By Merit Ibe

Imo Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has challenged his predecessor in office,  Ikedi Ohakim to render account of his stewardship as governor of the state.
His Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, made the statement against the backdrop of accusations levelled against Governor Okorocha by Ohakim.
The former governor had accused the incumbent governor of running down the state through the implementation of what he called anti-people policies.
He also labelled the governor as a law-breaker  and claimed that Okorocha had refused to obey court judgments on the lifting of the suspension of first class traditional ruler, Eze Cletus Illomuanya.
Onwuemeodo insisted that if Ohakim meant well, he should have been coming to meet with his successor to discuss issues as stakeholders, instead of this campaign of calumny.
“We have read the latest media outing against Governor Okorocha by Ohakim published in the media which he also presented as a letter, to Imo governor.
“In his story, the former governor as usual said so many things, but could not fault our repeated claim that the achievements of  Okorocha, so far, have surpassed the achievements of all those who had governed the state before him.
“We have always made bold to say this. And we stand to be challenged.
“The truth is that we can no longer afford to be spending our projects-oriented time replying the former governor. If he meant well, he should have been coming to meet with his successor to discuss issues as stakeholders in the state, instead of this campaign of calumny.
“When he wrote the first letter and raised certain issues, we responded by publishing the monumental achievements of governor Okorocha in less than six years as governor, which took several pages.
“We named projects and their locations and also took that opportunity to show that Chief Ohakim’s outing as governor was never a success story.
“He never reacted to say we had told lies because he knew we were on the sides of truth and posterity.
“We do not know how Chief Ohakim feels today when he enters Owerri and sees that it has become a new city with eight-lane roads, in-land roads, tunnels and flyovers, and even the new Government House that had shanties when he held sway.
“Infact, in an ideal clime, Ohakim should be celebrating Okorocha for achieving so much or doing the things he didn’t think about during his time.
“Okorocha runs people-oriented government, with some of the elite having grudges and his approach cannot be the same with a regime that took delight in flogging indigenes, including a priest.
“The political-will he could not exercise then, Governor Okorocha is, today, demonstrating it to a large extent and to the glory of God. The free education programme has become a huge success.
“The school enrolment has gone from 280,000 in 2011 to more than 800,000 with the state leading in JAMB applications since 2012.