By Francis Ndimkoha
It was Mark Twain that said, and I believe it’s an indisputable fact that “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is lacing up its boots.” This sums up the fable shamelessly peddled by Sam Onwuemeodo’s Whitepaper Newspaper, with the aforementioned subject, which prompted this rejoinder.
It is so sad, the cruel fate that has befallen the hallowed journalism profession, that it has now become a safe haven for all manner of talebearers, propagandists, and rhymesters, leaving little or no space for well-trained pen pushers, who recognize that every story has two sides, both of which should be accommodated to balance a story. To pick up gossip from a pigsty of a WhatsApp platform and quickly publish same, without basic inquiry defies all known tenets and ethics of journalism, and judging from the years of practice that Sam Onwuemeodo always brags about, this publication looms every inch an attempt at mudslinging and slander, targeted at a good man, who obviously is not in the books of his clique!
Sam Onwuemeodo and his co-traveler, a certain Frank Nwaete, a known PDP member from Aboh Mbaise,and who is popular for his penchant for blackmail,seem determined to rope Hon. Deacon Chike into a matter that clearly is not linked to him at all. The latter was more brazen in his approach and practiced style, that he showed his hand by linking an odd incident to the political future of Hon. Chike Okafor. This certainly explains the motive behind the lack of professionalism on both sides.
Let me, at this point, address the issues they raised, clearly. It is important to state here that there is only one Imo State University Teaching Hospital (IMSUTH) and it is located in Orlu, Imo State. Any other facility that bears such a name, is most definitely an annexure.
The unfortunate incident of Sunday 30th January 2022, which occurred at IMSUTH Maternal Referral Centre, Alike, Obowo, should, ordinarily, not be something any sane human being should celebrate, but the bitterness of opposition politics in Imo State has made some people to serially derive pleasure even from unpropitious auguries!
Hon. Deacon Chike Okafor, the member representing the good people of Ehime-Mbano, Ihitte-Uboma, and Obowo Federal constituency has attracted a Dialysis Machine to IMSUTH, which remained in its unsealed box, as delivered and kept, for safekeeping, at the IMSUTH Maternal Referral Centre, Alike, pending the arrival of other equipment needed for its installation. Upon the donation of a water treatment plant, alongside other equipment, the Dialysis Machine was on 25th January 2022, officially handed over to the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of IMSUTH, in a well-publicized function, which was graced by professionals, traditional rulers, and notable leaders. From this point, Hon. Chike Okafor no longer had control over the Machines he had donated as the management of the Hospital is better positioned to deploy the machines to good use.
It was, therefore, the decision of the management to deploy the machines to the mother hospital in Orlu, where it will have optimum utilization, as the IMSUTH Maternal Referral Centre, Alike, Obowo, which by the way, was a facility built and handed to IMSUTH to manage by an Obowo son, Mr. Philip Chukwu, while he was an Executive of NNPC. It is, therefore, not a particularly large facility but Hon.Chike Okafor has in the last 6 years, through his various interventions, continued to boost the resources of the facility through the donation of equipment, whilst at the same time renovating over 100 Primary Health Centres and building a cottage hospital in each of the 3 LGAs that make up the Federal Constituency he represents.Let me mention here that this same facility in Alike is one of the venues for Hon Chike Okafor’s popular and laudable medical/surgical outreaches these past 6 years.
The ugly incident of 30th January, which saw an ambulance belonging to IMSUTH being set ablaze by irate youths could have been better presented to the public, rather than peddling falsehoods and alleging that the bus was a “campaign bus” belonging to Chike Okafor.
Furthermore, the urgency to highlight his closeness to the Imo State Governor, Sen. Hope Uzodimma, says a lot about the direction in which the propagandists were headed.
It is important to add here that the reactions/action of the youths was more or less to protect the facility from what they earlier thought was an attempt to steal the equipment from the facility, owing to past incidents of allegedly stealing or removing equipment to other locations managed by the IMSUTH. And worse still, the ambulance was unmarked,and the fact that this attempt to remove the equipment on a Sunday morning made the whole process look criminal and suspicious.
Everyone knows that Hon. Chike Okafor, PhD, is very much loved and appreciated by all and sundry, so the erroneous impression/news that his interest or asset could be so attacked only exists in the infantile mind of the likes of Sam Onwuemeodo and Frank Nwaete.
Come to think of it, does Hon. Deacon Chike Okafor own a campaign bus, presently? The answer is obviously a resounding NO because he has yet not made known his next move.
Again, who is afraid of Chike Okafor and his laudable achievements and sterling performance? Only those who hate to see a better Okigwe South, nay, a better Imo State.
