Uche Nwosu, the Chief of Staff to Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, whom the governor has anointed to succeed him in 2019, spoke to CHRIS NJOKU on a number of issues, especially, the controversies thrown up by the fact that he is a son in-law to the governor. Excerpts:
To have been married to the governor’s daughter, many people believe that you were born with a silver spoon. So, how was your growing up like?
Thank you very much, I have heard a lot of people ask me this question, who is Uche Nwosu. First of all Uche Nwosu is an indigene of Eziama Obiere in Nkwerre Local Government Area of Imo State. I was born in a family of nine, we lost three, remaining six. My father was a clergyman in the Anglican Church and my mother is a trader and the wife of a clergyman. I grew up in the Church. From my birth till my father died, we lived inside the Church and when my father died, I moved down to Maiduguri with my uncle where I continued my education. I did my primary school at Shehu Sandi Karemi Primary School, Maiduguri. I started my secondary school at the Government Secondary School, Gubiou in Bornu State. During my school days, I had a friend called Abdulraman Zubairu and another one called Michael; Michael is from Michika, while Abdulraman is from Maiduguri town. I never knew that as a Christian, you could have a friend that is a Moslem and the funny thing then was that when I am going to church, Abdulraman will escort me to church and wait outside and once the Church is over, he will join me and we go back to the hostel. We ate together, drank together and did everything together and on Fridays, I will also go with Abdulraman to the mosque and after the Friday prayers, we go back to the hostel. So my growing up has been something that has to do with not growing up with my father. My father died when I was around eight and after then, I went with my uncle to Maiduguri and when it dawned on my mother that I had to come back to the East, I left Maiduguri and came back home.
Let me just start with President Donald Trump. His son in-law is an adviser, he is a member of his cabinet. America never went up in flame by asking, why should Trump appoint his son in-law as a member of the kitchen cabinet of his government? President Bush (Snr.) was the President and after his tenure, his son became President and America never went haywire
When I came back, I continued with my secondary school, first of all at Obazu Secondary school, Umuna, then I went to Sacred Heart College, Ugwuagba; then finally came back again to Comprehensive Secondary School, Eziama. But when I was in Aba, there was something that I will never forget: things were very hard for my family. Our first son, a Customs Officer, who was the breadwinner of the family, died; my sister who is the most senior, earned little money and we were six in number, as little as we were. I remember that whenever I came back from school, boiled corn and coconut were waiting for us in our hawking tray to go and sell, we did this believing that things would get better one day. At a time, we had to sell pure water; not this type they have now but the ones they tie with white cellophane. Once I come back from school, my mother will send me to go and sell the water; so we were hawking it in motor parks and markets. We were doing this because we knew that there was no other way to raise money than to listen to our mother and do what she asked us to do. That saw me through my secondary school before I got admission into the Imo State University. As a student of Imo State University, I was not looking solely on my mother to pay my school fees. One particular thing I did during my university days was that during the weekends, I would go back to my village and go to building sites and carry blocks for the mason men. I did that, not minding that I was a university student. I was doing that because I had a goal. I was not minding where I was coming from, I was only determined on getting to where I was going to. So I continued like that, going back to the village every weekend to do menial jobs for people and I was doing that with joy and making my money. Once I get back to the university, I will dress very well and put on my shoes and look very clean and you will not know. So when the issue of Student Union Government election came, I contested for the Director of Transport and I won.
As a Director of Transport, I was able to acquire more knowledge in student unionism, in administration and leadership and it was during this time that I met the man called Owelle Rochas Okorocha. So you can see from my growing up that I was not born with a silver spoon. Although my father belonged to the middle class but immediately he died, things went down, coupled with the death of my elder brother who was a Customs officer but that did not stop us from believing that one day, it shall be well with us.
Has the name, Rochas Okorocha, opened doors for you?
Of course, the name Rochas Okorocha has opened a lot of doors for me. Owelle Rochas Okorocha, forget about attaching a governor to his name, is a man that is known across the country and even outside the country. Before he became governor, when you mention the name Owelle Rochas Okorocha in the North, people are happy. There are some homes that when you mention the name, people will start clapping. It is so in the West and the Southeast. The name has opened ways for me. I have learnt a lot from this man called Rochas Okorocha. I finished my university working with him and till today, I am still working with him. If I didn’t gain anything from him as an in-law, I have acquired a lot of knowledge from him as a worker.
As a son in-law to the governor, does it interfere with your position in the government?
Most people don’t know the other side of Owelle as an administrator. Of course, being a son in-law to the governor does not stop me from doing what I am supposed to do as a Chief of Staff and a Staff member of the state government. The man, Rochas, does not know whether you are a son in-law or a brother or a sister. He is a man that your relationship with him does not justify your getting any position. In fact, he will even be more happy to fire you if you are his relation and you are not doing your job well. He has a lot of in-laws, he has a lot of brothers but why has he chosen me to be his Chief of Staff? I used to tell people that as a Commissioner for Lands, whereever there are files, most other Commissioners will say why are you coming to queue with us to present files to the governor, your own is easy, you are the governor’s in-law, you can do that in the night and I will say, ‘no, you must differentiate between being a son in-law and working for Imo State’.
