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Heartland FC’s dilemma: Gov. Okorocha’s colossal betrayal

By Daily Sports on August 22, 2016

To be honest with you, the above subject matter was not what I intended to write on this week. I have gathered materials to bring to the fore through this column, the thrills, networks, frills, spectacles and hold that was this year’s Summer Camp of Cowbell/Multisports Football Academy proceedings held at the National Stadium, Lagos from July 25 - August 13.

But for the calls and personal contacts from much respected Ndigbo and other well-meaning people from other parts of the country contributed immensely to why you are reading this piece right now.

Let me quickly confess that I lost appetite doing this. Simply put, it is a call to duty. I have tried to, but all in vain to resist it. I believe you can feel my pains as it is like writing an obituary of a beloved. My deep feeling for Heartland FC remains deep. It is those that don’t value the scary value of the lion that go to touch its tail, and in the end, burn their fingers.

Truth is that the story of Cowbell-Multisports Football Academy Summer Camp was more important to me than Rochas Okorocha’s entrenched misrule in Imo State which has affected our Heartland. As I am writing this, my stomach is turning because of the nature of the article I have put forward before you due to its pathetic circumstances.

A story of the club as told by one of them from the North Central of the country bleeds my heart and here I am serving it fresh. A team then known as Spartans FC of Owerri, he watched in the 1970s in a league game against then, Mighty Jets FC of Jos in Jos Township Stadium is on the verge of going on relegation remains absurd.

I am still a diehard fan of Heartland from the Spartans days. I still remember the last match in division one fixture that paired Spartans and Rangers in 1981. Its outcome determined where the pendulum for that year’s league title swung to. Spartans hosted the first leg in Owerri and it was inconclusive due to crowd control hitches, the NFA, as it was called then, rescheduled the match and fixed it in Calabar Township Stadium now UJ Esuene.

I was at the Owerri leg and also in Calabar. I was a final year student of the prestigious Government College, Umuahia. Rangers won the game 1 - 0 and the title, definitely not on a platter of gold.

I don’t hate Gov. Okorocha; he is flamboyant and a power dresser, spiced up with beautiful muffler to march. He is no doubt a dreamed friend, uncle and brother. I am at a loss as to what suddenly hit him which presently ruined him amongst his kit and kin.

He started well when he had the totality of Imolites solidly behind him having been endorsed by our late General, Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, Ikemba Ndigbo on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) platform.

He has charisma and would have become the spokesperson of his people. Shamefully, he derailed and like a train that left its track, he now headed for destruction. Governor Okorocha’s problem is self-inflicted. Unfortunately, he has spread them across his Imo State. I digress.

To refresh your memory, Spartans Football Club of Owerri was founded in 1976 shortly after the creation of Imo State. The team was a force to reckon with in the Nigerian football elite division league.

It was daring to opponents like, Rangers, IICC Shooting Stars, Raccah Rovers of Kano, Bendel Insurance, Calabar Rovers, Stationary Stores, Mighty Jets, Standard FC both of Jos these were the original oldies of the Nigerian league.

It never went on relegation since its inception, from the archives too, first civilian Governor of the state, very patriotic and our reverend apostle of all greats, late Dr. Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe sustained the funding of the squad and it was during his regime that the side attained her all time high when it campaigned in the finals of the defunct West Africa Football Union (WAFU) in 1982.

When financing became the nightmare of the dreaded side, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu came to the rescue, took over the club and renamed it, Iwuanyanwu Nationale FC. He tried his best in ensuring the flag was flying very high too. Iwuanyanwu Nationale reached the finals of Africa Club Champions League. It was a high point for the side that won many laurels in Challenge Cup. It was Iwuanyanwu Nationale that discovered the likes of Kanu Nwankwo and attracted Etim Esin, among others.

Again, when Chief got fed up with the administration of the League like late Pillar of Sports in Africa, MKO Abiola did with Abiola Babes, he handed over the squad back to the state government when Chief Achike Udenwa was the governor and its name was changed to Heartland FC.

Fact is that it has been struggling since then. No season passed without the team recording fluctuating performance. However, it has never witnessed this all-time low ebb scenery.

We know why, it is not only Heartland that is suffering. All the government institutions in the state since Okorocha became the State Chief Executive. His drama is in the public domain that is, how he fights his civil servants very often.

