By NWAMKPA MODESTUS

The former Governor of Imo state Chief Rochas Okorocha got a bitter pill of what every recalcitrant person gets when he/she misbehaves. He ran himself into trouble by daring the law and the state authority. He ended up being arrested, detained, humiliated, derobed and demystified. Of course, he got what he bargained for and will forever regret ever taking laws into his own hands. What a poor man!

Rochas Okorocha apparently might have forgotten that he is no longer the Governor of Imo state. He clearly might have also forgotten that there is a limit to rascality and braggadocio.

Already, so many people including close Aides and supporters of Sen Okorocha have voiced out their utter disappointment and total condemnation of the ex-Governor Okorocha’s irresponsible and lawless act of breaking into a controversial Royal Palm Estate property that was sealed by the state government arising from a white paper from a Judicial Panel.

In the first place, Okorocha behaved in a manner quite unbecoming of a lawmaker and a former Governor of a state. Just as some people wondered whether Okorocha could have tolerated such a brazen display of disobedience to a constituted authority when he was Governor. Certainly, he could not have tolerated that from anybody or ex-Governor under any guise but he erroneously expected Governor Uzodimma to romance him with such despicable behavior.

Recall that as Governor, Okorocha personally supervised the pulling down of Captain Iheanacho’s fence along Orlu road when he felt that the man dared him as Governor. He also demolished Anyaehie’s properties including the buildings of people at old Shell Camp and Shops at Douglas Road leading to the death of an innocent boy – Sometochukwu – among others. Nobody dares Okorocha as Governor without telling his ugly story.

What about the beating and molestation melted out to Hon Jasper Ndubuaku around Spibat at the instance of the ex-Governor? Do you also remember the APC convention in Abuja where the ex-Governor mobilised his Aides and thugs and they openly beat up some notable leaders of the party from Imo state at Eagle Square Abuja? He did all these using the instrumentality of his then office as Governor.

He did all these even without court order or a white paper from any Judicial panel unlike Governor Uzodimma who adheres strictly to rule of law and due process. Okorocha was able to do those things and got away simply because he was Governor and nothing more.

Right now, Governor Uzodimma is in charge and he is very calm, and busy developing the state but Rochas perhaps mistook Uzodimma’s gentle and peaceful disposition as a mark of cowardice and decided to dare his authority. I am sure he will tell his story one day about the ugly experience he got today. A tiger does not profess its tigeritude; it lives by it.

You cannot continue to overrate yourself always. You cannot continue to behave in a manner that is disrespectful of the very office you once occupied. It is purely inexplicable and smacks of idiocy to take laws into your hands or to resort to self help by forcefully entering into a property that was sealed by an authority without any valid court order. This is condemnable as it is rascality taken too far.

•Nwamkpa Modestus (KSM) writes from Owerri. His original piece was entitled “Okorocha dared the state and the law and got what he bargained for”.

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