Charley Oputa better known as Charley Boy spoke to Benjamin Njoku, of Vanguard Newspaper about embarrassing Gov. Rochas Okorocha at his father's burial which took place in Oguta, Imo State, last week.
You gave your father a befitting burial. How did it go?
Everything went fine. We give God the glory. I feel
a sense of relief now. Relief, because the troubles
associated with burial arrangements have been
over. The stress has reduced.
I quit smoking for over five years now, but I
started smoking again about three weeks ago
because I was running mental, preparing for my
father’s rites of passage.
I have had this discussion with him almost a year
ago when I asked him how he would want to be
buried and what would be his expectations.
Read more after the cut
He replied saying that ‘ I know that no matter what I tell you now, it would end up being the Charly Boy
show. Even at that, I would be happy but all I
would say is this: don’t spend too much money.’
This is because he was a simple man nature. My
father was always worried concerning how I do
things because I have never done things in small
measure. I thank God for his mercies that I was
ready for this, mentally and spiritually. Though I
would have wished that God had given us more
time, but that is the reality of life. I am happy that
I am able to give my father a befitting burial.
Were you happy with the way the burial was organised?
Nothing good comes easily. I delegated duties
and that was what helped me. But to a large
extent, as an event organiser, I would give myself
a pass mark.
Were you satisfied with the level of state and
federal governments’ participation in the burial?
I set out to bury my father without expecting
anything from anybody.That was why I had kept
saying, after my father’s death, that we are going
to be responsible for his burial rites. We fixed the
date by ourselves and I wasn’t relying on
anybody for anything. But if anybody wants to be
part of the burial arrangement ,there’s no
problem.
But it made headlines last Saturday that you snatched the microphone from Owelle Rochas Okorocha, Governor of Imo State, at the funeral service. What informed your action?
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.
We learnt Okorocha paid you a visit at your
place?
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.
Unfortunately, one of my legs was paining me, and
that was why, if you were in church that day, I
was sitting down throughout. People didn’t
understand why I was sitting down. I couldn’t
stand up for too long. Now, we have spent about
two to three hours in the church. We couldn’t
afford to give all the politicians that attended the
funeral rites the opportunity to pay tribute to my
late father. I felt the only person who should
deliver a speech was Mr. President’s
representative.
At that point, I was so stressed and tired. All I
wanted was to commit my father’s remains into
the mother earth. So, I insisted, as the eldest
son of Justice Oputa, I decide how things were
going to be done. At that point, I said please, no
more talk, it’s too much, let one person speak so
we can go and finish the business. That was what
happened but you know people will misinterpret
it. That is their business, not mine.
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