Bad economy: Madumere urges Imolites to put on their thinking cap

By COLLINS Ughalaa

The Deputy Governor of Imo State, Prince Eze Madumere, has felicitated with the people of Imo State and Nigerians in general, calling on Imo people to put on their thinking cap in the face of the downturn in the economy of the state and the nation. In a press release he signed, the Deputy Governor said that Imo people and Nigerians should change their attitude towards work and consider the economic situation as a passing phase in our national life and not to be downcast. He said: “May I use this occasion to urge our people not to be downcast with the present economic downturn. I would implore us to see it as a passing phase of our National life. I also believe that the best response to the present realities is to begin to change our attitude to work and put on their thinking cap to more creative, productive and patriotic towards building a strong Nigerian with diversified economy.” He commended the people of the state “for embracing and imbibing democratic culture especially through participatory democracy and their elected representatives. You have continually made inputs through various avenues and fora, which has helped in churning out people oriented policies at the State and Federal level.” The Deputy Governor also commended Governor Rochas Okorocha “for his democratic ideals, visionary leadership and monumental feats, which I attributed to Governor's unrepentant democratic culture and for upholding freedom of speech and other fundamental rights of the people in all ramifications. To demonstrate his bid to ensure Imo people become the sovereign, he gave power back to them to the extent that everybody is free to express himself and contribute his quota without any fear of molestation or intimidation as was the case in the past.” He added: “I cannot forget to also praise our great party, the All Progressives Congress Party for her unrepentant stance on ethos of democratic ideals, which is giving Nigerians a new lease of life under the able leadership of President Mohammadu Buhari. As we are aware, our President Buhari has given the right leadership, which can be deduced from his undaunting effort to sanitizing the Nigerian system by making it corrupt free and respectable in the comity of Nations.” He also encouraged all Nigerians “to take part in the democratic process towards building a Nigeria of our collective dream. And for me, it is the people, if you like the governed, that deserve all the accolades. I vote them the winners in the Nigerian democratic experience of seventeen years.”

