Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri

Former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, has accused his successor, Emeka Ihedioha, of running the state like a lawmaker rather than as a governor.

Okorocha, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo, noted that Ihedioha’s constant embark on oversight functions indicated he is yet to function as a governor.

”It is important to state and indeed inform the general public that the new governor of Imo State, Chief Ihedioha, has not begun to govern the state as its executive, looking at his activities and utterances so far, but embarking on oversight functions as if he is still at the National Assembly where he was, uninterruptedly for 12 years.

“He has also been busy setting up series of committees with at least three committees a day, and has never done any serious thing or taken any serious step or said any serious thing to show he has actually taken the seat as the governor of the state. And he also seems not to have cared about asking questions.

“In the course of doing oversight functions, even as governor, he would go to one bad dredging site, which he won’t mention where it is, he would send out the photograph just to blackmail his predecessor or he would send out the photograph of one bad toilet they got from somewhere and say it was in the Government House. So petty and unserious all these days.”

He also accused Ihedioha of blackmailing him in the course of visiting his projects.

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“The former governor left more than 1,000 verifiable projects behind for him. He has never cared to visit any of the projects to show he has come to work and that he means well. If he could be showing the world one bad toilet we knew they got from Owerri office of the PDP when landmark projects are located at various parts of the state waiting for him to come and see and know what to do with them, then he hasn’t come for service.

“ The International Cargo Airport is ready and was commissioned by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. Let him visit the place and tell the world what he has seen, and then open it for operations, so that the purpose for building such a landmark project can be achieved.

“The ultra-modern prison headquarters and the magnificent police headquarters also built by his predecessor and commissioned by the vice president need his action. He should ask the police to move to such befitting edifice and the prisons too. The management of the Skyrun Company his predecessor also brought would like him to come and see what God had used Owelle to do for Imo people.

“The six new universities, four polytechnics, three colleges of education, the 27 general hospitals, the ultra-modern markets built by the former governor, including the Malaysia Market at Obowo are all waiting for him to come and see them and know the level Okorocha had taken the state to, in terms of development, and that would enable him to know what to do.

“Showing the world one bad dredging site also caused by the PDP people when they held sway or one bad toilet at the expense of the more than 1,000 projects his predecessor left behind, does not show good spirit.

“He does not need to embark on new projects. He should rather maintain or strengthen the ones on ground, where the need arises.

“The other day, he  showed a bad classroom block at the Holy Ghost College, Owerri and he failed or refused to tell his audience that the college is owned by the Catholic Diocese of Owerri. But he could not also show Government College, Owerri or Emmanuel College or Akwakuma Girls College or Ikenegbu Girls College or Government Technical College, which Owelle Okorocha had rebranded to the admiration of all and sundry.”