GOVERNORS’ INDECORUM

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Monday, 05 November 2012

DESPITE the considerable distance between their states, both Governors Aliyu Magataka Wamakko and Rochas Okorocha of Sokoto and Imo states, respectively could, as well, have been hewn from the same rock, judging from the similarities in their instinctive sentiments and dispositions that not even their elevated status and prestige could help them control. They both betrayed these sentiments recently, although on different occasions, when they physically assaulted other citizens for unjustifiable reasons. Governor Wamakko was reported to have been incensed by the failure of an official of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to restore electric power supply to the governor’s hometown. After having paid the N17 million requested for the restoration of electricity, the governor was annoyed by the solid darkness that still enveloped his beloved hometown and he took a horsewhip to the PHCN official’s back to register his indignation.

GOVERNOR Okorocha, in his own case, could not come to terms with the insult which the audacity of a fellow governor’s aide represented when that poor fellow refused to yield a seat to him at a public function because the seats had been reserved for his (the victim) principal, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State. If the victims of these governors’ assault bore the shame and humiliation of being flogged like despicable urchins stoically, and did not retaliate on account of the status of their aggressors, it then becomes logical to ask what these governors would have done in similar circumstances if they had not been governors. Would they have been aggressive to the point of assaulting their offenders physically? What pushed both of them into this abominable pitfall? Could it have been a faulty mindset or just righteous indignation?

IT is obvious that both governors are bereft of the humility and circumspection required for the public service which has been thrust upon them by the people who elected them to serve in leadership positions. The conduct of these governors even detracts from the honour and prestige that ordinarily should ensue from their exalted positions. It also takes the issue of their immunity granted by the constitution to the most absurd and bizarre extreme.

IN reality, there are situations which test the attributes of an individual with respect to certain virtues like patience, anger management and self-control and in the particular case of the PHCN, the organisation and its officials can actually drive people to their wits’ end in terms of its poor services and the response of its officials at crucial moments. In the past, communities have literally taken up arms against PHCN sub-stations and their staff when they were miffed and frustrated by its performance. As a matter of fact, there are certainly many Nigerians out there who might actually think that the PHCN official, who was whipped by Governor Wamakko, got his just desserts for failing to deliver after having been paid N17 million.

HOWEVER, the matter spoke more of expediency than propriety in its totality if some hypothetical questions were posed. Should the PHCN have billed the Governor for those materials which it ought to provide ordinarily? Is Governor Wamakko in the habit of paying money like that to PHCN even for towns in his state that are not his hometowns? Did he pay the money from his personal purse or from the state’s coffers? Was the money properly appropriated in the budget? These are salient issues thrown up by the development that should interest the people.

GOVERNOR Okorocha, in his own case, was simply overwhelmed by his airs of self-worth and importance. Although these are hardly in doubt, they probably would have been better reinforced by a humbler and more circumspect disposition on his part. His attack on Governor Obi’s aide was not an ignoble descent into crassness; it betrayed a covert and subtle but needless struggle for supremacy and recognition. Sadly, democracy can do better without these abominable behaviours from people in leadership positions. Both governors have failed dismally to provide examples, let alone shiny ones, to the people who see them as role models which governors should be. If people, who they lead, take to their examples, order will literally take leave of society and then who will they be governors over?

BUT these behaviours can easily be situated in the matrix of general absence of decorum in the Nigerian society as manifested in the many crude shows of power by people in authority, the blaring sirens literally pushing other motorists out of the roads, the beating up of people by uniformed aides of public officials and the mindless driving of bullion vans among others. These are all deplorable conducts that should be repudiated by any decent democracy. Both Governors Wamakko and Okorocha of Sokoto and Imo states respectively have failed to show the way out of the mess, and it is instructively disappointing that they are remorseless.

Empty vessels they say makes the largest noise. Chime cannot do this.

Compare not Heaven and Hell.

"Walks into thread,reads post,makes a FUCCK YOU sign to the poster,leaves thread"

Roachas is an epitome of thuggery..

He does not deserve to be a governor for 24hrs..

Shameless governor..