IMSU lecturers are unfair to Okorocha - Okpaleke

by Collins Ughalaa Dr. Kelechi Okpaleke is the Special Adviser to Governor Rochas Okorocha on Public Enlightenment and Strategy. He is also the Principal Officer (Director General) of the Imo State Orientation Agency. He was first appointed the Chairman of the taskforce on Information and Public Enlightenment. In this interview with some journalists in the state, he talks about Governor Rochas Okorocha’s policies since the rescue mission began in 2011. Excerpts: Let us look at one of the cardinal policies of His Excellency Governor Rochas Okorocha since 2011 when he became the Governor of Imo State. The free education policy of the state government is five years old. How can you rate its success? Well, over 95%. Why do I say over 95%? Take a look at Imo State, as far back as when Mbakwe was the Governor of the state. He said that education was a thriving industry in Imo State. If you take statistics of tribes or ethnic groups that value most educating their children today in Nigeria, it is the Igbos. Before Okorocha came, most indigent parents with a brood of children would rather send their kids to become house boys and girls in Lagos with the promise that they would get a semblance of education. But we know that the vile of trafficking started by parents making efforts to have their kids educated. Today in Imo State, because of free education, you can never find house helps to do the house chores for your wife. Because every parent’s dream is their child or children getting the highest level of education they can get. This is made possible by Governor Okorocha. What of the multiplier effect of the government policy? The greatest multiplier effect of the free education policy of the government that nobody has taken time to study or provide the statistics is that the number of Imo children who have been trafficked since Okorocha's free education has reduced, because Imo people love education. No parent wants his child or children to be house helps anymore, even if he can ill afford to feed them. The parents are grateful that the Governor has provided free education for the children of the state. That is why I said I rate the free education policy of the government over 95%. Let’s also look at the stipend the government was giving. We no longer have the stipend. What happened to it? Was it government’s deliberate action to stop it? The government of Imo State never came out to announce that it has stopped the stipend. The government of Imo State never announced that it would do the stipend every month or quarter. The stipend was designed originally to attract the children to school. There are some parents who kept their kids in the school because they don’t know when the next stipend is coming. (Cuts in) So the government kept the people in this suspense mood; shouldn’t the people be able to predict the actions of their government and be sure what the government was going to do at any point? What the government does is to the benefit of the people. Free education, although is to the benefit of the parents because the parents that could not afford education before now can, but the ultimate beneficiary is the children. When the stipend was started, those parents who rather sent their children to go and sale pure-water now calculated the profit the children got in the business at the end of the day. If you remember, the stipend was started with N100 and later increased to N500, and more people came. Once they got addicted to it, it is the children that benefits. And over these years, an 8 year old boy who sold pure-water has learnt a thing or two, and has known the benefits of education. They now tell their parents they want to go to school. In Psychology it is called reward and punishment. If a government puts the children in school and promises them stipend, and after sometime it stops the stipend, would you call that deceit or strategy? No, you are assuming facts not in evidence. Listen to the premise of your question: did the government promise? The government delivered. Was there anywhere the Governor promised the parents to bring their kids to school and he would pay them stipend? No. The government woke up and thought of how to keep the children in school. They commenced the payment of the stipend and it became a lure. And once you are in school for a year, you are in for it and you are better off. The children now demand to go school, and that is the beauty of it all. Could you clarify whether making unrealistic policy by the government has become a policy of the Okorocha government? Because you try to tell us that the Governor never made any promise of paying stipend, and you make it seem that the government made the pledge just to attract the children to school. What you have to understand is that Okorocha said he is on a rescue mission. Don’t lose sight of the subject “rescue mission”. The second thing you have to do is to answer the question yourself: has Okorocha rescued Imo children that didn’t have the opportunity to go to school? What would your answer be? Once you have answered the question you will be in a position to know better. You talked about unsustainable pledges. When the Governor was campaigning, could you cite me an instance where the Governor promised he would give stipend. Tell me anywhere he promised to give free education and the stipend. No. You see once you take any position on any issue and look at it objectively, you would ask the question: what was the Governor’s campaign promise? He promised free education and he has given free education. Then your question is bothering on the stipend: did Okorocha promise stipend? I was at Orlu Township Stadium where the Governor said that in addition to the free education he would pay stipend every month, because there was too much money in the state. That was after he was in office. That is not a contract. A contract is before performance. When he made the pledge of free education, I ask you again, did he promise to pay stipends in addition to the free education? No. I could remember when we were small, Ike Nwachukwu used to be on the streets compelling childten to go to school. Now the Governor has used stipend to lure the children to school. Don’t you think the government could be better using taskforce instead of the stipend, and to also adopt enlightenment strategy? Continuing to use the stipend might not be possible again considering the economy of the state and it might also affect the free education programme. When they talk of children hawking – you are a reporter – go to the streets and find out the children hawking, are they citizens or residents of Imo State? If you listened to Orient FM I had a jingle that was going on for a while. I limited it to the Bank Road because of the traffic hawking causes at that area. The point I am making is that most of the hawkers you see are from Ebonyi, Akwa Ibom and other states. But with regards to the enlightenment on the benefits of the free education, over 95 of the people have inculcated the benefits of the free education programme as a result of the sensitization campaign through my office, but before I was there, Imo Orientation Agency. As for using stipend or taskforce, Okorocha used inducement because it is more effective, because it casts a wide net, and no matter where you are you will be in the net; then you achieve your goal. But if you do the taskforce, people would play hide and seek with the taskforce. My personal opinion is that the use of inducement is more effective and its effectiveness is being felt by the number of Imo children in the public schools, and in the five years Okorocha has been in power the school enrolment has quadrupled. Again, the quality in the public schools now has improved and is better than the private schools. People are even withdrawing their children from the private schools to the public schools because the standard in the public schools is going up. The private schools don’t even have play ground for the children, but most of our public schools are built in such a way that the children would get both mental and physical education. That is why it is now en vogue for the children to wear athlete gears to school, and when you see them in their athlete gears you know that it is for their physical education in their schools.

