Anyone who was in Imo state or followed political events that preceded the governorship election would agree with me that the election was not just an election but a battle among political gladiators and before the election, nobody knew where the pendulum would swing. It was a tension filled season but as events began to unfold, the pretenders gave way to the contenders.
You and I were witnesses to the horse trading and permutations that were manufactured between the contenders who through their utterances fanned the embers of division between their supporters which almost consumed the peaceful nature of our admirable state.
It was April 11th, the day of the governorship election that made the difference. Discerning Imolites, above partisan interests and biases resisted all forms of electoral violence which almost marred the process, voted and ensured their votes counted. The election ended in a stalemate. April, 25th was fixed to conduct the supplementary election in areas where there were irregularities and when they tried to manipulate the process again, Imo electorates stood to the detriment of their lives and insisted their mandate must never be stolen.
Their mandate, Gov. Rochas Okorocha had already been sworn in for his second tenure and till date they still defend their mandate every where they go.
But the losers are yet to concede defeat. The supporters of the defeated politicians who cut across all strata in Imo state are yet to get over the agony of defeat and have continued pilloring the peoples governor and at every given opportunity attack and ridicule Imolites that stood for and re-elected the peoples governor. Insisting that Imolites must suffer for the choice they never made.
An example was an encounter between a bus driver and a passenger. Sometime last month, I boarded a bus from FUTO junction to Owerri, the journey on the dualized Portharcout express road was cozy not until we approached the bad section of the road which had been abandoned by the contractors handling the road, that was were we began to experience traffic gridlock, making vehicular movements slow.
Our driver maneuvered his way until we got to the popular House of Assembly junction, a woman who had notified the driver earlier she would alight before the house of assembly junction queried the driver for not dropping her at her choice of exit, the driver explained to her, the gridlock caused by the bad road made it impossible for him to stop at her choice of exit. Suddenly, a self-serving critic inside the bus who was ignorant of the fact the road in question was a federal road, rhetorically asked, "is it not you people that voted Rochas? This is just the beginning of your sufferings". The driver wasted no time in replying the critic: "I rather vote and suffer in the hands of Gov. Rochas Okorocha because I know there's hope of industries to absolve the teeming unemployed youths than vote for a particular candidate from a particular region who would only come and display his sense of deceit which they are known for".
The bus was engulfed with laughter and my humble self who was sitting in front with the driver had no choice but to join the chorus. With such an outspoken rebuke from the bus driver, can majority of Imolites be wrong in the choice they made at the polls? The action of the bus driver in defense of Gov. Okorocha is just one example out of many.
It is only those that have once again been denied access to the Augean stable which has been cleansed from filth and corruption in the past that will continue to refer Gov. Okorocha as a bitter choice.
Majority Imolites supported and voted the peoples governor not just because Imo state had no better alternative amongst the contenders but because Imolites need Gov. Rochas Okorocha more than he needs us and when the opportunity came for them to decide, they followed their heart beats.
Imolites are unperturbed, we are optimistic that with ROCHAS WE KNOW, continuing with the task of making Imo state BETTER is a mission that must be ACCOMPLISHED.
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