Governor honours daughter with edifice built with state fund, few months after inciting ire over ‘childish’ antic
There is something about Governor Rochas Okorocha that reiterates his gift of side-splitting politics. The incumbent governor of Imo State could pass for a model clown were he not a sitting governor. But being clownish in demeanour ultimately emphasize his elevated status above any random politician. Unlike most of his peer without a knack for pitiful humor, Okorocha symbolizes the comical, base and partisan with extreme twists.
The Imo State governor once again affirmed the cynical notion that, no Nigerian politician can survive without being in the strictest sense, a dupe. Just recently, Okorocha named a public building, built with state funds, after his daughter Uloma. The latter, Uloma Nwosu (nee Okorocha) is married to Chinedu, one of his commissioners. Chinedu, his son-in-law, shared the photo and wrote: “In 2015 public building in Imo State is named after the daughter of the gov.”
Okorocha committed his recent blunder and fraud of leadership in the wake of another grievous gaffe that incited widespread criticism and questions about the quality of his moral compass.
A billboard showing him shaking hands with United States (US) President, Barack Obama, surfaced in Owerri, had suddenly emerged in Owerri, the state capital soon after he returned from a tour of the US as part of President Buhari’s entourage. The purpose of erecting the billboard confounded the entire citizenry of Imo State even as the governor’s action generated scorn and stupefaction on the social media and in the political circuits of the state.
Youths in the state were particularly miffed and scandalized by Governor Okorocha’s action; they wondered why his handshake with President Obama deserved so much celebration in a state where the standard of living remains at an abysmal low.
Among other things, there is a high rate of unemployment in the state, electricity supply is virtually non-existent and majority of the people are impoverished, yet Governor Okorocha could only muster such pitiful antics in response to the developmental challenges afflicting the state.