During the tail end of the first term of the Governor, he announced that he would include the non-indigenes in the state in the free education programme. But after his victory in 2015 he now withheld that. What do you have to say about that? You didn’t understand him. Okorocha wanted to push the envelope so that his entire party could adopt free education. Now when he won the election, as the Chairman of the APC Governors Forum, he lobbied so that the governors could give free education to Imo students who got admission in their states, so that he would reciprocate. But there were no takers and buyers. So, your question at the premise is partially true; but the Governor was going somewhere with it. Because before he even thought about running for the governorship of Imo State as far back as 2003, he had set up the Rochas Foundation Colleges, and those schools gave free education. You don’t need to know anybody there. All you need to do is pass the entrance examination there and you are admitted. The Rochas Foundation College was not limited to Imo State. He had one in Kano and another in Ibadan and other places. It is nothing new to him. Okorocha believes that to educate a child is to give a society better standard of living, and he has committed everything he owns to this. The statistics are there. He has given over 13,000 people free education to the university level. We used to hear about ICAPS and the Imo Young Scientist College. What’s going on with it? Have you been there lately? Yea. It’s a ghost of its former self. The beehive of activities we used to see there is no longer there. No. If you go to ICAPS you would see that there is a kid that produced generator that runs without fuel. When you see a visioner, unless the drivers of the vision crystalize the vision the common man might not understand. When ICAPS was formed I was on the other side of the divide politically. When Okorocha set up ICAPS he was not thinking of another school that awards just certificates. He wanted to practicalize things; he wanted something more tangible. There has been accusation that the Governor does not obey court judgements. Could a sitting government not be obeying court judgements in a democratic setting? When I was the Chairman of the taskforce on Information and there was a press briefing with the Governor, Amby Uneze of Thisday asked the Governor the same question you just asked me. The Governor asked him to give him one court judgement he had not respected. And I am going to ask you the same question: “tell me one final court judgement the Governor did not obey.” You can take me to a high court and get a judgement against me and I have a given period of time to appeal the judgment. If that time has not elapsed and I filed an appeal, that judgement cannot be said to be the final judgement. But if the period of time elapses and I refuse to file an appeal, then it becomes a final judgement that I must obey. If a Supreme Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria gives a judgement and Okorocha refuses to obey that judgement, point it out. What Okorocha has done as advised by his Attorney General was to appeal the judgements, but opposition would write in the papers that the Governor is not obeying court judgement. Could you tell us what is going on between the Governor and the lecturers of IMSU? The lecturers are still on strike, but the Governor has threatened to concession the institution and employ new workers if they don’t resume work. The IMSU lecturers are owed like one month or so. But the problem with the lecturers commenced when the government entered an agreement with the Labour in the state. If ASUU IMSU is annoyed because of that, it shouldn’t be with the government. But as the Chief Executive Officer of the state the bulk stops on the Governor’s table. However, we all should be very objective in making judgement. Once Labour reached that agreement there was happiness in the state that Labour won. Why did Labour do that? That was because Labour never believed that the recurrent expenditure of the state was N5.6bn then. I tried to explain this on radio, but I’m glad that people have seen things now. People have now put a searchlight and they have seen it. Now at the end of the month Labour takes 70% and gives the government 30%. Then ASUU IMSU said they were no longer part of the NLC. The VC even said she would pay the lecturers full salary from the school’s internally generated revenue. They refused and went on strike. Let’s look at the controversial bailout fund. Some people are not comfortable with the explanation from the government. You had written