Sam Mbakwe´s legacy, the reason Rochas should re-elected

Ever since the glorious days of Late Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe former Governor of Imo state who held sway as Chief Executive in Douglas House between October 1,1979 to December 31st 1983, no other Government in Imo-state had carried her citizens the way the present Gov.Rochas Okorocha Government is doing both in terms of populist agenda, grassroots politics and infrastructure development. Needless to make comparison of these two outstanding leaders as Mbakwe by all account is still toppling the chat as the best Governor Imo-state ever had, many Imolites until date credited the landmark infrastructure development in then old Imo state to Dede Sam Mbakwe as he was fondly referred to by the masses. Mbakwe worked so hard he was christened the weeping Governor by Shagari Regime in an effort to draw the attention of the federal Government to his state, He was known to have built lots of industries in Imo-state from Poultry, flour mills, glass industry, aluminium industry to a resin and paint factory but unfortunately none of his predecessors were able to maintain these industries today as Imo state is no more counted as industrial state;

But all that ended when Rochas Okorocha took over Imo state Government in 2011, Rochas more like Mbakwe has spent three and half years in office, unlike Rochas who will be facing election next year Mbakwe already won his second term before Buhari military coup d´état of1983 disrupted and sacked the second republic. As it stands now Rochas may not have built additional new industries in Imo but rather he had consolidated and succeed in resuscitation of the old existing ones, As a private citizen Rochas had given lots of free education across the country and that had since become Government policies in Imo-state, poor masses who could not afford schools fees in the past can now go to school in Imo state up to tertiary institution, community and tradition institutions included in Governance. On the resuscitation of the industries Adapalm which has been successively been operational since three years is a case in study on how his Excellency Owelle Anayo Rochas have worked hard to bring Imo back to old good memories of Mbakwe hair days in office. A time filled with hope and expectation.

But despite Rochas first term success in office, the political permutation and the tiding of next year Governorship in Imo-state appears unpredictable and puzzled. As it's known Rochas came under Apga ticket but had since backed out on issues bothering on ambition and national reach which obviously APGA was in shortfall then and now. It's instructive to mention that Rochas before he went into state politics was already a national figure in Nigeria. Remember he had contested Nigeria Presidency twice and had being the Chairman of Red Cross International for many years before venturing into politics. All this experience I supposed has help him to administer Imo-state successful for the three and half years, though a strong personality, out spoken and oratory his movement into APC with ambition to vie for second in command seemed unrealistic for now and to avoid uncertainty he has decided to retain his position as the Governor of Imo state paving way for a second re.-election bid next year.

The height of the matter now is how to re-elect Rochas under APC ticket, a party that had already being rejected by the masses according to what the opposition wants all of us to hear and believe. The unfortunate incident been that none of the oppositions either in PDP or APGA had denied the Governor's achievements, rather chief reasons amongst the other propaganda gist is that he decamped from APGA to APC which according to the few ignorance is an Igbo party without which no other good leader can be found in another party. The posited question is this; Will Imolites vote in favour of Rochas against all odds based on his success in Imo state, or will they (electorate) bought into the arguments that Rochas under APC is a bad omen? Although time will tell, but from my vantage position I am confident Imo electorates will definitely vote for Rochas irrespective of his party affiliation; why? Simply because he has being able to rekindle the spirit of hope to the masses in the state. What many people do not know today in Nigeria is that the masses are so fade up with political parties hence none are embedded in ideologies. Political parties in Nigeria can be compared to church services where people traverse from one Church to another in search of miracles and so is how people are changing party platforms to actualise political ambition. With all intent and purpose such is not health for democracy but sadly it has become the norms in Nigeria, Nobody therefore should cry wolf when such natural occurrence are observed in any candidate or incumbent.

The Nigeria masses as a matter of fact had long proved that any candidate with a good agenda can be voted irrespective of his party affiliation and that's was why the south westerners under ACN as at 2011 voted massively for then vice president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan after the national assembly adopted the “doctrine of necessity” that paved way for him. Imo has proved through Dee Sam that a good Government is worthy celebrating and a good leader should be retained, re-elected and remembered. As we match towards 2015 election Imolites will once again prove that Governor Rochas is the best thing that had happened to the state since the days of Dee Sam Onunaka Mbakwe.

Ndi Imo Kwe-ni.

Adams kennedy chidi is an Imolites living in Hamburg Germany. He is a freelance journalist and a radio presenter. ([email protected])