Igbos at war! Obiano attacks Governor Okorocha
- The Southeast of Nigeria is about to be taken up in storm, following rifts between governors in the region
- Governor Obiano of Anambra state has attacked Governor Okorocha of Imo state
- The lashing stems from a rift at the Southeast stakeholders meeting
- Okorocha's latest bashing comes on the hills of a verbal spate between him and Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia state
A
different turn was taken to the verbal war between Governor Rochas
Okorocha of Imo state and his Anambra state counterpart, Chief Willie
Obiano, on Wednesday, February 1.
Governor Obiano telling Okorocha to keep quiet when serious governors are talking because he (Okorocha) has nothing to offer.
Chaotic Southeast meeting
The
attack on each was a fallout of a statement credited to Okorocha during
the South-East stakeholders meeting of the All Progressives Congress,
APC, in Owerri, where Okorocha claimed that three governors in the zone would soon defect to APC.
Angered
by the statement, Obiano, through his Senior Special Assistant on
Media, Mr. James Eze, said Okorocha had not provided the kind of
leadership that would make Igbo people to join him in APC.
Reacting
to Obiano’s statement, Chief Press Secretary to Okorocha, Mr. Sam
Onwuemeodo, referred from Obiano as a clueless governor, prompting
another reaction by Obiano’s Senior Special Assistant on Media,
Strategic Communication and Legislative Matters, Prince Oliver Okpala,
yesterday, who said that Igbo people know who is a better governor
between Obiano and Okorocha.
The statement circulated by Okpala read: “If
a governor that has constructed countless number of roads and bridges,
embarked on several rural electrification programmes, constructed
uncountable number of schools, and health facilities as well as rid the
entire Anambra State of crime and criminality, is being termed clueless
by Okorocha, then there must be another meaning for clueless."
The argument over aggressiveness
“Okorocha’s
claim that there is a general impression that Chief Willie Obiano is an
aggressive governor, who should have done better as a militant than as a
governor, is laughable and it is clear to Nigerians who really is a
motor park personality between them. “Obiano has always been known and
accorded the respect of a complete gentleman.
Indeed, Okorocha is an example of what a leader should not be. Who is he to teach the virtues of leadership ideas and service to Governor Obiano? “
He
talks of ideas when he cannot pay workers salaries and now tries to
intimidate Imo retirees to forfeit 60 per cent arrears of their sweat.
Are those the kind of ideas we need at this critical time?
Those
are destructive ideas, and a destructive idea cannot bring about
constructive ends. Achievements “Rochas challenged Obiano to publish his
achievements in Anambra State. But the whole world knows of his feat in
this regard.
From making Anambra to
attain a crime-free status, rapid industrialization by rehabilitation of
roads and constructing new ones; demolition of a 30-year old mountain
of refuse in Okpoko two years ago; putting public facilities in place
such as the 47 solar-powered boreholes that now serve 27 communities and
increasing Anambra State IGR from the N500m monthly that it inherited
to N1.3bn per month, to clearing the arrears of salaries owed the state
water corporation staff as well as the approximately N1bn pension that
was owed local government retirees inherited by the administration.
Obiano has been a superlative performer.
“But
this cannot be said of Governor Okorocha, whose so-called popular
policies, like free education at all levels, have been a fluke and at
best an over bloated media hype. His other so-called programmes have
also been discovered to be mere flash in the pan as the people of Imo
State have seen through his tricks and treachery, as well as other
clandestine tendencies.
“Okorocha
claimed that Obiano has taken Anambra State several kilometres
backward, but the records are there to show who has taken his state
backward. When serious Governors like Obiano are talking, the likes of
Okorocha should keep quiet.
This
is a governor who has failed woefully to pay workers salaries. “He is
also heavily indebted to even pensioners, who have spent their youth and
strength to labour for the state.
An abandoned people cry out
In their old age, Okorocha’s government has abandoned them at this most critical time that they need the state.
What an abomination.” Moghalu slams Okorocha over Nnamani
Meanwhile,
National Auditor of the APC, Chief George Moghalu, has berated Okorocha
for attempting to determine the leadership of the party in the
South-East geo-political zone.
At a
meeting hosted by Chief Okorocha in Owerri, last week, the governor had
allegedly declared a former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, who recently
defected to the party as its leader in the region.
Reacting
to the development, yesterday, in Abuja, Moghalu said it was impossible
to foist Nnamani on the zonal chapter of the party as its leader.
“You
see one thing about leadership, I have said it time and time again, a
leader is not appointed. You can elect a chairman, you can elect a
secretary, a governor or a president. A leader evolves from among the
people.”
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