From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Imo Government, yesterday, described former governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha, as shameless and irredeemable for his failure to apologise to Imo people for running the worst form of government since the creation of the state in 1976.
“His government was an unmitigated disaster and the worst since Imo State was created. It was not a surprise that a judicial commission of inquiry indicted him of ₦106 billion contract sum that disappeared into thin air right under his watch. It is only a man who the gods have destined for self-destruction that can be oblivious of the real and imminent danger of a possible prison room ahead of him and the subsequent political extinction therein. For a man that his hands are filled with a stinking shameful past to be boasting of a non-existing popularity confirms that he is shameless and irredeemable,” the government said.
In a statement in Owerri, Commissioner for information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, said Okorocha would have long been a candidate for jail if not for the fact that the government wants to follow due process to the letter.
Emelumba said it was an insult on Governor Hope Uzodimma for Okorocha to have offered to teach him governance.
“What is he going to teach Uzodimma, how to loot the state? How to build China roads? How to convert government university to personal property? Or how to run familitocracy? You cannot give what you don’t have,” Emelumba said.
The commissioner, who was reacting to a statement by Okorocha’s office on the invasion of a warehouse by government agents, said it was unfortunate that the former governor has not come to terms with the fact that Imo people want him to be thrown into jail for his atrocities in office for eight years.
According to him, those whose lands were forcibly taken by Okorocha are angry that the present government is yet to prosecute the former governor.
He said the government was following due process in recovering the land and other government property from Okorocha.
Emelumba also explained that projects being demolished constituted risk to the lives of Imo people because of their substandard nature and failure to adhere to stipulated guidelines.
He said the state was riddled with failed roads and abandoned projects for which full contact sums were paid, yet not completed.
He also debunked the insinuation that nothing was found on the said warehouse, saying people who could loot cutlery belonging to Concord Hotel were capable of anything.
Emelumba said since Uzodimma defeated Okorocha in the APC primary and the main election, there was no doubt as to who is more popular.
Meanwhile, Workers in Imo, yesterday, kicked out the state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Austin Chilakpu, after a resolution reached at the meeting the workers held at the State secretariat, Port Harcourt Road, Owerri.
Consequently, a caretaker committee, led by Ndubuisi Uchehara, was set up to manage the affairs of the union pending a legitimate election.
Addressing newsmen shortly after his emergence as the caretaker committee chairman, Uchehara said the past administration was dissolved for constantly waging war against the state government which, he said, caused an unhealthy relationship between the union and the government.
“The past administration was recalcitrant to issues of the workers in the state, they have continued to fight the state government instead of partnering it, their actions have caused the workers a lot, you cannot continue to use force on the government, they have been doing that without result and that we have come to correct.
Governor Hope Uzodimma, while receiving the leadership of the caretaker committee at the Government House, noted that his main agenda was to make the civil service work, promising to work harmoniously with the union.