Good Days are Back in Imo, says Okafor:

Hon. Chike Okafor is a two-term legislator, representing Ehime Mbano/Ihitte Uboma/Obowo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. A former Commissioner for Finance in Imo state, he told Amby Uneze in Owerri why he took 180 people who had successful surgeries under his sponsorship for special thanksgiving as well as his relationship with governor Hope Uzodimma

Okafor said representing his federal constituency was a dream come true because of his passion to serve his people selflessly. He observed that everything about the ninth assembly of the House of Representatives where he represents the good people of Ehime Mbano, Ihitte Uboma and Obowo federal constituency is not hidden. He maintained that the current leadership has redefined representation as it is the job of the parliament to go beyond what “we knew before now” which is about passing bills and motions to getting involved in real critical issues that affect our nation’s economy.

“The leadership under Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila has shown those of us who came for the first time in the eight assembly that there are other things that we can do to really be supportive of our democracy. As a second term member I didn’t have any constraints except for the fact that I was the chairman of a critical committee – health, during my first term. That naturally gave me a lot of responsibilities and assignments in interfacing with the major health institutions in the country, including the Federal Ministry of Health, the National Primary Healthcare Agency, World Health Organization, NAFDAC, and other agencies under the health sector. So I was fully engaged in the eighth assembly, unlike what we have in the ninth assembly and for my late return I didn’t get that responsibility, but I am a member of a couple of committees like finance, banking and currency, etc. The truth is that you can’t be much more engaged as when chairing a committee where you would always be in the spotlight. However, that is, by the way; what you have is what you take,” he said.

On the thanksgiving for the 180 patients that had successful surgeries under his medical outreach, Okafor stressed that it was not really a medical outreach, but a surgical outreach. The difference, according to him, is that medical outreach precedes surgical outreach. Medical outreach as it were, involves clinical examination of the patients and then giving them the medications. But we found out after 2016 we started the medical outreach that there are more critical issues medical outreach alone cannot cater for. In 2017 I got my constituents registered with a health insurance scheme in some nominated hospitals in the constituency where they could go and get treatment free of charge under the national health insurance scheme.

“The last time I checked there were over 14,000 across the three local government areas, especially in maternal and child healthcare. But other critical healthcare challenges are not covered in the health insurance. Therefore from 2018, we made the medical outreach to include surgical outreach which means that some of those issues identified especially among the poor and the vulnerable such as surgeries of, appendicitis, fibroid, etc that were not covered by the health insurance scheme, we then devoted our medical outreach to identify those with these medical issues and dedicated about four weeks to carry out the surgeries in our dedicated medical facilities in the constituency and have those surgeries carried out.

“This was the fifth time we did that so the 2021 edition which was flagged off by the Honourable Commissioner for Health, Imo state, Dr Okorochukwu on December 5th at the Maternal Referral Health Centre, Alike, Obowo managed by the Imo state University Teaching Hospital and the exercise went on for two weeks. Couple of weeks after and the patients had been recuperated we saw the need for them to thank God. When we started we needed the intervention of God hence we invited some clergy to pray for the successful surgeries and now that about 180 of them went for the surgeries, we had 100 percent success and no casualty or complications. As Christians, the Bible in Luke 17: 12-19 tells us about the 10 lepers who saw Jesus Christ and they cried out to him to help them and have them cleansed of their leprosy. Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priest. Bible records that they were healed instantly and later on it was only one that came back to thank Jesus and Jesus asked him where are the other nine? “However, for you who came you are now made whole” What that means was that the scar of leprosy on the one that returned to thank God was completely gone and the man’s original nature was restored. That is the benefit of thanksgiving.

“I felt that if we bring them to Church to thank God, any of them who probably may have any complication, God in His infinite mercy will heal them completely. That was what the special thanksgiving was all about. What we did was to send about 15 buses to pick them from their homes; after the church we took them to a hotel where we fed them and they were conveyed back to their various homes,” he opined.

On why he was conspicuous in the Church even as a singer in the hotel entertainment proper, he said he was first and foremost a Christian before he ventured into politics. “Again, I was first an ordained minister of the gospel, a gospel music minister before I joined politics. I started singing in 2004 at the age of 31 years. That was when the inspiration came and I started singing in the church. I have a band of 12 people and what you saw at the hotel was my band. I am a publicly known gospel musician and I don’t shy away from that. I don’t think that my being in politics should hinder my walk with God; as a matter of fact it should actually complement it. I feel more relaxed singing and dancing for God.

Having passion for health care for his constituents, Okafor expressed contentment that it was actually being the chairman of the health committee in the house that instigated him because “I discovered that I have made many friends in the health institutions and built many relationships in the health sector and there was a need to turn such relationships to the benefit of my constituents. As chairman I discovered that those health institutions that I oversee I could also leverage on that to attract some good things to my people which was why I was sent there.

