There is no doubt that things are falling apart for the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, and he knows it. After deceiving the people with mouth watering promises, his inability to deliver has been exposed and he seems to be moving from pillar to post. He is being haunted by his own ineptitude now.

Recently, He has come under intense scrutiny by Imo State citizens, with their viral campaign on social media with the use of the hashtag #ImoFailedMission.The campaign evidently rattled Okorocha and his men who have responded with a more outlandish counter hashtag #ImoRescueMission. Also, a recent THISDAY mid-term report scored Imo state very low, prompting visceral responses from Okorocha’s men.

But it appears the governor’s latest trick did not work. He recently resolved to sack his entire executive council and most of his aides except one or two. Perhaps the governor is feeling the heat of disgruntlement afterall.

In case you have not been following it, the #ImoFailedMission has been exposing the rot and incompetence in Imo under Okorocha. The social media campaign has revealed that Okorocha’s era is full of empty promises: including many failed projects and even abandoned projects. The campaign has chronicled Imo’s governance citing examples and using pictures and videos appropriately.

The campaign clearly also show Rochas as a man with a ravenous ambition for power, even if he knows he is massively incompetent. Afterall, what matters is not his capacity to drive and lead change, but the fact that it is Igbo’s turn.

Since he feels he doesn’t need Imo people any more, he has chosen to abandon some of the seemingly lofty (grandiose) projects he initiated. A certain Bamikole Adeleye touring Eastern Nigeria has spoken to many in Imo. He recounts that Imo today is replete, for instance with abandoned hospital buildings. In his survey of some local governments the feedback from respondents was an appalling verdict: that healthcare services in the General Hospitals have declined, with lack of sophisticated equipment, and expensive out-patient services for citizens. Respondents also added that there was “no noticeable improvement in the employment of quality workforce or rapid standardization of general hospitals”

Women, children and households generally bear the brunt of mis-governance. Even many pregnant and feeding mothers have been complaining bitterly about the quality of service and also of expenses incurred during pre-natal check-up and diagnosis. In many cases, these forced them to patronise private sector hospitals, leading to an increase in out-of-pocket expenditure. This is worse when the lack of consistency in salaries of public servants. There are reports of a particular hospital structure that has been converted into a timber factory, the timber factory itself abandoned!

Yet in spite of this glaring evidence of incompetence and failure to connect with the people, the Imo State Governor, Okorocha continues with his ego trip, leaving none in doubt about his big ambition, which is to become President of Nigeria. He has been working his contacts across the country attending major functions to announce himself. He has cemented himself as the chairman of the APC governor’s forum. But has he really proven worthy of that office? Those who worked for his emergence as governor are disappointed.

As Chairman, Progressive Governors’ Forum, how effective has he steered the think tank? In fact one is shocked that the governors have not found it necessary yet to strip Okorocha of the position. He has not given dynamic leadership to a forum of progressive governors who were voted into office with the change mantra. Unless, of course, they are birds of a feather!

For heaven’s sake, given on-the-spot accounts of Okorocha’s failed promises, the Imo State Governor does not come across as the great visionary leader he likes to project himself. Why then are the progressive governors pretending that they have a leader when he is actually running their forum into near oblivion.

It’s worth repeating that Okorocha is a liability to the Progressive Governors as well as the party’s desire to expand beyond the present frontiers in the days and months ahead.

Let me ask: what people-oriented cause has the leadership of the Progressive Governors embarked upon? All we see are public speeches full of sophistry from Okorocha.

Here is my advice for the APC governors: In the South East, Okorocha, and by extension the APC, are no longer taken seriously; and it is common knowledge that APC will assuredly suffer defeat if elections held today in Imo.

There is such a dire urgency for these governors to move quickly to rejig its leadership before such negative perception is extended to other APC states. I have heard it said: how can anyone take progressives governors seriously when they have Okorocha as their leader?

If the real reason for picking Okorocha as the leader of Progressive Governors was to ensure an in-road into the South East, there is clear evidence now that that has failed. Okorocha’s poor performance has led to some palpable revulsion towards the party.

The Progressive Governors need to come up with any of their better performing governors as their leader to inject some life into the activities of their group. A stitch in time saves nine.

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