IMO STATE IN QUAGMIRE: THE GODS REACTS!

Douglas House, Imo State: The gods are obviously angry and trouble in brewing.  The problem is Owelle Rochas Okorocha, the Executive Governor of the State, who has proved to be the Achilles heels of the once vibrant – and cleanest State in Nigeria.

A business mogul and philanthropist in his own right, the man and his troubling programmes is running aground Imo State – causing incalculable damages!  “These evil programmes are smoke screens designed to cover a well laid hidden agenda to pillage the State”, said an angry resident Nwachukwu Edede.

Once regarded as the “toast of the people” who at the beginning sold a dummy that he was on what he called “rescue mission” the so-called “Owelle” has butchered practically all sectors of the State to the extent that the “gods” themselves are geared for a reprisal action.

The crux of the matter is such that despite consistent allocation from the Federal Government, payment of 13% derivation and internally generated revenue, the “Owelle” has unilaterally driven the Civil Service into ruins with no salaries paid for months, unauthorized deductions from the local Government accounts, non-payment of contractors who borrowed money to execute jobs, and of course pensioners who are now in the throes of imminent death!

That’s not all, equally generating tension is the traditional institution that has also been desecrated and Rulers left in the lurch; the Water Board and the Health sector are not spared either; and besides steering the State from its original master plan, and embarking on white elephant projects such as construction of non-quality roads land grabbing as well as forcibly converting the Universities into glorified Secondary schools, kidnapping has now become the norm. 

In Education, the backlash is swift in coming: from first position in WAEC, the State has now emerged 10^th position; the exorbitant fees charged by the available Universities – signaling an end to free education – has thrown out eligible students resulting to endless strikes.  Imo State that used to be the preferred base for higher education is now no more than glorified Secondary school.  No thanks to the countless unnecessary interference by the rudderless Governor.  Again, but for some brave resistance from Civil Servants who stood their grounds the Owelle” had tried to rent out the prestigious State Secretariat as apartment to members of the public!  Such are his distorted policies.  Even then, the Civil Service is now in a precarious situation.  The most laughable of his strange policies is the reduction of working days to 3 while the remaining is to be used for farming for a State not known for agro-based activities!

Now the question is: who can stop this maverick Governor and rescue the State from this embarrassing quagmire?  As difficult as the answer is, I hear someone saying “There is balm in Gilead”!