To say that Senator Rochas Okorocha has run the whole length of Nigerian politics and politicking is to put things mildly. After two terms in office as Imo State Governor, Okorocha has been plagued with one confrontation after another. But while it appears as if the native of Ogboko (Ideato South of Imo) has a penchant for being in the eye of storms, one wonders how long it’ll be before lightning crashes down on his head.
Since leaving the Owerri seat of power in 2019, the general assumption was that Rochas Okorocha would vie for the Imo West District Senatorial position—and he did. It was then foretold that Okorocha would stir the Senate with his characteristic’ bossman-ness’—and he did. And then Okorocha was expected to take a break, savour his victories and spring out of self-imposed retirement just before the 2023 presidential elections—but he did not! Instead, Okorocha got involved with his successor, Governor Hope Uzodinma, and it has been one thing after another ever since.
Proud men, both of them, Okorocha and Governor Uzodinma, have allegedly never been able to work things out over a private evening meal, as others might have considered. On the contrary, both of them reportedly hurled enough skeletons at each other until Okorocha overstepped his boundaries, and Uzodinma promptly got him arrested.
President Muhammadu Buhari and many other notable figures had to intervene before Okorocha regained his freedom. Now, there are reports that he is on the watch list of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and has already been arrested since he refused their cordial invitation to sit and have a chat.
All in all, it is one thing for revolutionaries to claim credibility from sitting on a jail bench; it is another for an incumbent Senator. Thus, Okorocha’s present engagement with the anti-graft agencies bodes ill for his political future.
The biblical Job said that man is born for trouble as surely as sparks fly. Okorocha was born for trouble as surely as there are fires.
