The Governor of Imo State, Rochas Anayo Okorocha, is a man who lives big in controversy. For him, it is one week, one controversy or call it scandal. Last week, Okorocha occupied yet again a vantage position in the “infamy” book in Nigeria’s chequered history when he declared a worship of human god in his state. What struck many people is that those who worship certain objects or beings believe in certain supernatural power of such gods which the one projected for the people of Imo State seriously lack. In his country, many citizens see him as an unfit person to occupy such an exalted position as a result of the man’s moral deficiencies that are legion! So, the argument is, if you are looking for a god to worship, critics believe, Zuma does not possess the credentials. So, what’s the attraction?
Okorocha, who tore apart his party, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) when he went into a political marriage with the All Progressives Congress (APC), had carried himself as if he could die for President Muhammadu Buhari, talking about his love and loyalty to the president. Yet, he did not consider the President presidential enough to carve him a bust, but he gave a total stranger a full length statue. Loyalty my foot!
What transpired last week in Imo clearly showed where his true love and loyalty lie. In a state where the government had declared two days work-free for civil servants, saying they could go to the farm to reduce their dependence on the state government; a state where workers protest ceaselessly over non-payment of salaries and allowances, Okorocha’s administration found the resources to sink close to N600 million in the name of the statue for Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa.
The question has been, why Zuma of all the presidents in the world? Here’s a man that has no good record in his home country. A man accused of many things and has serial court cases. A man that should be rotting away in prison were it not for the immunity on him as president.
Critics say that what Okorocha did, though appeared ordinary to a natural eye, has a spiritual nuance and explains a dangerous bond between the two men. Just as it is said, ‘deep calleth unto deep’, by the same token, ‘shallow calleth unto shallow’.
Here is a governor, a leader of “progressive” governors, whose country is just coming out of recession, who also is complaining about paucity of funds to carry out people-oriented projects; he also is a member of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) that ‘besieged’ the President a few days ago demanding for release of another tranche of the Paris club refund, yet lacks the conscience to channel the money into a worthy project that could positively impact the lives of the people. After erecting the Zuma idol, he must have proclaimed to the Imo people “here is your god, O Imolites, worship him”. This thing that Okorocha has done may have opened a negative chapter of affliction. All those who took that step in the Bible days regretted it when it was very late for them to make any amends. Had Okorocha erected President Buhari’s statue in Imo, it would have been more tolerable. That Okorocha chose to so honour the President of a country, where his brothers are being slaughtered in recurring xenophobic attacks is numbing. On Wednesday, August 30, 2017, Okorocha’s ‘brother’ Kingsley Ikeri, 27, a native of Mbaitolu in Imo State, was reportedly killed at Vryheid town in Kwazulu Natal Province, South Africa. What may be going on in the minds of Ikeri’s relations while Okorocha was celebrating and presenting Zuma for reverence can only be imagined.
The Imo State governor took a serious matter to an infantile level to the point of insulting President Buhari by inviting him over to Owerri to commission the idol and to watch him lavish all manner of eulogies on Zuma. It appears that many of our leaders lack common sense. Did Okorocha actually consider how President Buhari would feel, unveiling a half-a-billion naira statue of a less-fanciful counterpart at a time Okorocha and others are suffocating him (Buhari) for a fresh bailout and at a dangerous time when workers in many states of the federation, including Imo, are going to bed without food as a result of unpaid salaries, a situation that causes the President migraine? Not only that Okorocha erected an idol of Zuma, he proclaimed him “The Grand Commander” (Ochiagha). This, indeed, is a dangerous sign for Imo. Well, like every ephemeral thing on earth, Okorocha reign in Imo will not be everlasting. There shall come a time, when a king who does not know Zuma comes on stage, then shall the statue kiss the dust.
The opportunity cost
Opportunity cost refers to a benefit that a person could have received, but gave up, to take another course of action. Stated differently, an opportunity cost represents an alternative given up when a decision is made. This cost is, therefore, most relevant for two mutually exclusive events.
It is estimated that the Zuma statue in Owerri may have cost the state government a princely sum of N520 million. Many civil servants in the state say that since 2016, they have been on half salary even after the state government sometime ago renegotiated the salaries of civil servants because he said his administration would not be able to pay.
Supposed the minimum wage of junior civil servants in the state is N50,000. About 1040 workers could have been paid their one month salary in full with the money that was sunk into the statue project.
On the other hand, if some local schools in Imo state that collects N10,000 per term were to be given N520 million, about 5,200 pupils would have gone to school unhindered for a whole term and their poor parents saved the trauma of school fees.
Or if the money was deployed to the school feeding project of the APC government, many pupils would have been positively impacted and the multiplier effects on businesses in the state would have been massive.
Critics flay Okorocha’s justification
It would be recalled that Okorocha tried to defend the extraordinary honour done to Zuma, saying it was to encourage business relationship between the state and South Africa.
According to him, Zuma was in the state principally to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), between the Jacob Zuma Educational Foundation and Rochas Foundation College of Africa.
He also went political, pointing fingers at the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) family as those behind the condemnation of the bazaar, accusing the umbrella party of failing to build the image of the state, while looting public treasury.
But an angry retired civil servant in Owerri, who spoke with BDSUNDAY on condition of anonymity, queried the morality of the governor in pointing finger at the PDP, “when he should be man enough” to defend his action in a most convincing and logical way.
“I find it very insensitive on the part of Okorocha to sink so much money erecting a statue in honour of President Zuma. Our governor was talking about promoting business with South Africa as the reason for the statue, that to me is nonsensical. He has done six years as the governor of Imo State, is it the first time he would be talking with foreign investors or was it the first time he would be signing an MoU with foreign businessmen? What is he talking about? He has not told us what is special about Zuma. There must be something special about this individual, and we want to know,” the retired civil servant said.
Timothy Osuagwu, a human resources expert, said that the timing was wrong.
Osuagwu said: “When I first heard of the news, I thought it was one of those internet hypes and stunts, and I was like, can that be possible in this country? But the next morning, the news was all over the newspapers and in some of the online sites, I was sad. Sad because you don’t engage in such a jamboree at a time when you have not paid workers’ salaries; you don’t get involved in a project of that magnitude when there are hungry and suffering masses. I have read what the governor said was the reason for erecting the statue, yet I think it is unwieldy.”
Zebulon Agomuo
