By Chidi Nkwopara

It is no longer news that the South African President, Jacob Zuma visited Owerri, Imo State capital, Friday, October 13 and left October 14, 2017. It is on record that Zuma was not a guest of his Nigerian counterpart, Muhammadu Buhari, but a guest of Governor Rochas Okorocha.

Ahead of President Zuma’s visit, the Okorocha administration announced that the man was principally coming to sign the Memorandum of Understanding between Jacob Zuma Education Foundation and Rochas Foundation College of Africa.

Jacob Zuma’s statue in Imo

This original concept was expanded later, to include awarding him the Grand Chancellor of the State of Imo, a chieftaincy title, a street named after him and the unveiling of a huge statue of President Zuma.

Varying reactions have continued to trail Zuma’s visit. An Enugu based legal practitioner, Mr. Dan Ofungwu, said: “The recent erection of the statue of Zuma in Owerri, is a big embarrassment to every Nigerian. Something must be going wrong in our dear Imo”.

The former Secretary to the Government of Imo State, Chief Chris Okewulonu, described the visit as “a caricature and unimaginable insult to Nigerians”.

He regretted that Imo State has always in the news for bad reasons, ranging from “one week birthday jamboree to Zuma’s abracadabra”.

Okewulonu expressed indignation over the erection of Zuma statue and the naming of a major road after him as “a joke taken too far, and calculated to paint Imo as a conquered territory and fiefdom of Governor Rochas Okorocha”.

He said that Nigerians are shocked to observe that Zuma, whom a South African Supreme Court has okayed for corruption trial immediately he steps down as President, was given a heroic welcome with a chieftaincy title in Nigeria by Imo State Government.

“Honestly, I do not know what governance has been turned into in Imo State. What has Zuma done for Nigerians and Imo State, to deserve all these accolades? Nigerians are constantly slaughtered in South Africa on daily basis without Zuma doing anything tangible about it, yet our Governor found it worthy to honour him. What an embarrassment”, Okewulonu said.

It was his considered opinion that “the organizers of that Zuma jamboree in Imo State, should apologize to Nigerians and Imo people in particular”, for wasting their money when the state’s finances are in shambles, salaries are not paid and hunger is ravaging the citizenry.

“How do you explain the rationale for hobnobbing with a potential jailbird? If anything, it was a well designed crevice to siphon public funds for personal interest”, Okewulonu said.

A similar angry reaction also trailed a detailed explanation on the Zuma visit, by Okorocha’s media aide, Mr. Ik Ogbonna, posted in his Facebook account.

A chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC, and former Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Dr. Kelechi Okpalaeke, reasoned that “it is the continued insistence on viewing every action from the perspective of politics by a government in power that fuels the deluge of criticism from opposition”.

Okpalaeke was also of the opinion that “while good governance is for the benefit of all, politics on the other hand, is to the benefit of the governor, thereby making a governmental action simply based on personal interest”.

In a joint press statement, captioned ‘Jacob Zuma statue in Owerri – The sacrilege against Igbo race, culture and values’, issued by the Igbo National Council, OYC, signed by Chilos A. C. Godsent, President of IMC and Uzoma Vivian Ogechi, Chairperson OYC, Imo State, noted with dismay the erection of Jacob Zuma’s statue at the Ikemba Ojukwu Centre Owerri and the naming of a major road after the South African President.

Jacob Zuma cannot be said to be a Nigerian or an Igbo patriot and has not contributed in any way to the well being of Imo state or welfare of Imolites or Ndigbo.

Conversely, the Imo business community says Zuma’s visit wasn’t a jamboree.

A member of the body and Chairman of Germaine Group, Chief Jerry Chukwudi affirmed that the benefits of the visit far outweighed the cost, as there was a robust engagement between the business community and the South African delegation.

He said that mutual agreements were reached in the power and gas sector as well as Agriculture and the hospitality industry.

He gave the names of those in Imo state team to include Dr. Paschal Dozie, Chief Leo Stan Eke, and Chairman of Innoson Motors, Innocent Chukwuma.

In his own reaction, the Governor’s CPS described the social media based opposition as lamentations of the short sighted. “Now, does it not call for pity for those elements who have chosen not to see the good stories or good news from Mr. Zuma’s visit but only decided to make much noise over a statue, even to the extent of attaching non-existent cost to the statue.

“In case these Galatians do not know, if all we need to do to attract good things or investments to Imo is erecting statues, then we have no option than to erect as many of such structures as possible. We owe no one apology. Rochas made a promise to open the doors of Imo to the rest of the world for good and he is doing that and we cannot be deterred by the enemies of our people.”