“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” — 2 Corinthians 6:14

From all discernible intents and purposes, both Governor Rochas Okorocha, a very fatal accident that happened to Imo State and his son-in-law and Chief of Staff to the Government House, Hon Uche Nwosu – who has been wickedly penciled down as Okorocha’s successor – are behaving like the ungrateful bird, Nza, which, after a sumptuous meal, challenged its god to a public fight.

Growing up, I was told that ingratitude was loathsome. But this is what our governor and his son-in-law are manifesting. They have become distastefully ungrateful.

Part of the reason for this loathsome ingratitude is the fear of tomorrow. Governor Okorocha and his son-in-law have acquired wealth that many people in the state have described as questionable. Overnight, Okoroch’s university springs up in Imo. Overnight, his son-in-law becomes a guru in real estate, despite stories that he failed the 10,000 jobs interview about eight years ago. This is outside claims by many people in Imo State that their lands have been cornered for personal use by top government officials. Yes, they told the governor so during the celebration of Imo Freedom Day at the Governor’s Freedom Square, last year.

You would see that all of a sudden, all the concessioned public assets have become worse than when they were managed by the government. From Adapalm to ITC, to Imo Shoe Company (which has been locked up by the court), all have gone down to the list of had-before assets.

In some instances, we heard that the concessionaires have no documents to show for their investments. Nothing is working. Nothing at all! And to think about it, accountability and rule of law have become like leprosy before the government.

No matter how much was realised by the government in the concessions, should a government be involved in smart dealings and short-change investors? Should the government continue to destroy or dislocate investments in the state in the name of road dualisation? How much pain should the people take from the government? Should a governor not live true to the ‘Excellency’ attached to his name?

This is why none of the ‘sold’ hospitals are working. Not only are they not working, the much touted 27 general hospitals have become habitat for rodents and reptiles.

It is natural to think that a man who engaged in shoddy deals as these would, at least, want to watch his back, isn’t it?

There are lots of questions hanging on the lips of Imo people: for example, the bailout funds, LGA allocations and elections, Paris refunds, pension wahala, and the slashed salaries of civil servants, etc.

Furthermore, Imo people have not forgotten that the only person Okorocha is grateful to is Uche Nwosu. We saw this on time as far back as 2014/15 and we cried out, that Imo people should reject Okorocha. But we were rebuffed. We said he would begin building his empire thenceforth, but we were termed the vocal minority.

We cried that part of the game was to deceptively make Uche Nwosu the governorship candidate of the APC in 2015 and to allow the governor take it back from him upon his return from his Abuja charade, when he contested the presidential primary election of his party in 2014. This was the beginning of the move to crown Uche Nwosu the governor of Imo in 2019.

It is a pity really that the governor was returned in 2015. To them, that was the icing on the cake. To actualise this plan, Uche Nwosu has been painted and re-painted in many colours. He has been dressed in several borrowed robes. And I think this man must have seen a lot of powder and pancake and brushes on his face on his climb to the gleam. Everything is being done to present him as a good person. And, suddenly, he has become a competent hand whose capacity has been there for years. But those who promote this paper-genius forget in a hurry that they had inundated us with their claim that he did not pass the 10,000 jobs interview organised by the Ikedi Ohakim government and, as a result, did not get the job. If you doubt, please ask FCC Jones Onwuasoanya.

Is it not rather insulting that this same person is now presented in white garments? I used to think that government was about excellence and not mediocrity. Can Uche Nwosu feature in Imo First 11 in any ramifications, except where the government favours mediocrity?

Apart from presenting Nwosu as a genius on paper, he has been falsely presented as a philanthropist, often dolling out cash and other materials. And with the launching of Elfreeda Foundation, he has taken after the style of his father-in-law, who rode under his own foundation. But all this is hogwash, only to give him the identity he does not have.

From nowhere, Uche is being given the appearance of a lover of the youth. This resembles the Senior Advocate of the Masses mantra of 2015. But we are assured that no one can deceive all the people all the time. Thus, we thank God that while the governor and his son-in-law keep behaving like the proverbial ostrich, they have stripped themselves naked at the market square. Children have seen their yiyaya, and laughed them to scorn. Okorocha does not have any respect for the sensibility of Imo people. He sees us as pawn on his chessboard. That is why he would rather see an impoverished Imo than create Imo of great opportunities.

The only reward Imo people have got from the clueless Okorocha government is destruction, everywhere you go! It is either the governor destroys what he met on ground or he destroys what he made, or both. This is the reason for the myriad of substandard projects that have consumed our common wealth. Parts of Okigwe Road that was dualised by the government has also broken down. And you would think the road was built 10 years ago. This show of ingratitude is exacerbated by the fact that the governor, like the egg that believes erroneously that it hatched itself, wants us to believe that he made himself governor for two terms.

He would rather give the credit of his happenstance as Governor of Imo to the North, instead of admitting the roles Senator Hope Uzodimma, Chief Martin Agbaso, Chief Victor Umeh, Chief Achike Udenwa, etc, played in his emergence. He also would want no one know that he was backed by unfriendly presidency that worked against Ohakim, because of his loyalty to former President Yar'Adua, and the wicked propaganda spread by the Catholic Church. But, today, Imo people now know that as human beings they could make mistakes, and they want it corrected in 2019.

Okorocha would rather sing aloud that Imo people rejected Ohakim, forgetting that even with all the conspiracy he enjoyed against Ohakim, he was just able to win with less than 4,000 votes. With results from two local governments where Ohakim got more than 40,000 votes unaccounted for the story that Imo people rejected Ohakim has remained what it has ever been: a lie.

Okorocha was lucky to ride on a deceived Imo electorate who swallowed all the harmful pills presented before them. Today, Imo people, because they now know better, look back at 2011 with nothing but cursing and regret. We have seen that Imo people from all walks of life love Ikedi Ohakim, and they have resolved to vote him back in 2019.

Rather than admit that he took advantage of the 2011 Imo voters, Okorocha would tell us the story of the poor ‘Jos Boy’ that rose from grass to grace. He would rather thank the North, as if the North crowns kings in Igbo land.

It is in furthering the embarrassing deception of the Imo people that Uche Nwosu was on Saturday, August 19, 2017, turbaned in Bauchi State as Dansaki Dass. The turbaning was not for love of the North, but to give the fake impression that he is well-travelled, exposed and detribalised politician. The chieftaincy title was solely a political gimmick to place him on a political pedestal he has not attained. The reason for his negotiated turbaning was same reason he became an indigene of Owerri recently. They are willing and desperate for the governorship, and they can scheme even the most bizarre things to hoodwink the gullible. They have even primed people like Iyke Okeigboananwa and others for governorship. So, as Uche Nwosu did for Okorocha in 2015, they would step down for him also.

But despite the level façade Uche Nwosu gets as packaging, we cannot entrust our collective future to a man of whom it has been said that his only licence to opulence is that he married the governor’s daughter. We can no longer trust men whose source of wealth is only traceable to their days in Government House. If you have read recent publications that Uche Nwosu is among the multi-billionaires created by the Okorocha’s government, you would know that never again should we trust men of questionable pedigree. Never again!

We will work for our real freedom in 2019, by coming together to stop our oppressors, because: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” Therefore, “stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1).

We are prepared to get out of slavery and shake off the chains of the Rescue Mission-besetting slavery. We will “Put on the full armour of God”, so that we can stand against the devil’s schemes. Ephesians 6:11.

•Collins Ughalaa writes from Owerri. He can be reached via ughalaacollins@gmail.com

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