Before We forget, 50 things to Remember Rochas Okorocha for

In recent times, former governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha have been trying to portray himself as the victim, that little piglet who is being chased by a big bad wolf.

Every day he is on one TV station or the other, trying to tell the world how “innocent” little him, and his “innocent” family, are being terrorised by Senator Hope Uzodinma.

One begins to wonder if Rochas Okorocha suddenly suffered from some form of amnesia, where his memory suddenly became selective, shielding him from remembering what he put Imo people through in his eight years reign as governor of Imo State?

Some may say Karma is a bitch, and it bites you in the ass when you least expect it to.

Could that be what is happening to Okorocha right now?

In case he has forgotten, let me refresh his memory with a run down of just 50, of the countless atrocities that were committed against Imo people under his watch and maybe, he can spare us the ridiculous media sympathy gimmicks which nobody is buying into.

• 1. Killing of 11 years old Somtochukwu:
• Little Somtochukwu was one of the many, who paid the ultimate price for Okorocha’s misrule in Imo State.
• He was an only son. He aspired to become a Catholic priest and make his parents proud when he grew up.
• Unfortunately, Okorocha would not give him the chance to grow up and achieve those dreams.
• Okorocha would, against a court ruling retraining him from Eke Ukwu market, unleash armed security men and thugs on Owerri people and their businesses, and in the process, young Somtochukwu’s life was taken from him.
• Till date, Okorocha have shown no remorse for killing that innocent child, and have neither visited the family, or offered any form of compensation to them.

2. Attack on Senator Chris Anyanwu:
On December 26, 2012, a power drunk Rochas Okorocha almost ran Senator Chris Anyanwu’s car off the road. Her driver’s head was broken at Okorocha’s express orders while the senator was lucky to escape with her life.

3. Assault on Elected LG Chairmen:
Okorocha sent his commissioner for Youths and Sports Kenneth Emelu and the Commissioner for Commerce Ichie Uche Best Mbanaso to invade some local government councils with thugs and beat up elected council chairman who had been reinstated by the court.

4. Assault of Enugu State Government Aide:
On October 21, 2012, Okorocha forced himself to the party hosted for the former Vice President Alex Ekwueme even though he was not invited and when he took a seat not meant for him, an aide to the Enugu government tried to point that out to him, Okorocha physically attacked the man, punching him on the chest, and a fight almost broke out between his aides and those of the Enugu State Government.

5. Eze Ilomuanya Chairman of Ndi Eze Imo:

Okorocha totally disregarded a court order that reinstated Eze Ilomuanya as the Chairman of Eze Imo, removing Eze Ohiri who Okorocha had illegally foisted on the people of Imo State.

He even used armed policemen to prevent Eze Ilomuanya from gaining entrance to his office and carrying out his duties as the Eze Imo.

This was yet another example of Owelle’s total disregard for the Rule of Law and disrespect for the legal system of Nigeria.

Recently, Ilomuanya beat him silly with his staff and Okorocha was rescued by plane attendants.

6. N18.5 billion bond left by Chief Ohakim regime:
Okorocha has yet to tell Imo people, what he did with the N18.5 billion the regime of Chief Ohakim left before leaving office, which was part of the N40 billion applied for by the Ohakim regime.

7. N26.27 billion left by Chief Ohakim regime:
Ohakim left a total of N26.27billion when he left office, and till date, Okorocha was yet to explain to Imo people what he used the money for.

8. Compelling the State to pay for Staff of his Hotels:
Okorocha secretly compelled a former commissioner for Culture and Tourism, to add the names of the staff of his hotels, Lamonde Hotels and Lamonde Guest House in the payroll of the Ministry for Culture and Tourism, thereby secretly using our state funds to run his private businesses.

9. Declaring Public Holidays during daughter’s wedding and birthday:
Okorocha crippled business activities in the state, by declaring compulsory public holidays during his daughter’s wedding as well as during his birthday parties, causing enormous economic loses to the state all for personal reasons which has nothing to do with the good of the state.

10. Sell of Imo Newspaper Machinery to self at giveaway price:
Okorocha closed down the state-owned Statesman Newspaper Limited and sold the company’s printing press valued at about N250million to Lamonde Printing Press (owned by Owelle) for barely N200,000.

11. Using State Fund to build private university:
Okorocha used state fund in setting up a private university at Ogboko, his hometown. The university had been reclaimed by the Hope Uzodinma administration.

12. Misappropriation of Pension Fund:
In the eight years Okorocha was governor of Imo State, pension was paid only once in 2011.
For the rest of the seven years of his stay in office, Okorocha refused to pay a kobo to our aged pensioners.

At several meetings, he openly asked them why they were still alive.

