[url] Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo
State has blamed Abuja-based Imo
politicians for the embarrassment he
received in the hands of Charles
Oputa (aka Charly Boy) at the funeral
mass of his late father and eminent
jurist, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, at
the Sacred Heart Catholic Church,
Oguta on Friday.
Charly Boy had upstaged the Imo
State governor and prevented him
from speaking at the funeral mass as
protocols demanded.
But in a statement signed by Sam
Onwuemeodo, Senior Special
Assistant to the Governor on Media,
Okorocha accused Abuja-based Imo
politicians of instigating the insult
and embarrassment meted out to him
at the church.
According to Okorocha, it was “highly
regrettable that the son of the late
Justice, Mr Charles Emeka Oputa,
aka, Charly Boy threw caution to the
wind and turned the church service
into a political theater that saw him
acting or playing out the script he
drafted in Abuja with some Imo
politicians” who he said had
remained cowed by his overwhelming
popularity.
The statement disclosed that the Imo
State governor had worked together
with Charly Boy both when the late
Justice was sick, until the time he
died and the preparation for the
burial which also encouraged
Okorocha to make substantial
financial input and also organised a
special day of tribute for the late
Justice at the expense of state
government with Charly Boy also
present with other members of the
family.
“This is why the sudden change of
character of Charly Boy at the church
service, in which case, he insisted
that the governor would not talk as
protocol demanded, could not be
understood, except that he was
acting out the script handed over to
him by some of the gubernatorial
aspirants from the state who might
have been rattled by the thunderous
ovation that greeted the governor by
the crowd when he was first
introduced.
“At a function like that, protocol had
demanded that the host governor
must talk before any other speaker.
But Senator Pius Anyim representing
President was first called to talk.
Ideally, as a representative of the
president, there was no way Senator
Anyim would not have talked at the
event. But protocol would have seen
the governor talking first to welcome
the invitees to the service as the host
governor.
“Perhaps afraid of the popularity of
Governor Okorocha among the Imo
populace that has always made them
to hail him wherever and whenever he
talks, the few politicians from the
state in Abuja who are desperate to
capture power in the state in 2015,
saw a willing tool in Charly Boy for
them to ensure that the governor
would not talk at the event.
“We condemn that ugly incident. And
also wish to advise politicians from
the state to stop heating the polity
over power since God is the giver of
power. In 2015, God will decide who
will govern Imo State and when God
decides that, there is nothing
anybody can do about it,” the
statement said. http://www.nigeriafilms.com/news/27853/4/okorocha-blames-abuja-politicians-for-charly-boys-.html