Once I come back from school, my mother will send me to go and sell the water; so we were hawking it in motor parks and markets. We were doing this because we knew that there was no other way to raise money
People are saying you are being favoured to run for governor because you are the son-in-law to Okorocha…
Yes, I am a son in-law to Owelle Rochas Okorocha and I am very much proud to be the son in-law of Rochas Okorocha. Let me just start with President Donald Trump. His son in-law is an adviser, he is a member of his cabinet. America never went up in flame by asking, why should Trump appoint his son in-law as a member of the kitchen cabinet of his government? President Bush (Snr.) was the President and after his tenure, his son became President and America never went haywire. Even at that, his son was also a governor. What about the Bill Clinton family? While Clinton was President, his wife became a Senator, his wife later became Secretary of State, his wife also came back to run for President. Does that stop America from choosing the right person? Does that bring food on the table of the poor masses? So, being a son in-law does not stop Imo State from getting what they want to get; it does not stop the poorest of the poor in the state from having food on their table. What you should rather ask is, what do you have for the people of Imo? Forget about the issue of being a son in-law, being a son in-law to the governor is an added advantage because I have acquired knowledge. It is not in the area of people saying he wants to put his son in-law.
The Owelle I know cannot impose somebody on people. Naturally, it will come; the people will choose who they want to govern them. When you talk about Uche Nwosu, most people leave the issue of Uche Nwosu; the name they attach to it is ‘son in-law to the governor’. Being a son in-law to the governor does that stop me from being who I am. Does being the son in-law to the governor stop me from doing what I want to do as Uche Nwosu? So has it become a sin to be an in-law to the governor? These are the questions we will ask ourselves. People will forget that what the masses need and what the society needs is somebody who can effect a change, somebody who can put food on the table of the masses and somebody who can bring innovation and not somebody who will be making noise and shouting son in-law!
Now on the issue of your governorship ambition, some people, including the APC exco members, came to endorse you. Are you not being put under pressure to run?
Let us go to the Bible. When God asked Samuel to go and anoint David, when he got to the family, the first person came, he was excited and he wanted to anoint the person but God told him, ‘no’; the second came, the third came, the fourth came and the last one came and he said this must be the person I am waiting for, but God said ‘no, this not the person’. David never aspired to be the king of Israel. David was a small boy in the bush, rearing the sheep without knowing that God had destined him to be a king. But the other ones came out and lined up; those are the ones aspiring to be king, but David, from nowhere, was anointed. People coming out to endorse me does not mean that they are pushing me to come and vie for the governor of Imo State. If God Almighty has said that it is Uche Nwosu, nobody can stop it. One thing people don’t understand is that, it is better for the people to choose their leader than the leader to choose himself. Some of them who aspire to one position or the other choose themselves. But I never asked anybody to endorse me. The people are coming from local government areas, including the APC executive members from 22 Local Government areas have already come to endorse me. No kobo has been given to them; does that mean that we don’t have other aspirants. Of course, we have the Araraumes, the Madumeres, the Jude Ejiogus and a host of others. Does it mean that those people won’t be happy if people come to endorse them? Of course, they will be happy. But kings don’t merely aspire; kings are anointed and kings are born and made by God, not by man.
People are afraid that the governor will manipulate you if you become the governor. How do you react to this?
Yes, people will be saying that we don’t want Uche Nwosu to be governor because he is Okorocha’s son in-law and if he becomes the governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha will manipulate him and tell him what to do. People don’t know Rochas Okorocha. Rochas is one man that is proud and knows his onions. Once he leaves office, Imo people will be asking him to please come, that they want to see him; but once Owelle leaves a place, he leaves that place. I tell you that if tomorrow they say Uche Nwosu is the governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha will not say let me give you the list of appointees, like other people do.
How did you meet your wife, the governor’s daughter?
The first day I set eyes on my wife was in Jos, then I was the Personal Assistant to the Owelle, Rochas Okorocha. Then he was the Adviser to the President on Inter-party Affairs and we went to Jos one day and we slept in Jos and we woke up one morning and I saw my wife, then a younger person, wash all the plates and after that, she mopped all the rooms and when we went for the second time and she did the same thing and even the third time and I was asking myself that, with all these wealth around the father, was it still possible for her to do this? So to me, I saw a virtuous and humble woman, somebody who is not controlled by the wealth of the father. I saw a woman who is not moved by the riches of the father. One thing led to another and I developed interest in her. And being a Personal Assistant to your boss, you know it is difficult to approach your boss and say I want to marry your daughter but I took the bold step.
One morning, I went to Her Excellency (the governor’s wife). I didn’t want to go to the governor because I was scared. I didn’t know what to tell him. I went to her and said I wanted to see you and she asked me if there was any problem and I said I wanted to tell her something private and she said I should come back in the evening. In the evening, when I went to see her; behold my boss was there! I didn’t know how to say what I wanted to say and His Excellency looked at me and asked me if anything was wrong. I said no, that I came to see Her Excellency, so she laughed and said we should go downstairs and when we got down, I told her that I want to get married to her daughter.
She sat back and looked at me and said, ‘you want to marry my daughter?’, and I said ‘yes’. I think the boldness in me impressed her. She said okay, and asked me if I had told the father and I said no that I wanted to tell her first. But I asked her to start working on him for me; she smiled and walked away. Finally, the day I told him, he was looking at me and he said, ‘I know, madam has told me’. He asked if I had
spoken to her and I said I had already told her and he said, ‘If she says yes, I can’t stop it’. That was it; I could not believe it. Today, God has blessed us with three
boys.
