By Charles Igbo
Perhaps, without meaning to do so, former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha put to rest the gossips and side talks pertaining his parenthood.
For inexplicable reasons, there has always been doubts over his parental background. Not a few people would swear that: “He is not Igbo. He is not from Imo State. He is from the North”
They would never say what part of the North, really, but many of them speculate Plateau State, because he lived in Jos. Some say Kano.
Nobody could pin-point why he was always passed on as a Northerner, an Hausa man. Perhaps, his complexion.
Good looking, Okorocha is ebony black, a colour usually associated with core Hausa. He did not help matters by being very fluent in the Hausa language.
The speculation over his parental background swung both ways. Some would say his father is Hausa, and his mother Igbo. Others would disagree and say his mother is Hausa, and his father Igbo. Whatever, and however, many would swear he is Hausa, which explains why one of the names he is called in the South-east, and especially, Imo is: Okoro-Hausa.
But this other day in Abuja, Okorocha finally cleared the air. Addressing Journalists in Abuja on his political future, come 2023, and the state of his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Okorocha declared: “I am a proud Igbo man with both parents from Igbo.”
Explaining his relationship with the North, he said:” I grew up in the North which gave me life, while the West gave me my business life. That I was able to build a house today, and buy a car is because of my relationship with the West.”
Perhaps, his disclosure would finally lay to rest his seemingly shrouded parental background.