He thrives more in the media reeling out unrealistic projects that never exist in the state. Okorocha is a boaster. He has for instance, ran Heartland FC aground. The once upon a time daring FC is now a shadow of its self. No thanks to Okorocha’s misrule in the Heartland of Ndigbo.

Since he cunningly took over leadership in the state things have never been the same. He breaks covenants and so he is not Odenigbo. In short, he is a saboteur of the highest order. Look at how he has ruined within a space of near six years the institutions some real patriotic leaders of the state built.

The state was one of the fastest growing amongst its pairs. That is no more the case.

As you read this article, Heartland FC is struggling from the bottom of a 20-team Nigeria Professional Football League log. Occupying the fourth position from the rear is a sad commentary to the numerous fans of one of the greatest football teams in the land.

Okorocha and his larger than life style of administration in Imo State bleed my heart. Trust, only sycophants looking for what the stomach would eat are clapping for him. To them, he is the best governor in the land. To them also, there is nothing good that has happened to the state than Rochas Anayochukwu Okorocha.

For the records, Okorocha became the Governor of the state through deceit. He is not conversant with the state and his diverse populace. He grew up in Jos, Plateau State, spent most of his adult years there. He only visits the state once in a while and so never resides in it for at least two months before becoming its governor. He is no messiah!

History will judge him harsh for not being sincere if Heartland sinks. It has never tasted relegation and is likely and finally going down the ladder at the close of the current season. The team without much ado witnessed unprecedented change in its management and technical crew, a trademark of Okorocha.

High and unequalled optimum achiever, late Gov. Samuel Mbakwe, would be turning in his blessed grave now because of this act of Gov. Okorocha on Heartland FC. Dr. Mbakwe expanded and drastically improved on the present Dan Anyiam Stadium. His tenure witnessed the finest hour for the state.

The governor’s actions and inactions have retarded the club. It has taken its toll on the team. This is no doubt the resultant effects of the governor long chain of Imo citizens. The youths of the state are the worst for it. Heartland must not die, despite that it is currently a sick baby, I will advise that every move that would salvage it must be taken.

Head or tail, it is one of the teams in the country that have massive fans base. The present government of the Imo State has made the team look like a non-starter. The youths will rise in anger if the unexpected happen to their darling under the watch of Gov. Okorocha who balkanised the club forcing bitter pills that represents his crannies to administer the team to the detriment of the once highly flying FC.

It has adversely affected the fortunes of the team at the end of the day, leaving it worse than they met it. It has been the sing- song of this administration thereby producing the teething problem of Heartland. The advent of Gov. Okorocha’s regime has done deadly blows on the prime and pride team of the State. His middle name is promise and fail. Imo State institutions are collapsing steadily under him.

The governor is bad news. Everything is politics for him even when the lives of his subjects are obviously in grave danger, he never give a damn or cares a hoot. His nonchalant attitude has left Heartland in this dilemma and near comatose. It is curious but the home truth about Heartland. His all lying aides should go and ask Bendel Insurance FC of Benin how many years the club has spent in the lower league, as the once toast of Nigeria football fans has long been forgotten and became a footnote too.

Okorocha should not allow Heartland FC to be part of history. The labours of late Gov. Samuel Mbakwe and others must not in twinkle of an eye be in vain just because a Governor who provides the dividends of democracy only on the pages of newspapers, magazines and television screens is on the saddle in Imo State. He is the worst that has happened to the State.

Let me confess that as Heartland FC is on the verge of total extinction so also are all the government institutions there. He is noted for being up in arms with the citizenry of the state. He has quickly acquired such depressed notoriety for himself.

I don’t cry for him. My heart only goes for Heartland FC. It is my vehement belief that Heartland and Imo State will outlive Gov. Okorocha. What should be his headache now is his place in history of the state years after he left office. But truly speaking, he has murdered sleep in the State by aiding Heartland FC into relegation. It would remain the undisputed shame of Gov. Rochas Okorocha forever. Meanwhile, we wait!

•Victor Enyinnaya can be reached via 08055068145 (sms only) or by e-mail via sportzvictor@yahoo.com.au

Source Daily Sports

Posted August 22, 2016