Rochas Okorocha: Imo state's golden clown

To be honest this doesn’t really concern me but then again he that remains silent in the midst of evil is as worst as the evil being committed plus I took an oath to defend Nigeria with all my heart so not speaking up against the ridiculous activities going on in Imo State is a crime I don’t want to commit.

I have always said the best paid comedian in Nigeria are the politicians and with the recent appointment of Mrs Ogechi Ololo (nee Okorocha) as the Commissioner for Happiness and Couples’s Fulfillment, Imo State has to be the biggest joke I heard in my entire life. As a matter of fact I think Governor Rochas Okorocha also deserves his own statue, he for me is a golden clown.

The jokes about Rochas Okorocha started some couple of months back when the self-acclaimed best governor of Imo State started to unveil different statues worth millions of Naira in Owerri, the first of many to come was that of South African President Jacob Zuma which according to report was built for N520 million Naira. While Nigeria's Twitter was still on fire about this joke the Governor gave us another statue, this time he unveiled that of the president of Liberia, you can say Rochas is a back to back man.

If we are being honest this back to back joke of Rochas started way before the unveiling of these meaningless statues, but let me start from the ones that got me seriously laughing this year, the ban of Keke Napep (Tricycle) on all major road in Owerri which if I am not mistaken very soon all Keke Napep would seize to work in Imo State before the end of the year. Of course the governor did the right thing by replacing them with taxis. Many believe Rochas' heart was in the right place when doing this but let's do a quick analysis, I won’t go far, I will just compare that policies to that of the former governor of Lagos State Raji Fashola, banning Okoda on major road in Lagos, he didn’t just replace it, he made sure the replacement was something that will definitely easy the pain and suffering of the people. 

Replacing Okada with Keke Napep in major roads in Lagos remain one of the best thing Fashaola did, safety aside, let’s talk about the expenses, entering a Napep is more cheaper than entering Okada in Lagos, where Okada will charge for 500 per person Napep won’t take you more than 300 the highest, now that's economically sensible, you have reduced cost and also save lives in the process because the rate of Okada accident in Lagos na die.

In Imo State which is not even close to Lagos state in terms of development the governor decides to ban the cheap Napep transportation to replace them with Taxis, Taxis which are not lower in terms of fare rate and sometimes have high fare than Napep and from what I have gathered, the Taxis which was reported to be 2000 in numbers for first batch, is actually 300 and the free of charge claim is also not true as I have heard that the former Napep drivers hired to drive the taxis were asked to pay 20,000 Naira registration form and then sign an agreement to remit the sum of 2 million Naira in installment while some of the drivers complained about the quality of the taxis, many are of the opinion the car will become a liability after six months as it will require constant maintenance. Like they say in compute village the cars na refurbished.

If you are in Imo you would know that Rochas doesn’t value education much and this is me being modest, I heard from many sources even close friends that the so called free education from primary to university down to polytechnics was just a campaign scam as Imo State natives pay school fees just that the fee isn’t as high as that of the non-natives which is even a common practice among most state university in Nigeria but 'free' has a new meaning in Imo. But that is not the joke, the real joke is moving the state library from the Government House to a Disco House, sorry I mean close to Concord Hotel. At this point I must hail the man at least if you're finding it hard to grasp what you're reading, you can just walk into the hotel and relax before going back to the library, Rochas you are indeed a baller.

What makes me laugh the most is how his party APC has remained silent on these issues, from what I was taught in school no candidate/party member is bigger than his/her political party unless I was taught the wrong thing, na Naija I dey trust me it's possible, children are the leaders of tomorrow na wetin still dey make some people believe say Atiku never old to contest for 2019. Someone has to put Rochas in check and for me the party is the best organisation to do it, as this is not just a slap on what the party represent but also a disgrace to the little integrity they are trying to hold on to

To every Imo State native out there I just want you to know that I feel your pain but on the bright side there is a commissioner of Happiness, so for those of you not happy that neither Wizkid or Davido hasn’t gotten a statue yet, you know where to lodge your complain.

Written by Abdulhafeez “HaFeesto’Nova” Onitilo (@hafeestonova)