Following this scenario and because Governor Rochas Okorocha has kept
mum over the issue, speculations are rife in the state over why the
governor is foot-dragging.
A school of thought believes that since the Governorship Candidate of
the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the last general election, Chief
Emeka Ihedioha, approached the Election Tribunal for redress, Governor
Okorocha decided to play for time because of the uncertainty
associated with litigations.
Careful political watchers in the state have, however, pooh-poohed
this line of thought, especially as both the Election Tribunal and the
Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri, gave the Governor the green light
to continue in office.
A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, who pleaded
anonymity, hinged the Governor's inability or unwillingness to
constitute the SEC on two platforms.
These, according to the obviously angry politician, include but no
limited to the current cash crunch bedeviling the state and the
apparent and self-imposed confusion, the Governor foisted on his
administration.
"It is no longer news that the state government ran into a financial
mess and could not pay its workers. This pushed workers to down tools.
The same is also true of pensioners, who are owed several months of
pensions. It is not even clear if government has fully cleared
workers' salaries as we talk now", the man reasoned.
He therefore submitted that "because the governor never believed that
money would not continue to flow the way he found it, he never slowed
down in spending", adding that he only tried to apply the brakes when
the federal allocations nose-dived.
The man recalled that soon after Okorocha came on board, he introduced
the Community Government Council, CGC, which is unknown to the
Nigerian Constitution. Since the establishment of CGC, Imolites can
hardly point to the benefits of the political contraption and how it
is funded.
Currently, Governor Okorocha has set up 37 task forces and no fewer
than 10 zonal head committees", instead of constituting the State
Executive Council.
Having established these task forces, the state is, from all intents
and purposes, now administered by members of the task forces. Much as
the setting up of task forces has been a regular occurrence in
Nigeria, it is an aberration to run the affairs of the state via task
forces.
The governor named his sister, Mrs. Ogechi Ololo, as the head of the
Task Force Committee on City Beautification and has turned lawmakers
to task force operators. The Speaker, Mr. Acho Ihim, heads the
three-man task force in charge of motor parks.
Since Imo lawmakers appear to have become appendages of the executive
arm of government, through membership of the many task forces, it is
now open for speculation how they can effectively carry out their
oversight functions in the state.
Most respondents to Saturday Vanguard's inquiries pointed to the fact
that members of the Governor's immediate family, in-laws and a handful
of trusted friends, run the affairs of the state.
They are the power brokers that would continue to shape and possibly
populate the expected cabinet. The same persons, the respondents
argued, have remained in government since 2011 and are being moved
from one public office to the other.
All efforts made to get some explanation from the Government House,
including a text message to the Governor's Chief Press Secretary, Mr.
Sam Onwuemeodo, did not yield results as of press time.
-Vanguard
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