Till date, he is yet to give account of the over N50billion pension fund.

13. Attack on the Catholic Assumpta Cathedral:
On March 11, 2015 during the run up to the 2015 General elections, the Owerri Catholic Archdiocese in their usual way organized a debate.

It was the same kind of debate in which Okorocha’s touts insulted former governor Ikedi Ohakim, but Ohakim did not disrupt it.

Okorocha ordered his henchmen to match into the church, beat up priests that tried to stop them, and destroyed the podium set up for the debate.

14. Attack on Archbishop AJV Obinna at Ngwuma:
On 4th of March 2018, Archbishop AJV Obinna was almost physically manhandled by Okorocha’s boys led by Jeff Nwoha, in the presence of Uche Nwosu, Okorocha’s wife Nkechi, and former Speaker Acho Ihim.
The venue was Saint Michael’s Catholic Church, Ngwoma-Obube in the Owerri North.

None of them (Uche Nwosu, Nkechi Okorocha or Acho Ihim) attempted to stop their thugs who rushed at AJV Obinna at the altar in the church, and hurled insults at him. They simply looked on, obviously enjoying the show.

It took priests to form a wall around the altar to protect AJV Obinna.

Okorocha arrived later at the residence of Alex Mbata whose mother was buried that day, and was pleased with Jeff Nwoha’s actions. He never apologised to AJV Obinna.

15. Kidnap and murder of Laz Anyanwu:
Laz Anyanwu was the Director of Protocol to the former Deputy Governor of Imo State, Jude Agbaso who was kidnapped and Monday Jan 14, 2013, was found dead along a bush path in Mbaitoli. His murder was believed to be politically motivated as no ransom was demanded, and it came within the period Okorocha set up his former Deputy Governor, and got him impeached.

16. Kidnap till date of Emenike Ihekwoaba:
He was a permanent secretary in the office of the former Deputy Governor, Jude Agbaso who was kidnapped in August of 2012, and till date has not been found.

17. Murder of Pastor Emmanuel Adoba:
He was a special adviser to late Benjamin Uwajumogu, the then Speaker of the Imo State Assembly under Okorocha. His killers cut viral parts of his body with matchets while he was sleeping.

18. Over Taxing of Businesses:
To further implement his Almajiri style of governance, and force Imo to poverty, Okorocha implemented multiple taxation of businesses in the state, which was carried out by thugs, and this forced so many businesses to close up shop or leave the state.

19. Revocation of Dr. Philip Njemanze’s Land:
For blowing the whistle on the secret abortion bill passed by Okorocha, Okorocha revoked the land Dr. Philip Njemanze had acquired to bulid a mega hospital for the people of Imo State.

20. Sack of 10,000 Jobs Beneficiaries:
Okorocha’s first blow at the youths of the state was the illegal sack of young men and women who were legally employed into the state civil service by the government of Chief Ohakim which was a total disregard of Rule of Law. Even when they won him in court, Okorocha refused to obey the court ruling to reinstate them. The leader of the 10,000 youths was killed in 2015, by men suspected to be members Okorocha’s hit-squad.

21. N100 given to School Children:
Despite the moral decay such actions created among our children, who are made to start desiring for money at very young ages, the irregularities involved such as how many students are really quoted and how many times the money was actually given are questions Okorocha needs to provide answers to.

22. Disappearance of Mini-Buses bought by Chief Ikedi Ohakim:
Upon the inception of Okorocha’s regime, the mini-buses bought by the regime of Chief Ikedi Ohakim which helped ease transportation problems in Imo State, vanished with no explanation from Okorocha as to what happened to those buses.

We later found out that the were sold and while others were converted to private use by Okorocha and his cronies without account made to the state.

23. IRROMA and Its multi Billion Naira Machinery:
Whatever happened to all those trucks, bulldozers and other machinery procured under the regime of Chief Ikedi Ohakim for rural road maintenance?

Those machinery vanished when Okorocha took over.

We later found out that a certain former TC Chairman of Ikeduru was tasked to selling them of, and he made away with the proceeds from the sales.

He was later declared wanted by Okorocha.

Whether they later reached an agreement on how to share the proceeds of the sales of those machinery is what Okorocha has to tell Imo people.

24. Family Members Awarding Government contracts:
At a point during Okorocha’s time in office, his brother Okey Okorocha awarded revenue contracts and even awarded all highway revenue collection in Imo State to their family friend one Chief Dulcient who is a close friend to the Okorochas.

Okey Okorocha, a known gambler collected money from this Chief for his gambling and gives him all the highway revenue collections in Imo State illegally collecting the jobs from previous holders whose contracts haven’t even expired.

