Rochas Has Murdered Sleep
Everywhere in Imo State last weekend, the Shakespearean Macbeth was on the apex of his voice, shouting in the State castle for Rochas, “Sleep no more! Rochas does murder sleep! Owelle hath murdered sleep, and therefore Gov Okorocha shall sleep no more, Rochas shall sleep no more!” Because of greed, egotism and obvious megalomania, Rochas has lost that state of partial or full unconsciousness, during which corporeal voluntary functions are suspended, and the body rests and restores itself, which is commonly called sleep.
Sleep is a natural phenomenon that none needs to murder. Macbeth defined it as what straightens the overburdened human body in unseen care, removing worries, and refreshes man after heavy work. Rochas like the Thane of Glamis, Macbeth, few days ago murdered this state of bodily rest and restoration, because he became mad about power and turned megalomaniac with the zeal to become God, King, Emperor Bokassa, Archbishop, Thane of Glamis and Thane of Cawdor in Imo State.
Of course, only an insane or over ambitious power-monger like Macbeth can murder this chief nourisher of life and balm of hurt minds. To murder sleep is utter lunacy! This is common with megalomaniac politicians! It was Sikira, Ola Rotimi’s wife of Hon Lejoka-Brown that revealed the current madness in Imo APC gubernatorial gimmicks. Many also heard her loud last weekend shout, “Not only is the Master madly in love with politics, he breathes politics, he washes his mouth every morning with politics, he sleeps with politics and dreams of ... At night, deep in the middle of the night, the Master grabs his pillow in his sleep... holds it high above his head like flag... and he sings “Uche Nwosu must be Governor, the next Governor, the Governor!” Indeed, our husband has gone mad again! Lekoja-Brown’s wife, Sikira reminds Imolites.
Ernest Hemingway’s Old Man was also mad with fishing power. After making several unsuccessful fishing ventures of two months plus, he was determined to make big catch before the third month ends. Thus, at his 84th day, he embarked on a 3rdmonth decisive fishing venture without carrying along his former crew. He caught the desired big fish, suffered alone immensely and returned home with the carcass of the biggest catch he made. Little did the Old Man know that a successful venture primps and presents green lights at unset, and when obstacles and crises enclose, a wise desperado has to think twice.
Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea could be likened to Gov Rochas and the Imo APC. Against all odds and warning signals, Rochas is selfishly bent, wont and determined to sail alone a fishing, determined to make his son in-law succeed him as the next Governor of the State. Perhaps, he catches the desired big fish at last as he is determined to see the cancellation of the Ward Congress of last weekend in which he was toppled in the contest. But he will return with its carcass (invaluable) at the gubernatorial election proper. No good sailor or fisher sails alone.
The manner Rochas pilots Imo affairs and Imo APC seems he had an encounter with the three Witches that met Macbeth and gave him the inkling of being King and thus led him to murder sleep. Against all warnings of his conscience, his wife urged him on. After all, behind every successful man there is a woman. But Rochas’ case is very different. God has risen up with his ancient handwriting on the wall, inscribing “Mene Mene Tekel Parsin! God has numbered the days of his reign and brought it to an end. Rochas has been weighed on the balances and found wanting, and has thus divided Imo APC which Rochas controls, and given it to the revolting-Imo-APC-guber aspirants and the other, to Barr Chima Anozie. The end of Governor’s reign is counted, and the Medes and Persians will capture his kingdom, and then place their own leader, who like Darius, will occupy the Douglas House come 2019.
The problem with Rochas is that he has dug up, from the earth and uprooted the tree of fairness, equity and justice, and accordingly peeled them off from his conscience. Obviously absolutism, vicariousness, megalomania and their triple effects on power, are the problem the former Imo good Governor has. As the seating Governor of the State, he has the winning card on him. But he has not played it fairly, as the British aesthetician, Oscar Wilde admonished that “One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.” Because he has the winning card on him, he sees himself as God and others as mortal men. Now the mortal men are out to ruin his godly envisions and self-gratifying divine economy, he lost sleep and flew to Daura to see a just God, who sent him back with his sinful sack of injustice, to go and reconcile with men. What remains next for Rochas?
