With Monday’s purported impeachment of Eze Madumere as Imo deputy governor, the conversion of the acclaimed “Heartland” of the South-east to Rochas Okorocha’s comic show now appears complete. But the trouble is that the entire gallery is already deserted and the theatre crew left to seek pleasure only in self-entertainment.
With another clown already being dressed up as replacement before the conniving state assembly, Okorocha’s Imo cearly tops the chart as one with the highest turnover of deputy governors in recent memory. He was barely months in office when he stabbed the then deputy, Jude Agbaso, in the back and hurriedly buried his political remains in a shallow grave.
Starry-eyed Agbaso had to carry the cross of his elder brother, Martin. Migrant Okorocha had entered into a deal with the senior Agbaso for accommodation in APGA for the purpose of contesting the 2011 governorship polls. By some accounts, shekels of gold exchanged hands. The other trade-off was for the junior Agbaso to be the running-mate.
But typical of all pacts rooted in something less than holy, one party was bound to betray the other. Okorocha was first to draw the dagger. So, he pressed his political slaves domiciled in the state assembly to impeach the deputy on charges that were mostly trumped up.
Now, the proverbial cane used to lash the first spouse has been deployed against the second mistress.
On the surface, the plot against Madumere has been disguised as a noble defence of great virtues and high values, with a long scroll of his sins unfurled before the state lawmakers. But on a closer look, any objective eye will not fail to recognize same as nothing more than a tissue of lies, comical as its very author.
The joke is actually on the governor. They accused the deputy of disobeying his boss’ directives. But while fawning Okorocha is affecting a fidelity to the command-and-obey doctrine here, the supreme irony is that he himself is in utter contempt of the law by disobeying a valid court order against proceeding with the impeachment process.
With his ears plugged furiously against voices of reason, Okorocha would also appear resolved to turn a blind eye on the verdict of history. In the past, similar actions by deluded governors in Enugu, Bauchi and Taraba States in their desperation to impeach their estranged deputies despite subsisting court order were eventually voided.
So abused was impeachment as an otherwise extreme legislative tool that in Enugu, for instance, among the infractions listed against the deputy governor removed was the accusation that he found time to breed chicken in his official abode, with fears expressed that the fecal waste so generated was capable of at least causing environmental nuisance to long-suffering neighbours, if not already posing grave ecological danger to the fabled Coal City at large.
Now, the chief comedian in Owerri seems too absorbed in his theatrics to learn from history. Or, maybe he estimates that if Madumere ever got a vindicating judgement in future, it would by then be at no personal cost to him after office.
But beyond the sophistry by the colluding 19 lawmakers, everyone knows Okorocha only seeks Madumere’s political scalp on a platter as ritual offering to pave the incestuous path for his own son-in-law to be his successor next year.
Madumere’s real crime is actually not more than a refusal to forgo his ambition to be governor and be part of Okorocha’s morbid bid to reduce the state to a monarchy in which his lineage will emerge the sole ruling house. The Owelle already has everything well laid out like a piece of cake. With the son-in-law becoming governor from his present perch as Chief of Staff, his beloved daughter too inherits her mother’s own mantle as First Lady.
As for the wife, she is rest assured of her full dues as the new queen mother.
Indeed, Okorocha’s empire-building obsession transcends Imo shores. While he covets the Orlu senatorial seat even after being two-term governor, he earlier dangled Owerri’s senatorial ticket to Madumere as consolation prize in lieu of his governorship ambition. Then, a lackey, Chike Okafor, will continue in the House of Representatives on behalf of the Okigwe South Federal Constituency.
Overall, it is not only the value of decency that appears ensnared by Okorocha’s shenanigans; also under assault is the time-worn communal charter of equity and justice. Nwosu’s aspiration would mean Orlu zone monopolizing power potentially for another eight years after Okorocha. At the expense of Owerri and Okigwe senatorial zones.
Will the imperial majesty currently luxuriating in Douglas House get away with this one last perfidy? Time will tell.