Okorocha’s arrival let to multi taxing of vehicles bringing goods into the state or through the state, leading to high cost of goods and numerous violent clashes between the drivers and his touts collecting the revenue.

At the same time, Okorocha’s sister Ogechi practically runs Douglas House.

25. Plan to Relocate Central Mosque to Assumpta Cathedral area:
Okorocha’s government at a time, tried to relocate the Central Mosque to stand alongside the Assumpta Cathedral and when people shouted he denied ever planning to do so, even though he had created the Hausa settlement near Control area which was in readiness to move the mosque.

Despite helping him get into power, Archbishop AJV Obinna would see him for who he truly was, and stand against him.

The plan to move the mosque was probably a way to spite the Catholic Archbishop, just as he demolished Eke Ukwu to spite Owerri people without regard of the young life that was lost.

26. Indiscriminate Brutalization of Imolites by Okorocha’s Security Outfit:
Despite attacking Chief Ikedi Ohakim during the debate at Assumpta Cathedral where he belated Ohakim for setting up a vigilante organization, Okorocha, like a dog going back to its vomit, when ahead to set up a vigilante group.

His Imo Security Network outfit became notorious with harassing and brutalizing the youths of Imo State and in many occasions coaxed false confessions forcefully from innocent youths, because Okorocha promised them money for any kidnapper caught so if your enemy writes a petition against you, without investigation or evidence, these ISN thugs will beat out a confession from you.

On a particular case, they blinded a young man who was innocent of any crime and today that boy is forced to live the rest of his life with one eye.

During one of Okorocha’s birthday, keke drivers who stopped in front of ICAPS building where Okorocha housed his guests were brutalized by these ISN thugs.
Like crazed Talibans, they fired guns in the air without considering that those live rounds could hit somebody.

27. The Controversy Abortion Bill:
Okorocha shocked Imolites and Nigerians in general, with the secret signing into law of a bill legalizing abortion in Imo State.

He later claimed he had signed it in error but his vindictive actions against the God-fearing man Dr. Philip Njemanze who blew the whistle on the abominable act by the revocation of the land of the doctor who wanted to build a mega hospital for his people, showed that Okorocha knew exactly what he was doing when he signed that bill into law and was angry with Dr. Njemanze for saying the truth.

For a state rated as the capital of Christianity in Eastern Nigeria, that action alone is a sin before God and before man when Okorocha decided which child lives and which child dies.

Who gave him the right to take a life?

Who gave him the right to play God?

Okorocha might even have signed same-sex gay marriage into law secretly and if those lawmakers who he had in his pocket kept their mouth shut like they did with the abortion bill, Imo would have become Sodom and Gomorrah under Okorocha.

28. The Jobs, Jobs, Jobs Scam:
This was the biggest campaign scam Okorocha used against Imo youths in 2015, when he promised them jobs and factories but provided none, instead took away the ones they had.

29. The 27 General Hospital Fraud:
Okorocha took loans of over N50bn secured with the allocation of the 27 Local Government Areas, claiming he was going to build and equip world class hospitals in all 27 Local Governments in the state.

Till date, Okorocha was not able to complete even one, and did not account for what he did with the money he borrowed.

30. False Promises Made to Imo Youths:
Amongst the many fake promises Okorocha made to Imo people, especially the youths, was that he would send 100 youths abroad to be trained as pilots which he never did.

He also announced that he was giving ₦1million to some youths, but they were only given placard plastic cheques and ₦100,000 each. What happened to the ₦900,000 multipled by 100 youths he claimed he gave the money to?

31. Fake 30,000 jobs:
Okorocha announced on live TV that he would give 30,000 youths jobs. That was after the 2015 election. It was a promise that never came to pass.

32. Prince Noel Tochukwu’s murder:
A well Houston based gay, who was a friend and supporter of Okorocha.

He claimed he was invited home by the Okorocha government, but the young man would be killed in the hotel he was lodged in on the 4th of February, 2014.

The government which he claimed invited him, shunned his death, and till date, nobody was arrested in connection to his death.

Some people suspected that he was murdered to keep him from exposing dirty secrets.

33. Heaping of Refuse on Douglas Road:
Okorocha heaped mountains of refuse along Douglas Road in a bid to chase traders out of the Eke Ukwu market.

He had no regard for the health harzard the act posed for the people living there and the act shamed Imo State, as national dailies carried pictures of the mountains of dirt Okorocha used to decorate Imo State with.

34. Sanitation:
Under Okorocha, Imo which won awards in the past for cleanliness, became the dirtiest state in the federation.

35. Ama JK Park Recreation Park:
Okorocha demolished the Ama-JK recreation park, claiming he would build a mega storey building parking lot.

