Charly Boy's father and
former Supreme Court judge, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa who passed-on on May 4th was buried on
Saturday, June 28, at his Oguta home town in Imo State. Charly Boy
shared photos from the burial. See more photos after the cut...Meanwhile, Charly in a new interview with Vanguard published Yesterday , has
explained the drama between him and Governor Rochas. Charly told
Vanguard:
- 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. 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 politicize 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.
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| Charly Boy and his Virgins |
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.
- 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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