March 3, 2010
For some time now, I had been following the trajectory in Imo State where a certain character called Ikedi Ohakim who never had a campaign office and never had any campaign team was stolen into office through the most obscene electoral roguery. I had been following the details of the scourge that has been inflicted on the state since May 2007 when Ohakim began his wayo government structured on mass deception, lies and propaganda.
For some time now, I had been following the trajectory in Imo State where a certain character called Ikedi Ohakim who never had a campaign office and never had any campaign team was stolen into office through the most obscene electoral roguery. I had been following the details of the scourge that has been inflicted on the state since May 2007 when Ohakim began his wayo government structured on mass deception, lies and propaganda.
There is a general impression all over Imo State that Ohakim was practicing 419 in Lagos before he became governor. Tales of his escapades in the con trade were rampant so also were the many allegations of betrayals he indulged to shortchange his accomplices in the art. Because the con art was based on deception, Ohakim’s initial acts showed that the man takes governance as one huge con art and this was so evident when he went hunting for as many journalists as he can convince to join in his government. He left no one in doubt that he intended running a media government and this left no one guessing what he intended to do with the power that never belonged to him in the first instance.
Because he suddenly found himself in power, he allowed himself to be eaten up by power. He deemed the state treasury as free fund to buy and bribe newspaper houses and editors to write flattering reports about himself. He deemed himself as the best thing that had happened to Imo State and urged the hordes of sycophants he recruited into his government to sing his praises. He said he is the new face of Imo by which he mocks newness for Ohakim represents the ugliest face of primitive politics Nigerians are fighting to do away with. In his haste to celebrate himself, he caused many newspapers and editors to line his meal table and walk away with romantic tales and fables of the wonders that were allegedly happening in Imo State.
Armed with that, Ohakim went foraging for attention. He went on sponsoring spree; sponsoring awards, sponsoring lectures, sponsoring public shows and sponsoring articles and features that were all devoted to celebrating himself. For Imo State, he gave such 419 and non-existent promises like Oguta Wonderlake for which a hefty sum of N40 billion had been raised and looted. Other such fake projects include the Nnanna Ukegbu Boulevard that will link Owerri and Port Harcourt Airports, the ring roads that will pass through all zones in the state and terminate at Oguta, the state refinery, the Mid West Airline, the state secretariat for which Yar’Adua came to Imo State soon after he was sworn in and which foundation stone he laid even as no Imo man will locate the foundation stone three years after. These were just few of the non-existent projects Ohakim promised Imo people while he and his cronies made a huge feast of the resources of Imo State.
Another such fake project was the so-called green and clean which remains as at today, remains the periodic dubbing of fresh paint on the road dividers on Wetheral Road and the planting of grasses on few patches in Owerri. He shunts everywhere, in his greatly flawed usage of English Language and heckled by his hirelings who swarm him in the hypocritical aura of “Ochinanwata”. He relishes in amusing the audience and making statements he does not believe in just to draw cheap applause. It is such that he advocated the stoning of corrupt leaders in a forum in Owerri and few days later, he furiously led the campaign against the stripping of immunity to corrupt officials. He is such a paradox because he does not in honesty believe in any fight against corrupt since his regime is corruption personified.
Three years after and with the reality that he has nothing with which he can ask for the votes of Imo people, Ohakim has grown so desperate that he can kill to come back to power. Outside power, Ohakim does not know what life portends for him. He is finding out that the heavy inducement he doles out to newspapers and editors is yielding dwindling results as he quarrels with more newspapers and editors who come in contact with the fact that the man has no single project to advertise after nearly three years. While the demand becomes more intense that he should enumerate what and what he had done in Imo State, he has found out that he has nothing to show for the enormous resources Imo State has gotten since 2007. It is on record that recently, notable solicitor, Chief Bob Njemanze (SAN) accused Ohakim and the members of Imo State house of assembly of looting the N40 billion Ohakim claimed to have raised from the fund market. So far, no coherent response has been proffered for this allegation.
The desperation of Ohakim is getting deadly by the day. His huge inducement of the judiciary has led to unnecessary and prevarication in settling the case brought against him by the rightful owner of the mandate in Imo State, Martin Agbaso. His huge deployment to the media to present a flowery picture of regime is bringing dwindling results because falsehood has limited span. It is failing Ohakim because Imo is not in outer space and sooner or later, the journalist that is being mobilized to write flattering reports about Imo was bound to visit and from there, he can tell his story.