Despite all the money he mapped out for it, the project had till date become another failed promise and the money mapped out for it unaccounted for.

36. Destroyed Civil Service in Imo:
Okorocha created the problem in the Imo State Civil Service today.

Aside from the underpayments of workers, he stopped the payment of overtime allowances, leave allowances and even stopped promotion of workers, amongst other things he did to distabilise the civil service.

Under Okorocha, civil servants were protesting regularly of non-payment of salaries.

At one point Okorocha owed civil servants for eight months before the Federal Government intervened. Okorocha still diverted the bailout funds given for civil servants and pensioners.

37. N96billion Imo IGR for eight years:
Okorocha diverted over N96billion of Imo State Internally Generated Revenue in the eight years he was in office.

38. IBC Orji Premises:
Okorocha converted the massive IBC Orji lands into his private property. The land have been recovered by the Hope Uzodinma administration.

39. Adapalm:
Okorocha leased the palm oil giant to himself using proxies, and ran it to the ground.

40. Ownership of Markets:
Following the demolition of Eke Ukwu, Okorocha reloacted traders to Aba road where he used state funds to build stalls and claim them as his own.

41. N2billion to Construct Akachi Tower:
Okorocha diverted N2billion which he claimed he used to build the useless Akachi Tower.

42. Bailout Funds:
Okorocha collected N26.8billion in bailout and diverted the money.

The ICPC report showed how the money was paid into other accounts and diverted away from the salaries and pensions which was the reason the money was taken.
Part of the money was allegedly stolen in Uche Nwosu’s house and the whistle blower, Precious Nwadike, was victimised for revealing it.

43. Paris Club Refund:
Okorocha is yet to tell Imo people what he did with the entire Paris Club Refund he received from the Federal Government.

44. N120billion diverted through failed road projects:
When Okorocha left Imo State, there was no single road that was left standing, which was a testimony of how he mismanaged Imo for eight years.

Yet, Okorocha claimed he spent over N120billion on road construction in the state, yet nothing to show for it.

Probes have started exposing the monumental contract scams that went on during Okorocha’s time in office, and these are some of the reasons he is against the probes, and have been causing trouble in the state in order to avoid being brought to justice.

45. Destroying Imo Library and Converting it to gift shop for daughter:
Okorocha demolished the Imo State Library which was located at the present day Rockview junction, and erected a gift shop for his daughter in it’s stead.

46. Fame up of Jude Agbaso and multi billion JPros Saga:
Okorocha connived with a fake Lebanese contractor, JPros, to defraud Imo State of over N1.3billion which was used to frame former Deputy Governor of Imo State Jude Agbaso up, and get him impeached.

47. Princess Hotel Okigwe:
After money was allocated for the setting up of this hotel, the project never took off and the money allocated wad not accounted for.

48. Killing pensioners by forcing them for verifications:
Through the verification exercise Okorocha forced on pensioners, he succeeded in killing many of them rather than pay them for their years of service to Imo State. Late Mr. Emma Iwuagwu was one of such people who lost their lives to Okorocha’s wickedness.

49. Assassination of Dr Ugonna Omereonye, Kingsley Nkemka and Franklin Okoli

Dr Ugonna Omereonye was the leader of the 10,000 jobs who battled Okorocha in court and was killed by suspected members of Okorocha’s Imo Security Network.

Both Nkemka and Okoli were aides to the late former Speaker, Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu, and were assassinated under Okorocha’s watch in Imo State.

Nkemka had declared for the MBAIKE Federal seat.

He was said to have scheduled to hold a pre-campaign eventon Thursday before he was attacked and killed by the gunmen.

He was shot dead along Nworie-ubi- Mbieri Road in Mbaitoli LGA.

Till date, their killers have gone free.

We begin to wonder whether there was a killing squad operating in Imo State during the time of Rochas Okorocha?

50. Attack on Government House Security personnel:
Okorocha in December of 2012 ordered his ADC Mr. Omo Gabriel and two other policemen to beat up a police corporal Itere Ewedor attached to the State House for delaying to open the gate for him.
The man was beaten till he was unconscious. Culled from Punch Newspaper Dec. 2, 2012.

We didn’t even mention the ambulances Ohakim bought for the 27 Local Government health centres that vanished or the 1million palm seedlings Okorocha destroyed because they were bought by Ohakim for the state, or even the choice lands Okorocha and his family converted to their own use.

You know all those things so next time anybody tries to use the media to confuse you, tell them to shut the Hell up and face the music for all their crimes against Imo people.

SeeIng somebody like Ihedioha now dancing Awilo with Okorocha, I begin to wonder how low Ihedioha can go just to be governor.

If that is not desperation to you, I wonder what is…