Nothing inspires the Igbo more than when it is to embark on daring ventures—or some unknown enterprise. They are usually adept and smart–sometimes invincible. In all cases, they make a huge success out of such exploits. Today—as evident all over the world—the Igbo is ubiquitous and enterprising. There used to be a joke that even when you visit the coldest region of the world, the Igbo is sure to be there plying his trade—mostly spare parts and just about anything that hauls in money.
Immediately after the civil war, many who thought they have lost everything are surprised at the dexterity and the remarkable speed they put behind them the gory tales of the war. More astonishing is the way they recovered and built on lost grounds so much that their peers wonder if they are not gods come in the form of men! Now passion is on the rise for an Igbo to take a shot for the highest office of the land. And taking the lead in this rather unfamiliar path is no other than the fiery and combative Rochas Okorocha who has been a regular feature in this field of politics.
Long considered the natural forte of the Hausa who leave nothing to chance when it comes to politics as their main surviving balm it remains to be seen how far Rochas would go in this promising heavyweight fight. In truth, Rochas Okorocha is not a minion in this environment. From a tender age, while his brothers were amassing and using wealth to build empires, Okoracha—to his credit—has been investing heavily in human capital dishing out scholarship to young and old Nigerians –be you a northerner or southerner as they say. He went further to single-handedly build schools, donate chairs and tables, and such other stationeries and writing materials.
As someone who is fluent in the Hausa language, Okorocha has easily blended with his “brothers” up north and worked well with them landing juicy political appointments from time to time. That political largesse earned for him the coveted seat and position of the governor of Imo State for a record 8 years! Now, as the Newspaperman gathered, he is set to climb up further into the perkings of order to contest for the highest office of the land. In reality, however, Okorocha has been preparing the grounds for this day and if his humanitarian gestures are anything to go by, he will certainly be a strong contender. But would his “chi” work for him? Only time and space would tell this time. Remember the Igbo proverb which says that “a dog is normally good at cracking bones-not to talk of when it’s on errands for its grandmother to fetch bones”!
