Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Immediate past governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, has accused Governor Emeka Ihedioha, of plotting to discredit his achievements by secretly pulling down some of his projects at night.
Okorocha, who made this known in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo, said: “They have formed the habit of going at night to pull down some of the structures Okorocha built and in the morning, they would tell the world that such structures fell down like the waterfall at Freedom Square Owerri, just to blackmail the former governor and discredit his achievements.
“And the issue now is that these structures have been standing for years before Ihedioha’s coming and the question now is, why have they begun to fall within the few months he came to power,” Okorocha said.
He further accused the governor of trying to fight back over the defeat they suffered in 2011 and 2015 when he assumed office.
“They are also playing the politics of how to remain in power in the state having known that they didn’t win the 2019 governorship election because, before now, nobody had become the governor of the state with bloated figures from only three local governments out of the 27 in the state.
“For 2015, Ihedioha also lost to Okorocha. And they also believed that the pressure mounted on them by the All Progressives Congress (APC), led by Okorocha in the South East contributed to the defeat of their presidential candidate because they could not maximally do what they know how to do best.
“Governor Ihedioha and his party are using this period too, to fight back.” The former governor also alleged that the present government was trying to thwart the efforts of the APC in the state.
“Having known that Imo remains the strongest hold of APC in the South East, they now feel that once APC is destroyed in Imo, the party has been destroyed in the zone. That is another major reason behind the current hostility against Okorocha, his achievements and the APC members in Imo.
Reacting to the federal allocations received by the present government, Okorocha said: “Governor Ihedioha has also gotten about N109 billion, including the N42.5 billion left for him, money from the Federation Account, the local government allocations, internally generated revenue, the 13 percent deviation funds, but he has not filled one pothole since he came.