What shall we do with Rochas?

By Steve Osuji

What shall Imo people do with Rochas? In fact, the question may well be: what shall Nigeria do with Rochas?

Commonly referred to as Rochas, he is of course Owelle Rochas Okorocha, erstwhile governor of Imo State. A man imbued with excessive hyperactive traits, Rochas who ruled (yes, ruled) Imo State for eight years (2011 – 2019) may have become the very nemesis of that bedraggled State.

He is the stubborn bone stuck in the throat; or better still, he is what Ndigbo call mmiri nsi.  Let’s call it faecal sludge. It is believed in Igbo society that we don’t know what to do with this odious sluice: you cannot throw it out lest it keep oozing all around the community, and you cannot keep it about you, a worse fate altogether!

But mark my word, Rochas is a Nigerian albatross and not Imo problem alone. Since the last 25 years, Rochas has foisted himself on our collective psyche and landscapes. He has since refused to be moved.

Deploying every ploy in the trick books, jumping in the fray at every state or national elections over this period, Rochas eventually managed to grab the mantle of leadership in Imo in 2011. Since then, Imo has never been the same again.

No, that’s a harsh understatement. Since the coming of Rochas as governor of Imo, the state has been under the scourge of a malevolent hurricane. This is not by any means hyperbolic.

FACT 1: During his eight years in Douglas House, Owerri, Rochas, his wife, children, siblings, in-laws and close associates ravaged the land, suborning at least 25 per cent of prime property in the capital city and beyond. Family of dung beetle you might say, trying to roll the entire earth to their home!

FACT 2: Some of the premium property include well-known, defined and designated government/public land and property. Some examples include State Secretariat Annex on Orlu Road, Imo Broadcasting Corporation Quarters, Orji and an expanse of land in New Owerri designated for a new government house, away from the hurly-burly of the old township. This well marked areas with a completed convention centre and huge stumps of the new government house edifice already springing up was blatantly encroached upon by Rochas and his filial gang. They grabbed to their heart’s content and disbursed the rest of it at huge gains! This singular act was brigandage that would put Alibaba and his 40 Thieves to shame!

FACT 3: Another direct assault on Ndimo by Rochas is the saga of the sprawling Eastern Palm University (EPU), Ogboko, Orlu, Imo State. Built on a land spanning 101 hectares, in 2012, Rochas had announced to Imo people that he was building a befitting permanent site for the state university which had been ensconced on an adhoc space for about four decades. Imolites had received the news with much joy.

In April 2016, the National Universities Commission, NUC, had in letter to Imo State government granted recognition to EPU as the 42nd state-owned university, and 143rd in the Nigerian university system.

An estimated N20 billion of State fund had been poured into the mammoth complex between 2013 and 2019.

But alas, as Rochas left office in 2019, he had concocted an agreement with some fictional foreign investors who purportedly owned 90% of EPU while graciously leaving 10% for Imo State government and her people. Shameless,  daylight robbery!

FACT 4: Now this is the crux of this write-up. Recently, Rochas, who is currently a senator of the federal republic had made a commando-style visit to a property on Akachi Road, Owerri, Imo State. The property in question is called Royal Spring Palm Estate (RSPE), which is said to belong to Mrs Nkechi Okorocha,  Rochas’ wife.

There are few words to describe the opulence, luxury and expanse of this property, suffice to suggest that it’s probably the biggest and best combo of hospitality cum housing estate to be found in the southeast.

A judicial commission of enquiry set up by the state government to look into land administration in Imo in the last 15 years had listed the RSPE as among the objects of executive corruption. Following a white paper to that effect, the current government of Governor Hope Uzodinma had sealed RSPE pending further action.

It is at this juncture that Rochas had led a group of people to break the seal and invade the property; purporting that nobody had the right to seal a property belonging to his wife.

Naturally, an altercation had ensued between his gang and State government officials who had quickly responded to the breach to restore the seal, reassert government authority and maintain public peace.

A fallout of this is that the State government has since moved one step further to get a court order of interim forfeiture of over two dozen prime properties owned by Rochas and his family.

TWISTING THE NARRATIVE: In sum, the issue here is about gross abuse of office, greed and acts bordering on outright Executive brigandage. But Rochas seems to have managed to make it into a two-fighting affair: that is a fight between Rochas Okorocha and Governor Hope Uzodinma. Via editorials in national newspapers,  commentaries and analyses,  the narrative has become feud between Rochas and Hope; vendetta against Rochas and all such.

But discerning Imo people know that this is a quest for the soul of Imo State. They know it is an attempt to seek to correct a grievous error that Rochas turned out to be during eight years in office.

It is an attempt at institutional self-repair. If Hope manages to correct some of the malfeasance of Rochas, he has laid a template for reviewing his own tenure too after he is done.

There is no doubt that Rochas’ was a rogue era that visited much physical, socio-economic and psychological trauma on the state.

Rochas’ misgovernance has set Imo back at least 50 years.

Zoom to the photos below, one of them is the so-called fourth Inland Bridge across Nworie River. It has ripped apart at its votex and remains impassable less that two years after Rochas built it. It is the same with everything Rochas supposedly built in 8 years… HARDLY ANYTHING ROCHAS BUILT IS STANDING OR USEFUL ANYMORE!

Two other flyovers have been condemned at Orji and Orlu Roads. But worse of all is the INSTITUTIONAL DAMAGE Rochas wreaked on Imo State.

On the day of atonement,  the Rochas chronicles is a long tale that would be told… for posterity’s sake.

▪︎Osuji is a columnist and public affairs analyst.

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