_”Possessed is his soul by mundane things, wicked are his ways. His appetite is like the desert, to which everything goes and from which nothing comes. He is a plague to the upright and an oppressor to the just. He is a purveyor of vices and a foe to virtues. To this cruel creature I say: ‘O ye son of darkness and ye worshipper of mammon, thou hath come to grief, for thy evil hath exposed thee and thy atrocities laid bare!'”_
Every coterie of conmen in Orlu zone today wishes to attach “Orluzurumee” to its name. The reason is simple: Orluzurumee is the most formidable platform in the twelve local council areas of Orlu zone. It is rooted in the grassroots and made up of the best in the academia, commerce and all other areas of life. The group upholds very high moral standards.
Therefore, this awareness that Orluzurumee is respected, accepted and relied upon as the most effective forum for articulating the interest of the Zone and in mobilising the people for political action now makes all manner of people to look for a way of either illegally appropriating the nomenclature or by registering groups that have “Orluzurumee” attached to their names. When you hear something like “Orluzurumee People’s Assembly” don’t get perturbed about it, for it is a product this ferment to sow animosity, water animosity and watch animosity flourish.
Yet, what is going on right now in Orlu zone is preposterous. One Chief Reuben Okoro has once again upped his ante. He has reenacted his obsession of large-scale fraud targeted at unsuspecting members of the public by usurping the sacred name of Orluzurumee. In part, he thinks memories have faded away. But unfortunately, gruesome memories hardly fade away.
Chief Reuben Okoro had been the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Orluzurumee Cultural Union until November 1, 2015. This day remains memorable to all Orluzurumee members the world over. It was a day of liberty. To begin with, Chief Okoro had coveted the Union to himself and had no regard whatsoever to the normative values of the Union, neither was he adherent to its laws. In a single week under his watch, over three million naira disappeared inexplicably from the coffers of the Union; the Union’s property sold off, the ownership of the Union’s landed property changed to himself, and himself declared a life BoT Chairman of the Union by himself alone. Terrible!
He didn’t stop there. He went and collected money from a particular political aspirant and ran straight to the press to announce that he had collapsed Orluzurumee into a political party. How could a cultural union be collapsed into a political party?
All of these grossly infuriated Orlu sons and daughters, and there was public outcry for the situation to be checked, and his destructive agenda halted. It was this necessity that informed the General Assembly of Orluzurumee, which held on November 1, 2015. The Assembly rose in unanimity and declared Chief Reuben Okoro expelled from Orluzurumee. Not even a single person objected to it. In his place, the General Assembly elected Professor F.C. Dike (SAN) as BoT Chairman. The resolutions to this effect were published in Newspoint newspaper of November 6, 2015. Even till this moment, Chief Reuben Okoro has not denied any of the grounds upon which he was humiliated out of Orluzurumee. He has never gone to any court, whether of competent or incompetent jurisdiction, to challenge his removal. He has never put up any publication to prove his innocence.
Since then, Chief Okoro has consistently beguiled and duped a number of unsuspecting politicians in the name of Orluzurumee. On Saturday, September 30, 2017, Chief Okoro unveiled what could be described as his most audacious scam, which was a kangaroo cultural day to which he invited some highly placed citizens of Imo state for awards and launch of a phantom Orlu polytechnic project. A lot of people were duped at that event which held at the Sam Okwaraji Stadium, Orlu. A total sum of Forty Million Naira was realized. It could be recalled that a representative of Senator Hope Uzodinma pledged the sum of Ten Million Naira.
Till this day, Chief Okoro is still going about soliciting for funds in the name of that non-existent Orlu polytechnic.
A few weeks ago, Chief Okoro in all cruelty visited mayhem on some Orlu youths who could dare speak up about the infamy going on in the name of Orluzurumee. He arrested all of them, confiscated their vehicles, and in collaboration with the Orlu Area Command of the Nigeria Police, ripped off those young men of over Fifty Thousand Naira. That Orlu Area Command which is located at the back of Chief Okoro’s residence is a notorious accomplice in his evil agenda against Orlu people. He hurriedly buys off any Area Commander deployed there to enable his fraud continue apace. But their game is up.
In another piece, I have explained the latent and manifest functions of Chief Okoro’s renewed onslaught, but suffice it to say that Orluzurumee Igwebuike Cultural Union is only one and has one leadership, and it’s steered by Ezebube Chief Emeka Diwe as President-General and Professor F.C. Dike (SAN) as Chairman of the Board of Trustees. These are men of immense integrity and unassailable reputation. These are true leaders who have always been in the vanguard of ensuring a better life for Imo people. They are accomplished in their various fields and revered everywhere. They are socially and spiritually clean and refined gentlemen whose sole aim is to mobilise our people, prevent the erosion of cultural values and rally progress in our land. Orlu is great with them.