Rochas has abolished the concepts of equity, fairness, justice, altruism and true democracy from his leadership principles in Imo APC and Imo State. For him, equity and fairness are mere principles, and as Spencer Tray once remarked, “When you say you agree to a thing in principle, you mean you haven’t the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.” This was what Sir Martin Agbaso and the primordial pact-makers with Rochas failed to understand at the onset of his part with them.
Now, Rochas has not only abolished zoning as product of equity and fairness in power shifts and rotation amongst the component three senatorial districts in the State. But he has gone as far as declaring that his son-in-law is the ONLY credible candidate in the State, especially among the gubernatorial aspirants in Imo APC. That adjective, ONLY, means SOLE, and as an adverb (as used in Ireland for emphasis), it is provocative, and is a murderous sword of Macbeth’s sort. The adverb means “solely,” “lonely,” “singular,” and thus “no other person” and is thus a collective insult to all the gubernatorial aspirants in the State, irrespective of party affiliation.
This adjectival phrase, “Only credible candidate” accentuates the envisioned credibility and faultlessness in Rochas averred egotism, and to this effect he resorted to listing some prominent leaders in Imo State, across Nigeria and abroad, who are elective officers and public servants that made their wives, brothers, sisters, sons or daughters succeed in similar or same elective posts. These instances as historic are correct, but their natures, modalities, circumstances and timing, differ greatly. None of the persons he mentioned did such back to back (at a stretch like Rochas), or used State funds to sponsor elections, and none of them hijacked party affairs from their elected party officials.
For Rochas to sell his egoistic product, he went on to tell Imolites ridiculous lies and make-believes. It was Adolf Hitler that said “The greatest mass of people will move easily, fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.” For instance, apart from Emma Ohakim, who again did Gov Ikedi Ohakim carry along in his familiocracy? Rochas at a stretch has his in-laws: Prof Anthony Anwuka (made SGI, and then sent to the Federal level as Minister), Uche Nwosu (made DCoS, then Commissioner, and later Chief of Staff, now metamorphosing into the SOLE CREDIBLE CANDIDATE to become Imo Governor come 2019), his elder Sister, Mrs Ololo (made Commissioner for Happiness and Purpose Fulfilment, and DCoS Domestic), his brother-in-law and husband of the elder sister, Engr. Chuks Ololo (made Commissioner), his brother, Gerald Okorocha (given charge of the Imo Transport Company), his former aide, Prince Eze Madumere (made Chief of Staff, and Deputy Governor). The examples are unending.
All he targets is to be a hero, a hero indeed in a pyrrhic victory. Will Rogers once noted that “Being a hero is about the shortest-lived profession on earth.” The reasons are that wars never last, but peaceful days are longer, and as such after war, the hero has his profession eradicated. Now he is determined to fight a whole State and entire bigwigs of Imo APC, he will either be a hero or a failure. He forgot M.L. Menchen’s advice, “Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than you are.” Just on Ward Party Congress alone, the hero and emperor of the State, has turned red. What happens after the forthcoming LGA and State Congresses? Full blown chute is sure, because he has murdered sleep and shall sleep no more. Now rumours mount on alleged impeachment plot of the Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere by Governor Okorocha’s sponsorship as punishment for the D.Gov’s participation in his last Saturday’s chute, and that the law-makers that endorsed Uche Nwosu are now heading towards Araraume, can Okorocha sleep again? He keeps on murdering sleep daily, and will never sleep.
All the while, the former good Governor of the State was aggressive with critics, and the greater percentage of these latter days’ saints that now see Rochas as the worst man on earth, were criticising Prof Protus Uzorma and other consistent critics of Rochas, but today, posterity has proven the erudite Prof a real man of inestimable foresight. It was Ralph Waldo Emerson that sometime past advised the likes of Rochas thus, “Do not fear when your enemies criticise you. Beware when they applaud.” And now, Rochas has known his real enemies. They are not his former critics, but his applauders. Those applauders that now vouch to crucify him. They have made him murder sleep and he will sleep no more! Welcome from Daura and sleep no more!
McDaniel Okoronkwo writes from Owerri