At present, Ohakim is going about threatening, brutalizing and persecuting his opponents and all those that disapprove of his tenure. The latest of his victims is one Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha who has been a pain in the groin of Ohakim. He has been insistent and trenchant in accusing Ohakim of megalomania and no coherent response has been forthcoming from Ohakim’s camp. Instead, Ohakim was plotting on visiting raw anger on Iwuoha and here we leave the story to the well articulated narrative of Iwuoha. Since Iwuoha released that story, with lucid pictures of his lacerated body, Nigerians have risen in unison to condemn this despicable over reach by an impostor. Iwuoha has gotten radical lawyer to write Ohakim and post a threat of impending lawsuit against him once he climbs down from office. What we have gotten from Ohakim’s men is the usual tepid and drab recitation of obvious lies, incoherent mishmash of issues to explain the excesses of their principal who is being led to a certain doom by their cheap sycophancy.
We remember that such similar response rather heightened public anger when Ohakim’s convoy brutalized a hapless woman on the streets of Lagos. In the present instance, Amanze Obi is telling whoever still listens to his cheap and silly efforts to hang unto his job that Iwuoha never was at Owerri government house, that Ohakim does not know Iwuoha and that Iwuoha is working with some unknown politicians to taint his principal and all other such absurd rubbish. Others have merely been their usual style of buying media space in National Life and one or two papers, using fictitious names to abuse the immagi8nary enemies of their principal and threaten fire and brimstone for the antagonists of king pharaoh of Imo State and no more. Tactics they should know are worn out at this time of the life of the state. Weighed against the detailed and straightforward narrative of Iwuoha, the feeble attempt of Ohakim’s media bouncers to trade bizarre lies to cover the sins of their oga is mere hogwash and explains nothing to any curious mind. Apart from promoting their in house credo of ‘Ohakim can do no wrong’, it fails abysmally to counter even one point of the lengthy narrative of Iwuoha. With the kind of media team Ohakim has, it is obvious that the man is living in the past if he thinks Nigerians can easily buy the dubious tactics of writing loads of rubbish displaying outlandish subservience and marketed through false identities. One huge question to Ohakim and his horde of unprincipled liars is if Iwuoha inflicted the deep cuts we saw on himself just to satisfy himself that he is fighting Ohakim? Did he choose to lacerate himself to prove to the public that Ohakim is not fit to run any state? The more these fellows who live for their stomach talk, the more they reveal the emptiness and the bankrupt minds that have invaded Imo State with Ohakim since 2007.
For now, the words are out and opinions are gathering to drag Ohakim to international human rights organizations. This is a positive tide that will stop men of straw from abusing offices they ordinarily won’t access. I can see the epitaph of a tragic character being written in the days to come. He cannot avoid it. I believe it behoves all men of goodwill to stop Ikedi Ohakim in his tracks from becoming a monstrous character and the best way to do it is to instill discipline in him. From that, the hangers on that are prodding him to self destruction will learn that times have changed, not only in the world yonder but in Nigeria. Let Ohakim, by all means necessary; face the wraths of international law for human rights violations.
Stephen Nwahiri.
Mushin Lagos.
There is a general impression all over Imo State that Ohakim was practicing 419 in Lagos before he became governor. Tales of his escapades in the con trade were rampant so also were the many allegations of betrayals he indulged to shortchange his accomplices in the art. Because the con art was based on deception, Ohakim’s initial acts showed that the man takes governance as one huge con art and this was so evident when he went hunting for as many journalists as he can convince to join in his government. He left no one in doubt that he intended running a media government and this left no one guessing what he intended to do with the power that never belonged to him in the first instance.
Because he suddenly found himself in power, he allowed himself to be eaten up by power. He deemed the state treasury as free fund to buy and bribe newspaper houses and editors to write flattering reports about himself. He deemed himself as the best thing that had happened to Imo State and urged the hordes of sycophants he recruited into his government to sing his praises. He said he is the new face of Imo by which he mocks newness for Ohakim represents the ugliest face of primitive politics Nigerians are fighting to do away with. In his haste to celebrate himself, he caused many newspapers and editors to line his meal table and walk away with romantic tales and fables of the wonders that were allegedly happening in Imo State.
Armed with that, Ohakim went foraging for attention. He went on sponsoring spree; sponsoring awards, sponsoring lectures, sponsoring public shows and sponsoring articles and features that were all devoted to celebrating himself. For Imo State, he gave such 419 and non-existent promises like Oguta Wonderlake for which a hefty sum of N40 billion had been raised and looted. Other such fake projects include the Nnanna Ukegbu Boulevard that will link Owerri and Port Harcourt Airports, the ring roads that will pass through all zones in the state and terminate at Oguta, the state refinery, the Mid West Airline, the state secretariat for which Yar’Adua came to Imo State soon after he was sworn in and which foundation stone he laid even as no Imo man will locate the foundation stone three years after. These were just few of the non-existent projects Ohakim promised Imo people while he and his cronies made a huge feast of the resources of Imo State.
