If Pini Jason Onyagbadue, my former publisher and aide to former Imo State Governor, Ikedi Ohakim, were alive today, he would have been having the proverbial last laugh. And, as we are told, his would have been loudest.
I remember a discussion I had with him shortly before his sudden death in 2013. That was two years after Ohakim was defeated in the 2011 election by Governor Rochas Okorocha.
Jason, a long time Vanguard columnist and publisher of the defunct The Examiner before he took a leave of absence in 2007 to work as Special Assistant on Special Duties to Ohakim, was still bitter over the result of the election and what he called the treachery of the Catholic Church and its leadership in Imo State, particularly the Archbishop of Owerri Diocese, Anthony Obinna.
As Editor of Weekend Examiner, I still had a very good relationship with Jason even years after the newspaper was defunct and he could not get over the role Obinna, my lecturer at Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri, played in the election by mobilising the Catholics, who make up almost 60 per cent of the voting population in the state, to scuttle Ohakim’s second term bid.
Ohakim was alleged to have assaulted a Catholic priest, Rev Fr. Eustace Okorie. Catholics in Imo State, just like in any other place, revere their priests. And to them, the humiliation Okorie was said to have suffered in the hands of Ohakim’s security aides was sacrilege.
On September 10, 2010, the Catholic community in Imo formally protested against Ohakim’s government. Over 200,000 Catholic faithful matched from St. Mulumba Catholic Church along Wetheral Road Owerri to the Assumpta Cathedral.
The demonstration, which started at about 8am, lasted more than four hours. Wearing black dresses, the demonstrators, prayed fervently against the victory of Ohakim in the 2011 polls.
That singular event more than any other thing led to Ohakim’s ouster. Jason was angry because he insisted that Ohakim was innocent and he claimed Obinna knew the truth.
Despite “knowing the truth”, the prince of the Catholic Church led Rochas Okorocha’s campaign, literally, and ensured Ohakim’s defeat. To Jason, that was treachery and whoever was involved in the conspiracy against “an innocent man” would get his comeuppance from Okorocha.
How prophetic that has turned out to be.
The honeymoon between Okorocha and Obinna didn’t last for long. In fact, it won’t be a hyperbole to say it ended before it started. Today, Okorocha has become Obinna’s nemesis.
But the estrangement came full circle on Wednesday, March 11 when Okorocha’s agents allegedly disrupted a debate organised by the Catholic Church for governorship candidates in Imo at the Assumpta Cathedral, destroyed the altar, the church’s sacred sanctuary, and beat up some priests.
Before the mayhem, the stage was set as the crowd waited patiently not only for the arrival of Obinna but also to hear the strategies of the governorship flag bearers of the different political parties for taking the state to the next level.
The candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Emeka Ihedioha, and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Emmanuel Iheanacho, were already at the venue when thugs, alleged to be sympathetic to the All Progressives Congress (APC), went on the rampage.
While the candidates and their supporters scampered to safety, Obinna was called names by the thugs who threatened to deal with him for allegedly spearheading the campaign against Okorocha.
Obinna must be wondering what went wrong. Even when he came down from his official quarters to inspect the damage done to the church property, he was led by the state Police Public Relations Officer, Andrew Enwerem, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), and a team of senior police officers. That is how bad things are now.
The debate was called off. Blaming Okorocha for the incident, Ihedioha lamented: “You saw it with your eyes that those were the thugs hired by Governor Rochas Okorocha of the APC that invaded the altar to beat up priests, PDP members and even widows, destroying equipment at the altar.
“That tells you the kind of man who has been at the helm of affairs of the state and the man who aspires to govern Imo again; and because he is aware that the people of this state have overwhelmingly rejected him and he doesn’t want Nigerians to appreciate what is happening in the state.
“It is quite unfortunate what has happened here today. That has been the lot of Imo people for the past four years. Nigerians should know that this man doesn’t mean well for this state and he doesn’t want elections to hold in Imo State.
“But the will of the people shall prevail. We are here today to tell Imo people about our programmes and agenda. As the incumbent, this would have offered him a very big opportunity to reel out his testimonial in the last four years. But he knows he has none to show. That is why he is trying to avoid this one.”
And that is rather sad. Nigerian politicians have developed a phobia for debate. If Okorocha has turned Imo State into an Eldorado as he claims, shouldn’t he jump at every opportunity to showcase his achievements?
If he has performed excellently, why would his apologists disrupt an event that would have helped him shame all naysayers?
Okorocha is running away from debate because he knows the people will ask questions and he is afraid he may not have the answers to those questions. Propaganda has its limits and rabble rousing is not an enduring political strategy, particularly when one is dealing with enlightened people such as the Imo electorate.
Okorocha has elevated theatrics to an art. His penchant for misinformation and spin is legendary but the people are wiser. That is why he is having so much trouble with those who used him to settle their political scores with Ohakim in 2011.
Okorocha’s resort to thuggery shows his desperation. Knowing how he came to power in 2011 and the role played by the Catholics and Obinna, it will take more than being under a spell for him to assault the same institution that ensured his victory.
And why Ohakim’s alleged humiliation of a priest was denied by many people, Okorocha cannot deny his assault because it took place in the public glare.
It is ironic how Nigerian politicians squander goodwill. Less than four years ago, Okorocha was almost like a saint, the Biblical Daniel coming to judgment.
Today, he has become more of a pariah and his political injuries are self-inflicted. His arrogance is his greatest undoing. And his greed for material wealth, particularly, landed property, is unprecedented.
Today, impunity walks on all fours in the state. Due process is seen as a vice rather than virtue and contractors awarded road contracts without going through due process have all been bankrupted due to a lack of payment.
It is only a man who in his self-conceit – believing that he has conquered the people who voluntarily gave him their votes to make authoritative allocation of their collective values on their behalf – who will go to the premises of a Catholic Church to unleash mayhem on people assembled to hear candidates seeking their mandate.
Okorocha has the right to shun the debate. But he has no right to disrupt it. This is one act of impunity too many and the reason why Imo also deserves a change.
