Over 1,000 Verifiable Projects Left By Okorocha’s Govt –Aide
Recently, the media aide to former Imo State Governor, Mr Sam Onwuemedo, tells Femi Makinde in this interview that Governor Emeka Ihedioha is allegedly seeking to discredit him because he has no program to execute
Governor Emeka Ihedioha recently said that Okorocha squandered Imo State’s resources and left nothing behind. How do you react to this?
Emeka Ihedioha has been making unsubstantiated claims and accusing former Governor Rochas Okorocha of so many things since he was brought in by Independent National Electoral Commission. Everybody in the state knows that what he is saying is not true. We left N42.5bn and we mentioned the accounts where the funds are domiciled and this was published in newspapers. That is where he got the money which he used to pay May salary. May monthly allocation from Abuja came in June and he has never denied that he met N42.5bn. He has been spending the money. So, how can he say Okorocha squandered Imo resources?
READ ALSO:Ihedioha Is Behaving Like A Reps Member -Okorocha
What do you think is responsible for the attack on Okorocha by the incumbent governor?
What do you expect him to say? Okorocha’s government left over 1,000 verifiable projects. Okorocha’s government read the budget. Did he not inherit the budget when he came in? There is International Cargo Airport; Oputa High Court Complex; flyover and many other projects including roads. You know that the Peoples Democratic Party is known for propaganda and that is what Ihedioha has been busy doing. He has not done anything since he came except to say Okorocha did this, Okorocha did that. And the people of the state are asking him that, did INEC declare him the winner of Imo governorship election to talk about Okorocha? There is no policy statement from him, his government has not even filled just one pothole anywhere in the state except to accuse Okorocha of anything that comes to his mind on a daily basis.
The governor also accused Okorocha of taking away 67 vehicles and that he opened 250 bank accounts. Are these not also true?
But we challenged him to publish the particulars of the vehicles and up till now, he has not done that. When he made his usual baseless allegation of 250 bank accounts, we asked him to publish the accounts if they exist. He has refused to do that; that will tell you that he just talks without facts. Accounts will have names and other things and we asked him to mention the accounts. I am sure he would have published the accounts if what he said was true. You can’t take such a government that just makes baseless allegations seriously.
Are you saying the governor is accusing Okorocha wrongly to discredit him?
You know that the burden of proof lies with the person who alleges and we have challenged him on all his allegations but he has not proved any since. What do you call that? We challenged him to publish the details of the N52bn debt he said Okorocha left; we asked him to publish the particulars of the vehicles and the 250 accounts but he has not done any. We are challenging them to publish all these if they know what they are saying is true. Governor Emeka Ihedioha is known for telling lies.
Ihedioha’s government started with lies and the possibility of changing from telling lies is not there. He has to keep telling lies continuously to justify the earlier lies he has told, so, he cannot change. When he came in, the first thing he did was the demolition and Imo people raised their voices against this. He has not done anything apart from telling lies, trying very hard to discredit Okorocha. He feels intimidated by what Okorocha achieved and the best thing he can do is to discredit him. He said free education policy of Okorocha is not working and we asked him to cancel it if Imo people will not react against him. Let him cancel it and see how Imo people will react.
READ ALSO: You Should Serve Imo People As Your Own Home” Okorocha Tells Ihedioha
Some PDP members are saying that what Ihedioha will do in four years will eclipse Okorocha’s achievements of eight years…
The PDP spent 12 years in Imo State and if you add everything they did, it is not up to half of what Okorocha did in eight years. Now that they are back in power, even if they spend 50 years, they can’t equal what Okorocha did.
Okorocha was able to do so much because he ignored the godfathers and he was able to achieve so much. The godfathers are angry against Okorocha and they have access to the media and they campaigned against Okorocha. Now that Emeka is back, the godfathers are also back in power and he must maintain them at the expense of the state.
So, the governor cannot do anything because he must service these people with Imo State resources. He has called them and he must service them. That is the unfortunate situation in which Imo State is now. He has started appointing children of all these godfathers and no matter what they do, he must keep them. I am saying it now that history will vindicate Owelle (Okorocha) and in the next six months, Imo people will begin to look for him.
The initial euphoria of the new governor in the state has died completely and people are beginning to ask him to say what he would do for the state instead of accusing Okorocha every day. They have started asking him to stop blaming Okorocha and to start working. He is blaming Okorocha for everything because he was declared a winner by INEC but he didn’t win the election. He is not prepared for the job.
If he is prepared, if he has any programme to execute, do you think he will be talking about Okorocha every day? No. He said there was no toilet in the government house and he keeps saying many ridiculous things and you will wonder if he knows what governance is all about. The fact is that he would have said what he plans to do and start if he has anything to do.
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