“And it really cost me little or nothing. I recall the first medical outreach I had in 2016, the likes of chief medical directors of Federal Medical Centre, Enugu, Owerri, Umuahia, the country representative of WHO, Minister of State, NPHCDA chief were all there. Because I was overseeing them so they did not have problems identifying with me. The most medical outreaches we have had in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, the likes of WHO gave us drugs free. If I have those connections and I fail to utilize them for the good of my constituency then I have failed as their representative, so they were there for me and my constituents. Actually, holding political office affords me the opportunity to use it to attract some benefits to my people, nothing more. So my being the chairman of health committee was a catalyst and I leveraged on it till date. Once relationships are built on integrity and honesty, you can always leverage them even if you are no longer in that space.”

Describing his entry into politics as a clarion call to provide services for his people, he said “if I didn’t grab the opportunity of going into the political sphere, I would not have done much in terms of providing democracy dividends for my constituents. If I didn’t delve into politics in 2011, do you think that with my banking earnings I would do so much for them? I don’t think so. But being in politics gives one much broader space to provide for his constituents. There is no doubt that venturing into politics at a time and occupying a political office as well as an elected person has given me the opportunity to serve my people better.”

Considering his contributions so far, he emphatically believes that he was not yet done with politics. “I am not retiring from politics yet. I haven’t turned 50, and if anybody is expecting me to bow out, the person should jettison that idea because our political space is bereft of people who think less of self and more of the people and I think without sounding immodest I can beat my chest that I have tried in 10 years I have been in politics. I have tried to show that politics and governance can actually be used to better the lives of the society. I think I have succeeded in showing that. So talking what next; this is election year and I am not the kind of person that goes to do things because others have started. I try as much as possible to take my time to listen to my inner self. Secondly, I am a pure party man, the APC and I am glad we have an issue of stability in the party in Imo state under the leadership of His Excellency, Governor Hope Uzodimma. And so with his guide and directives that would come from God we will all determine who goes for what. The truth of the matter is that I will always be available to serve the people.”

On his relationship with the state governor visa-vis his relationship with his former boss, Senator Rochas Okorocha, the legislator said “I have a very robust and cordial relationship with the governor of the state who is the leader of my party not only in Imo state. Governor Hope Uzodimma is one of the foremost APC leaders in the South-east before Ebonyi state governor Dave Umahi joined. That relationship with him is mutually exclusive to any other relationship he has anywhere. He is the governor of my state and the leader of my party and he is accessible to me. He listens to me and he means well for the people I represent. Today as governor of the state he has demonstrated abiding love and desire to give good governance to my constituency. I’m excited for instance, one of his first assignments was to attend the flag off of my constituency project in January 2020 and shortly after that he constituted his executive council and from my constituency he appointed the Secretary to the State Government from Ehime Mbano, he appointed a commissioner in Ihitte Uboma and from my local government he appointed two Commissioners.

“Then when he reconstituted his cabinet, he also retained the SSG, appointed two commissioners from Ihitte Uboma, one of them was my campaign coordinator and he also returned one of the commissioners in my local government, among other appointments. I think that any right thinking person from that constituency will give credit to the governor because he has demonstrated love to my constituency. As the person representing that constituency I think the best I should do is to galvanize support for him. In dispensing infrastructure he has not left us out.

“Again, the current speaker of the state house of assembly, Kennedy Ibe has the governor’s support for his constituency as the leader of the assembly. Infact, Kennedy Ibe is my major ‘trophy’; he is my younger brother who works hand-in-glove with me. Having considered all these things, I think that anybody who is expecting anything less from the support of my constituents is making a big mistake. What else can one say than to sing that the current government in the state has enormous love for me?”

Okafor however, stated that the relative peace enjoyed by Imo people in recent times was due to the hard work of the governor. “Everything dove-tails into governance, therefore I give the credit for relative peace we enjoy now in the state to the government. You see, governor Uzodimma was sworn in on 15th of January, 2020, barely two months after; we had the COVID-19 pandemic that got the whole world economy shut down, coming out from the COVID-19 shut down, #EndSARS riot came which further crippled the economy and as we are arising from the #EndSARS riot, we had the unknown gunmen and its devastation. In all these, the governor rose to the occasion, showed faith and resilience. The governor has been able to restore confidence in the state and with the support from the security agencies he brought the state back to normalcy. So what I would say to the people: is that they should keep faith in the government. We have a governor who is responsive. His level of empathy is second to none. My prayer is that we should continue to enjoy a safe and secure environment. Imo is back to its original peace and safe state. The good days are back here.”