an article to that effect explaining what happened. You said the money was a loan and not a bailout fund. When did the bailout money become a loan? Let me ask you this: is the bailout fund free money? No. it wasn’t free money as such. If you look at the premise of your question: “when did the bailout fund become a loan”, you would see that it is all a mindset. That is, when your mind is set to oppose, to antagonize, you forget that you are a reporter. As a lawyer, there is something called legal brief; it is an advocacy brief. But there is also something called a legal memo. If I am your senior lawyer and I am supervising you and I ask you to research a case for me. Even if you knew the case you would still have to research it, and that memo is what is called a legal memo, to explain to me what I would tell the client. That is objectivity. But when I write a brief as a lawyer it means that I’m writing an advocacy brief. One of the problems we have in Nigeria today is that most of our journalists are politicians and they cannot give you objective reporting. Coming back to your question, if you read my piece, it was actuated by the ICPC report which I called mischievous, diversion is not criminal. Why didn’t the ICPC use the word misappropriated? Misappropriated leads to criminal penalties. That was why I wrote that article, and I told you the origin of bailout – a sinking ship. Go and read the script again and see why I said the ICPC report was mischievous. The money was not a bailout fund, it was a loan. Was the loan attached to any particular purpose, for example, the payment of workers’ salaries? No. The loan was to settle the debts the states owe. And incidentally it was the Governor that raised the issue but the only thing the media talks about is salaries. What of contractors? Did you see that the Federal Government brought out more than N300bn to pay contractors? The states were drowning, and the reason they took the loan from the FG was because the loan was gotten at cheaper interest rate of about 7% or thereabouts. And when I read the ICPC report that the money was diverted, I asked whether the money was diverted to a private account? Is the 70/30% government’s agreement with Labour reviewable? Anything is reviewable. It was an agreement the government entered with the representatives of Labour. If the Imo workers wake up tomorrow and inform the Governor that they want a review of the agreement, the government could then invite them for discussion. In 2011 we saw a boom in infrastructure development. Roads were opened up in the state. There was the street gate project. And of course we had the 27 general hospitals and the 305 school buildings. There were buildings rising over night. Considering the economy of the state now, can the government go on with these projects? When a visioner has a vision, to crystalize his vision is dependent on the drivers of the vision. Now, when you see changes in staff or workers, it is not always wrong. It is the visioner in chief that after sometime considers that this person cannot deliver on the part of vision he has laid before him. If you look at the 27 general hospitals you would realize that it was a vision based on the economy of the state, and that vision is backed with some amount of resources. Before the ending of this year we will commission one in each of the ten Federal Constituencies in the state. And if you remember, each of the 27 general hospitals have their areas of specialization. And by the end of this year Okorocha would have commissioned ten of them and by the time he leaves office each of them would have been functional. With the 305 schools in the 305 wards, Okorocha looked around and saw that there was no single school in the primary schools that was an upstair building. In his own mind and how he sees the world, a pupil in the village who attends a school that is upstair feels that his school is the best. And the Governor built one in each of the wards in the state. Some of the schools are ready and some are almost completed. On the opening of roads, I had talked about 2014 when the economy was good. But do you know that the economy of the country could continue to dwindle and the economy of the state would continue to have a boom? That can happen via infrastructure. Opening of roads, especially the 15km road the Governor is talking about in the local governments is a vision tied towards alleviating the plights of the people of the state. This work is going on now. Okorocha may be anything to anybody, but having Imo people at the back of his mind in everything he does, no one can take that away from him.

Keke drivers, NSCDC Road Safety bicker over shooting

Written by AUGUSTINA Nwachukwu Aftermath of the alleged shooting of keke drivers by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on Friday during a peaceful protest against what they described as subjugations/harassment on them by the corps, keke operators have reiterated their plea on the government to look into the matter and warn Federal Road Safety Commission and Civil Defence to leave them alone and allow them go about their daily businesses. An eye witness of the alleged Friday shooting by Civil Defence described the shooting of keke drivers as madness, saying that “this has shown to be madness on the side of the Civil Defence Officers as they are violating the Rule of Law, because the keke drivers were only protesting against their subjugations/harassment and not inflicting harm on any one and so nothing called for the shooting of the keke drivers.” Speaking to Nigeria Moment a keke operator who craved anonymity stated that Civil Defence and Road Safety are bent on frustrating them through harassment and intimidation, and sometimes extortion. Corroborating, Mr. Magnus, a keke operator, said that Road Safety and Civil Defence see them as their money bags all the time. “They depend on us for their daily bread. There is never a time Road Safety will stop us and will not find one fault or the other on us. For instance, I was driving along Okigwe Road after Federal Girls' College, I was not carrying anyone in front and they stopped me asking me for my papers which I quickly brought out, because all my papers are complete. Seeing that they have nothing to fault me for, one of them told me that he saw me when I dropped somebody in front when I saw them. I told them that it was not possible because I was carrying only two passengers and there was no way I could have dropped one when I still had one vacant seat at the back. They said that I was arguing with them and insisted to take me to their office or pay a fine of five thousand naira for 'insulting an official on duty'.” Continuing, Mr. Magnus stated that that infuriated him and he forcefully snatched his papers from one of them and headed to his keke when they blocked him with their van. He called on the state government to look into the incessant harassment on them by the Road Safety. In a similar development another keke operator, Mr. Cyracus Edeh who narrated his sad ordeal with Road Safety officials to Nigeria Moment stated that it was only along Okigwe Road that Road Safety mount their check point to extort money from them because, according to him, Okigwe Road is not in the heart of the town and they pretend to be doing their work while they are indiscriminately extorting money from them. “It is rare you see them at World Bank, Port Harcourt Road and some other places. They always come to stage their check point along Okigwe Road to harass us. I was happy with the protest we did because left for me I have always wanted a means to bring the incessant and indiscriminate harassment of Road Safety officials to the public notice and for the state government to come to our rescue. Federal Road Safety Commission used to be an impartial parastatal who when you see them on the road every driver conducts his/herself very well because once you are found guilty of an offence, you would be treated according to the stipulation of the law. But today, it is something else. “I was going from Whetheral to Orji, at Civil Defence junction where Road Safety always mount their check point they stopped me and as I was talking with them when they sighted from afar a keke that was carrying a passenger in front. They signaled to the driver to stop and one of them saw that the passenger in front was someone he knows, they exchanged pleasantries and they waved the driver to go. As if he read my mind, he turned and asked me what I am looking at and then told me to go. Since then, I realize that the saying that 'the law is no respecter of person(s) is not for the Road Safety.” But speaking to Nigeria Moment, the Public Relations Officer, NSCDC, Mr. Chimeziri Lowell (ASC1), said that keke drivers went on protest because Road Safety were discharging their legal duty alleging that they were illegally extorted. Asked if NSCDC is in any form of partnership with FRSC which makes FRSC to pack their impounded goods with the NSCDC he said: “There is no partnership of any sort. FRSC and NSCDC are both federal parastatals serving the same course. We have synergy among ourselves (all uniformed officials), and not just for FRSC only. “By virtue of proximity, Road Safety's bit is closer to us and we are authorized to keep their exhibits from the Imo State Command of FRSC.” On whether there was shooting in the protest by the keke drivers he said: “Yes there was shooting, but we were shooting in the air to disperse the mob who almost invaded us. As civil defenders, we defend the citizenry. We applied every possible means to calm them down but they refused to be calmed down. We used dialogue, address and even tear gas and they insisted and was surging forward. So we resorted to firing gun in the air. We didn't shoot anybody and anybody that was injured was not from our gun. Maybe that could have happened while they were trying to run when we were shooting in the air.” Corroborating, the Ag. PRO Federal Road Safety, Imo State Area Command, Mr. C.Y. Okemiri, stated that they have no problems with keke drivers but were doing their legitimate and lawful duty. He therefore called on keke operators to do the necessary things to avoid what they (keke operators) term as harassment. “We are doing our legitimate and lawful duty. We have no problems with keke operators. Everybody knows that they are not law abiding. They violate all the road rules and regulations; they carry over load, carry passengers in front, many of them don't have driving license and those that have, have expired ones.” Mr. Okemiri further stated that nobody was shot as claimed by keke drivers stressing that if anybody was shot, they should present the person. “Nobody was shot. If anybody was shot, who is the person, where is he? Is he in the hospital or mortuary? And if yes which hospital is the person(s).” He continued: “Civil Defence is like us. Mind you, offenders do not pay cash to FRSC. We have no backyard business with Civil Defence. There is nothing like partnership. We keep our impounded goods with NSCDC and that didn't start today. So whoever says we have partnership with NSCDC is their own personal opinion.” - See more at: http://themoment.com.ng/national/item/3904-keke-drivers-nscdc-road-safety-bicker-over-shooting#sthash.MTLzS8nV.dpuf

Looming war in Imo APGA, Ihenacho returns, to lock horns with Okey Ezeh, Agbaso agai

By COLLINS Ughalaa Nigerians, nay, the people of Imo State, would be treated to a theatre of war as the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) spoils for war, and to batter once more the already battered party. The battle ground is the congresses, beginning from the Ward Congress which will hold on Saturday, 16 May, 2015, Local Government Congress 20 May, 2015, State Congress 23 May, 2015 and National Congress in June. And just like the battle of the general elections which was a fatal battle that has threatened the existence of the party, especially in Imo State, the congress battle is the battle for the soul of APGA. If the party gets it right this time, there would be hope that the party would survive the 2015 change tsunami; but if the party fails like it failed in the general elections, then we would be ready for a requiem service for the party. This is even as sources in the party said that Captain would return to the state yesterday (Tuesday) from his overseas trip ahead of the congresses. Recall that Captain travelled overseas after the governorship election where he scratched a miserly 28,000 votes. Other sources in the party who spoke to Nigeria Moment yesterday said that Captain's faction sensing that they would be defeated at the congresses by the people of the party who are tired of their leadership, have resorted to writing the results of the congresses to be forwarded to their ally at the national headquarters for approval. This was confirmed by other members of the party in other local governments in the state who called to express fear that the outcome of the congress might not be the true expression of the wishes of the members of the party who are yearning for a quick fix and a return of the party to its lost glory. They said some members of a faction of the party had compiled lists for the congresses and forwarded same to their leader in Owerri, expressing worry that such action was capable of sending the party into oblivion. Similarly, a leader of the party in Owerri, Mr. Ibegbulem, has called on the leaders of the party to ensure that it is not further weakened or placed in a more precarious position, saying that the best option for the party is to embrace all factions and work together in the spirit of the reconciliation that is sweeping across the party in recent time. He warned those writing lists of the congress secretly to desist from doing so and come together to work like a united one family, stressing that going ahead with their plans would force the aggrieved members to return to the trenches. He said that going back to the trenches should be the worst scenario the party should pray and guard against, adding that it is not good for the party. He said: “APGA had a problem due to factionalization, and we lost the election because of it. Now some people want to do the congress underground. We should have one APGA. Some people want to write the result underground. If this happens everybody would go back to the trenches. That was what they did last year that landed us into court and they should not do it again. “It is in the best interest of the party that they carry everybody along. Let them carry everybody, and the party would do well, so that we can have one APGA. The congress could harmonized and the position shared equitably among the factions so that we can have one house and live like one people”. The tone of the congress war was disclosed recently when during a meeting of the State Working Committee where Captain and his loyalists, many of whom were CICO members, made effort to remove the state chairman, Barr Peter Ezeobi, and to replace him with Barr Chudi Onuzo who was replaced by Ezeobi last year when Captain joined the party. The move to remove Ezeobi failed when some leaders of the party saw the handwriting on the wall and concluded that the best strategy to save Ezeobi from the shameful removal was to call off the meeting, particularly, when the meeting procedure was not being recorded. Thus the state chairman rose up and called off the meeting and he left immediately with the members of the SWC. Captain had accused Ezeobi of stabbing him in the back during the election by supporting the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rt. Hon Emeka Ihedioha. But some leaders of the party had also accused Ihenacho of selling out in the middle of the election, saying that he never supported the party. But Ibegbulem called on the six principal leaders of the party: the state chairman, the secretary, the deputy chairman and the three zonal chairmen of the party to resign their positions, pointing out that they led the party to failure in the last general elections. According to him, and in what he termed his personal opinion, he said that the six principal leaders of the party who should resign have become the face of failure in the party, and should therefore give way for fresh blood to be injected into the party. He also said that for the first time in the history of the party, it scored zero, scoring below the number of voided votes in an election, whereas the party used to be hot contender in the elections in the state. He said: “The State Chairman, Deputy, Secretary and three zonal chairmen of the party should resign let's have a new face. They are the face of failure in the party. For the first time in the history of Imo we scored zero. In the governorship we scored less than the number of voided votes. So there should be no excuse for them. They should all resign because they led us to failure. In 2003 Agbaso won the election; in 2011 Okorocha won, and prior to that Ezekiel Izuogu battled very well for the seat with Udenwa. In UK the leaders of the three parties that failed in the elections resigned. I don't know why our own should be different. They should resign.” He pointed out that Captain has moved on after the governorship election, a comment that suggested he might not be interested in the coming congress. He said: “Even Captain said he has moved on and he even prayed for us, that God should help us to be in a position to run an elaborate governorship campaign without borrowing”, suggesting also he did not borrow money for the election. He called on Okey Ezeh, whom he said is showing interest in the congress, to ensure that he does not do the same things that led the party to failure. He stressed that Okey Ezeh should not indulge in any acts of impunity by falling to the temptation of writing the results of the election. - See more at: http://themoment.com.ng/national/item/3900-looming-war-in-imo-apga-ihenacho-returns-to-lock-horns-with-okey-ezeh-agbaso-again#sthash.9P1LDt9J.dpuf