Another such fake project was the so-called green and clean which remains as at today, remains the periodic dubbing of fresh paint on the road dividers on Wetheral Road and the planting of grasses on few patches in Owerri. He shunts everywhere, in his greatly flawed usage of English Language and heckled by his hirelings who swarm him in the hypocritical aura of “Ochinanwata”. He relishes in amusing the audience and making statements he does not believe in just to draw cheap applause. It is such that he advocated the stoning of corrupt leaders in a forum in Owerri and few days later, he furiously led the campaign against the stripping of immunity to corrupt officials. He is such a paradox because he does not in honesty believe in any fight against corrupt since his regime is corruption personified.
Three years after and with the reality that he has nothing with which he can ask for the votes of Imo people, Ohakim has grown so desperate that he can kill to come back to power. Outside power, Ohakim does not know what life portends for him. He is finding out that the heavy inducement he doles out to newspapers and editors is yielding dwindling results as he quarrels with more newspapers and editors who come in contact with the fact that the man has no single project to advertise after nearly three years. While the demand becomes more intense that he should enumerate what and what he had done in Imo State, he has found out that he has nothing to show for the enormous resources Imo State has gotten since 2007. It is on record that recently, notable solicitor, Chief Bob Njemanze (SAN) accused Ohakim and the members of Imo State house of assembly of looting the N40 billion Ohakim claimed to have raised from the fund market. So far, no coherent response has been proffered for this allegation.
The desperation of Ohakim is getting deadly by the day. His huge inducement of the judiciary has led to unnecessary and prevarication in settling the case brought against him by the rightful owner of the mandate in Imo State, Martin Agbaso. His huge deployment to the media to present a flowery picture of regime is bringing dwindling results because falsehood has limited span. It is failing Ohakim because Imo is not in outer space and sooner or later, the journalist that is being mobilized to write flattering reports about Imo was bound to visit and from there, he can tell his story.
At present, Ohakim is going about threatening, brutalizing and persecuting his opponents and all those that disapprove of his tenure. The latest of his victims is one Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha who has been a pain in the groin of Ohakim. He has been insistent and trenchant in accusing Ohakim of megalomania and no coherent response has been forthcoming from Ohakim’s camp. Instead, Ohakim was plotting on visiting raw anger on Iwuoha and here we leave the story to the well articulated narrative of Iwuoha. Since Iwuoha released that story, with lucid pictures of his lacerated body, Nigerians have risen in unison to condemn this despicable over reach by an impostor. Iwuoha has gotten radical lawyer to write Ohakim and post a threat of impending lawsuit against him once he climbs down from office. What we have gotten from Ohakim’s men is the usual tepid and drab recitation of obvious lies, incoherent mishmash of issues to explain the excesses of their principal who is being led to a certain doom by their cheap sycophancy.
We remember that such similar response rather heightened public anger when Ohakim’s convoy brutalized a hapless woman on the streets of Lagos. In the present instance, Amanze Obi is telling whoever still listens to his cheap and silly efforts to hang unto his job that Iwuoha never was at Owerri government house, that Ohakim does not know Iwuoha and that Iwuoha is working with some unknown politicians to taint his principal and all other such absurd rubbish. Others have merely been their usual style of buying media space in National Life and one or two papers, using fictitious names to abuse the immagi8nary enemies of their principal and threaten fire and brimstone for the antagonists of king pharaoh of Imo State and no more. Tactics they should know are worn out at this time of the life of the state. Weighed against the detailed and straightforward narrative of Iwuoha, the feeble attempt of Ohakim’s media bouncers to trade bizarre lies to cover the sins of their oga is mere hogwash and explains nothing to any curious mind. Apart from promoting their in house credo of ‘Ohakim can do no wrong’, it fails abysmally to counter even one point of the lengthy narrative of Iwuoha. With the kind of media team Ohakim has, it is obvious that the man is living in the past if he thinks Nigerians can easily buy the dubious tactics of writing loads of rubbish displaying outlandish subservience and marketed through false identities. One huge question to Ohakim and his horde of unprincipled liars is if Iwuoha inflicted the deep cuts we saw on himself just to satisfy himself that he is fighting Ohakim? Did he choose to lacerate himself to prove to the public that Ohakim is not fit to run any state? The more these fellows who live for their stomach talk, the more they reveal the emptiness and the bankrupt minds that have invaded Imo State with Ohakim since 2007.
For now, the words are out and opinions are gathering to drag Ohakim to international human rights organizations. This is a positive tide that will stop men of straw from abusing offices they ordinarily won’t access. I can see the epitaph of a tragic character being written in the days to come. He cannot avoid it. I believe it behoves all men of goodwill to stop Ikedi Ohakim in his tracks from becoming a monstrous character and the best way to do it is to instill discipline in him. From that, the hangers on that are prodding him to self destruction will learn that times have changed, not only in the world yonder but in Nigeria. Let Ohakim, by all means necessary; face the wraths of international law for human rights violations.
Stephen Nwahiri.
Mushin Lagos.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });