I
condemn in absolute terms the dirty politics that Governor Rochas
Okorocha played with the 27
LGA’s of Imo State and strongly call for his resignation .The LGA crisis
he put Imo State into once again shows his total disregard for the rule
of law and clearly corroborate our earlier assertion that the
Okorocha’s government in Imo State is nothing short of dictatorship.
It
will be recalled that on June 6th 2011, Governor Rochas Okorocha sacked
elected Council Chairmen and 10,000 Civil servants of Imo State via
radio broadcast. He replaced the elected Chairmen with selected
Caretaker Chairmen. The Caretaker Chairmen for more than one year
attended the Joint Allocation Sharing Committee meeting of the State and
steal our LGA monthly funds with the governor. The dictionary
definition of stealing includes taking another person’s property without
permission, without legal right and without intending to return it. For
more than one year the entire LGA funds of Imo State were looted. The
governor helped himself liberally from our LGA
purse with his Caretaker Committee Chairmen by exploiting the weaknesses
of the Joint Account systems still in use in Nigeria. He knows where
every kobo of our LGA is, and has been on looting spree.
The
affected officials later went to court to challenge their sack. On
August 3, last year, a High Court in Owerri presided by the State Chief
Judge, Benjamin Njemanze ruled that Okorocha does not possess the
constitutional powers to dissolve the Local Government Council Chairmen
before the expiration of their tenure and that the elected Chairmen
should resume duties but Rochas got the services of Armed Military men
to block the entrances of all the 27 LGA’s in the State. He shut the
doors of the various local government secretariats against the
Chairmen.Thugs at the instruction of the State government also beat up
many of the Council Chairmen. This action is reminiscent of the dark
days of military jackboot absolutism.
The Council
Chairmen again ran to the Court of Appeal in Owerri presided by Justice
Musa Abba Aji. On July 5, Aji ruled in favour of the Chairmen and
directed them to go back to work. Still Owelle will not obey court
orders .He used Armed Military men to prevent the Chairmen entrance to
the Councils. Thugs were drafted by the state government to the Council
areas to prevent the Chairmen from re-occupying their offices. I watch
them beat up the Council Chairman of Ohaji/Egbema and seized his mobile
phone. What a moral collapse in governance in Imo State.
The
Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice,
Mohammed Bello Adoke called on Okorocha to reinstate the sacked local
government Chairmen and Councilors, insisting that the judgment of the
Court of Appeal must be obeyed. Still Okorocha refused. This is a man
who came into power through the rule of law of the land. This is a man
the East is looking up to for a possible
presidential position. It is, to say the least, an ironic turn of events
for a governor who is a lawyer to disobey court orders with impunity.
He took an oath to faithfully execute his duties which includes to abide
by the Nigerian constitution and to defend it at all time but he has no
regards for the Nigerian constitution .The Inspector General of Police,
IGP, Mohammed Abubakar,had to order the Imo State Police Command to
effect the return of the Council Chairmen and Councilors to their duty
posts.
On July 18, divisional police officers- accompanied by
heavily armed police personnel, led the sacked Council Chairmen and
Councilors to their respective local government secretariats, amid
jubilation by employees of the various Councils. It was then that
Okorocha started calling for negotiations and meetings with the
Chairmen. While calling for negotiations he still went ahead to ask the
workers of our LGA’s to proceed on a three –
day leave and arranged an unscheduled workshop that has no termination
date for Director of Administration and General Services, DAGS,
Treasures and senior staff of the various councils.
It is sad
that despite the struggle of the working and poor masses against
dictatorship and for good governance, Owelle Rochas that rode into power
via the peoples wish is the one throwing the masses to the gallows.
That we are witnessing a clear attack on democratic rights in Imo State,
is a sign of bad omen for the poor working masses of the State.
Okorocha
is lawless and should resign. Evidence of lawlessness of Okorocha is
mounting every day. And the only ones blind to it are his Spin doctors.I
still remember when he sponsored an illegal impeachment of Chief
Goodluck Nanah Opiah as the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly
with only 10 members of the House of Assembly out of 27 members . This
matter is still in court. But his Spin
doctors are chanting “Oh, wow, how creative, how wonderful” They
encourage his lawlessness .They dance to the tune of naked impunity
going on in the State. They applaud it. They laugh. They celebrate it.
They love it as one of their own pulls the wool over our eyes.
What
we are witnessing today in Imo State is tyranny. This is not
acceptable. We reject the corrupt and self-serving capitalist governor.
We say NO to this dictatorial Okorocha’s government that is neck-deep in
corruption. We say No to the corrupt, anti-poor policies that have made
life more miserable for the toiling poor.He has failed to ensure
security in the state. Kidnappers, armed robbers and assassins are
having a field day in Imo.He has failed on his responsibility as the
Chief Security Officer of the state. Security in the State has
collapsed.
He destroyed the third tier of government in Imo
State and imposed an illegal fourth tier government on the
people. Nigeria’s Constitution recognizes local government areas as the
third tier of government after the federal and state governments. Their
functions are clearly defined. It is abuse of power for him to appoint
Caretaker Chairmen for our LGA’s . It is a breach of Imo State local
government administration law and a breach of section 7and 8 of the
country’s constitution. It is an impeachable offence. He even posted
Civil Servants to LGA’s to serve in the illegal council government.
He
sacked 10,000 legally employed workers via radio broadcast. The
employment of the 10,000 was approved by the State House of Assembly and
the state Civil Service Commission. The recruitment was conducted
through due process. Advertisement was placed in national
newspapers.There are laid down Civil Service rules to follow in the sack
of any Civil Servant.
In Daniel, Chapter 5, we read that the
Babylonian King, Belshazzar organized a great
feast and commanded that the golden and silver vessels which
Nebuchadnezzar, his father had taken out of the Jewish Temple in
Jerusalem be brought so that his princes, wives and concubines could
drink from them. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand and
wrote the inscription: “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin”. When translated
it meant God had numbered the kingdom, weighed the King on the balances
and found him (the king) wanting. In other words, God had rejected him
as King.
-Kenneth Uwadi, Mmahu-Egbema,Imo State, Nigeria
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