Buddhist Charly Boy Clears The Air Concerning The Rochas Okorocha Issue
Last weekend's Funeral of Justice Chukwudifu Oputa had caused some controversy when Charles Oputa (a.k.a Charly Boy) embarrassed Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State.
The musician and entertainer in a recent interview with Vanguard, gave his side of the story.
He praised his father's life and legacy and then talked about how pleased he was that the burial which he organized went through peacefully and well.
When asked of the incident when he snatched the microfone from Imo State governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha, he denied it and said: "I didn’t embarrass him. You can believe anything you read from the dailies. But I can’t go out of my way to embarrass anybody. I only insisted that I wouldn’t tolerate people with bad political breath to preside over my father’s burial rites. The corpse belonged to the Oputa family, and not the state or Federal Government. Being Charley Boy, my action creates a lot of controversies.
"I am not a politician and I can never be one. I don’t do things the way every other person would want to do them. My own things are bound to be a little different. Integrity is my watchword and when I give you my word, you can go to sleep. I expect same from people who deal with me. I didn’t understand why somebody would graciously choose to assist us by making a donation to the family and thereafter, they went on air to announce it.
"That was not a gentleman action and it was what really angered me. Secondly, three days after my father’s death, I sounded a note of warning that it won’t turn to a political thing. You know the kind of father I had, and what he stood for. I don’t want them to politicise his burial rites. After they made the donation, and I never denied that they didn’t give us money.
"But I was embarrassed that they were announcing it over the radio and in the pages of newspapers. If you are doing something with the family, first of all, we are the chief mourner, as well as Governor Rochas Okorocha, but it would be proper that they confide in the family in whatever they were planning to do in respect of the burial rites.
"If there is something we can bring to the table to enhance it, then it would be to the credit of the governor. But he didn’t do that and they were all shifty. We didn’t know what they were planning, they didn’t care to know what we were planning."
When asked if the Governor had paid the mourning family a visit, he said: "How can he visit my place when he has my telephone number? He should know I don’t reside here (in the village) and I have not returned home. It’s just a phone call, ‘Charles where are you? And I would tell him where I am. After all, he’s always in Abuja.
"What stopped him from putting a call across to me? If he doesn’t know how to reach me even a truck pushers have my number, how much more the governor of a state? If he has a desire to contact anybody, he will do so with ease. How could he embark on a journey to a place he is not familiar with? These are the things we are talking about.He didn’t deem it necessary to contact the bereaved family that he was paying us a condolence visit before embarking on the journey. And when he came, he talked to one ‘village boy’ who claimed to be representing the family.
"What’s all that rubbish for? Was it what informed your action at the funeral service? First of all, I am not a church goer. I am a Buddhist, though I was born into the Catholic doctrine. And part of my reason for not going to church is the fact that I have been to a lot of churches.
"For the first 20 years of my life, I was a mass servant. I was an ‘altar boy’ because my father was a disciplinarian. If you don’t go to morning mass, you are bound to be in trouble. I did all that for 20 years, and that’s the kind of background I was coming from. But things have changed regarding the mode of worship in most churches.
"They spend more time than necessary. Why should we be praying for two to three hours non-stop? I have other things to do. At the funeral service, I was told that Mr. President’s representatives and other dignitaries have arrived my home town. Unfortuantely, one of my legs was paining me, and that was why, if you were in church that day, I was sitting down throughout."
The controversy has been making raves in the east with people saying that Charly Boy disrespected his governor, but the Buddhist has said he only stood ground for his family.
Check out the pictures below:
Source: Legit.ng