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2015 Imo guber Okorocha in dilemma – Information Commissioner

By COLLINS Ughalaa

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has been said to be in a dilemma following his indesio0n whether to go for the Presidency or the governorship of the state for a second term in office in the 2015 general election under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

This was made known by the Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Engr. Chidi Ibe, on Friday in his office during a press briefing with journalists.

Fielding questions on the Governor’s ambition in 2015 the Commissioner for Information and Strategy said that while the Governor is busy campaigning for his presidency ambition 90% of the people of the state are calling on him to come back home and contest the governorship of the state for the second term so that he could consolidate on his programmes and projects, stressing that such acts have put the Governor in a dilemma. He assured that as a listening Governor, Okorocha would listen to the people of the state at the end of the day and run for the governorship of the state for the second term.

“But why he (the Governor) is busy there campaigning to become president 90% of the people down here are pulling him down, saying he should not go; that he should stay here and complete his projects. So it is a case of one being in dilemma. And I know he is a listening Governor and I know that at the end of the day he will listen to Imo people,” he said.

The commissioner also said that there are other governorship aspirants in the APC in Imo State and that whenever the Governor said he was no longer running for the governorship of the state the aspirants in the party would become public.

He said: “It is not as if the APC does not have guber aspirants. APC has other guber aspirants, and if the Governor says he is no more interested in the position you would see other coming out. But it is a question of saying that the Governor has done well and that he should be allowed to continue, and there is n o need vying for any position when you have somebody who is better than you”.

He said that the Governor was not desperate over the governorship of the state, reiterating that the Governor had the ambition to become the president of the country and that he was emphasizing that ambition through his campaign for the presidency. He pointed out that the Imo APC and the people of the state were not allowing the Governor to run for the presidency as they preferred him to run for the Governorship.

“His Excellency is not desperate about governorship. He is not desperate. Before now he had a programme to vie for the presidency. What is presently happening is that he is emphasizing that ambition. But the APC and Imo people are not happy allowing him to go the presidency”, the Commissioner said.

The Commissioner explained that the Governor had done so much in the state that the people wanted him to stay back and serve them again as the Governor, stressing that both the old and young in the rural communities wanted the Governor to continue.

According to him: “The Governor has done so much that the people want him to stay back and consolidate on the things he has done. If you go down to your various villages you would see that old and young want him to stay for the next administration as the Governor of Imo State. But he has an ambition: his ambition is to become the president of Nigeria and he is emphasizing that ambition. And that is why we should always pray for the Governor so that he can make a wise decision.

“But I know that at the end of the day he will listen to the heart beat of Imo people; he will listen to what Imo people are saying; he will be able to interpret their pulse. If you look at what is happening in Nigeria today you would see that you can never get an executive position or commander-in-chief of any cadre in the South East. He has been so worried about it: that there is no service chief you would find in the South East; the Speaker, the Senate President, the Vice President and the national chairman of the ruling party have all eluded the South East. His Excellency is worried about this level of marginalization. And that is why he is so worried, that is why if you give him the opportunity to go for the presidency he would go”. 

Earlier in his speech, the Commissioner said the Governor’s agenda to ensure that everyone in the state benefitted from government, adding that there is hardly a family in the state that had not bene4fitted from his administration. He said the Governor had achieved in 3 years what the PDP did not achieve in 12 years.

He said the state had crossed the stage of backwardness as the Governor had put the state on the road of rapid development, saying: “we have crossed the burden of backwardness in Imo State. Imo State is on the road to rapid development. Imo State has metamorphosed from backwardness to rapid infrastructural development, and the Governor is not leaving any stone unturned to see to the rapid infrastructural development. This is just the beginning. His idea is that every local government and village must benefit from his programme. And you can hardly see a family that has not benefitted. That is why you must continue to pray for him so that God will continue to give him the wisdom to continue to do good for the people of the state.”

Rochas