figure can’t in anyway contribute meaningfully to the development of the state. Besides, he queried where the governor, who has made a show of his administration’s prudence and accountability, is going to raise the huge sums required to pay a record 110 appointees.

Watchers of Imo politics have also singled out the explosive and scathing media attack launched in the Daily Sun publication of Tuesday, August 23, 2011 by the Imo League of Professionals, ILP, as the most incisive, factual and broad based analysis of trend of events since the administration of Governor Okorocha came on board. In a full page advertorial under the caption, “Before Imo Explodes”, the group had taken Governor Okorocha to the cleaners on three broad issues. One, the flagrant disregard of the laws of the land by the Okorocha administration. Two, the glaring evidence of fiscal irresponsibility. And three, the administration’s penchant to take Imo citizens for fools.

On the issue of lawlessness, the group made reference to the gale of dissolutions that has characterized Okorocha’s administration, including the controversial dissolution of elected council chairmen and councillors as well as his defiance of the state Chief Judge’s ruling that the governor has no powers to dissolve elected officials. With regard to the charge of fiscal irresponsibility, the group queried where the governor would source the N5 billion it proposed for rehabilitation of roads within the state capital and environs, saying the purported approval given by the state Assembly without recourse to supplementary budgeting smacks of disregard to laid-down fiscal expenditure procedures. Expatiating on their third grouse, the ILP said that most of the roads and streets pencilled down for rehabilitation were in good working conditions. Roads listed include Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Drive along Port Harcourt Road, Tetlow Road, Osuji Street and Mbaise Road.

As proof of its firepower, analysts have pointed out that the attack remains the only one that has received a formal response from the administration, meaning that it actually achieved exactly what the group had in mind. Indeed, the state Commissioner for Information, Obinna Duruji, had issued a quick response to the attack. However, as Mike Nwachukwu pointed out in his write-up captioned “Re: Before Imo Explodes: Where Okorocha And His Men Got It Wrong” and published in the August 31-September 1, 2011 edition of an Owerri-based newspaper, the government response fell far below the standard expected of 21st century leadership which ought to be characterized by sophistication and finesse. He said: “The simple interpretation to the commissioner’s absent-minded response is that the administration he is serving lacks the faintest sophistication. The muddling through could also mean that the administration’s insiders like Duruji have no answer to the charges of executive lawlessness against their arrowhead.”

But in-between these two extremist camps is the very small clique that held the view that 100 days is too short a time to pass a verdict on the present government. In this school is Chief Macdonald Amadi, former chief press secretary to the state’s former deputy governor, Chief Ebere Udeagu. Amadi satd that though Gov. Okorocha has been in the driver’s seat for the past 100 days, it must be remembered that he still has three years plus to make or mar himself. Furthermore, he argued that the governor as a new captain must sit down to study the environment very carefully before embarking on the arduous task of navigating the ship of state, adding that governance and leadership go beyond 100 days in office. Nevertheless, he cautioned the governor on complacency and self-imposed distractions which he claimed have started rearing their ugly heads, insisting that the latter most particularly has proven a potent and veritable weapon which the opposition have always used to disorganize succeeding administrations in the state.

Surely, it is no longer a matter for debate that Gov. Okorocha’s first 100 days has provoked intense debates across the nooks and crannies of the state. Yet, in the midst of the raging political confrontation, one point has been established: that the governor’s almost sky-high popularity rating on the eve of his inauguration has sharply dropped. Prince Cletus Nwaka, factional chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, believes that the rating has dropped to as low as 60%. Many Imo people also think that the governor is not the magician he was thought to be.

But despite this not-too-sweet music presently swirling around the administration, its arrowhead, Rochas Anayo Okorocha, and his aides insist that Imo must be better.