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Tag: Gov. Rochas Okorocha

  • Democracy @ 20: Okorocha, Ooni, Oyetola, others to attend Osun NUJ lecture

    The Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, his Osun State counterpart, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji, and other dignitaries are to attend the Democracy Lecture of the Osun NUJ Correspondents’ Chapel.

    Okorocha will deliver the lecture at the Democracy Day Public Lecture  titled “Democracy at 20: Analysing Emerging Trends in Nigeria’s Democratic Journey” scheduled to hold on Wednesday May 22.

    The Chairman of the organising  committee, Mr. Victor Adeoti, in a statement, explained that Oyetola would be the chief host while  the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, would be the royal father of the day.

    He disclosed that the lecture will hold at the OSAMDO House, Gbongan-Osogbo road, Osogbo at 10:00am.

    According to Adeoti, the choice of Okorocha was predicated on his status as the Chairman of Progressive Governors’ Forum, which is a group of governors on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC.)

    He also said that the outgoing Imo State governor is expected to speak on an array of National issues, ranging from democratic governance, National security and the economy.

     

  • I’ve suffered ten times more in APC than in PDP- says Okorocha

    Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, said the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) has inflicted the greatest devilish political machinations against his person ten times more than what he would have experienced were he to be in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

    Okorocha, who said he remains a staunch member of the APC despite efforts to frustrate him out of the party, berated its National Chairman, Adams Oshimhole and some leaders for working with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure he does not get his certificate of return as the duly elected senator for Imo West Senatorial District.

    He said it was regrettable the evil that made him to leave the PDP and join forces with the progressives had become more fiery within the ruling party and large dose of that was being inflicted on him with aim of damaging his political career.

    The embattled governor spoke at an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja. He said: “The evil I feared in the PDP has befallen me ten times in the APC. Last week, I wrote a letter to INEC for the first rime myself, informing INEC of their wrong doings and illegal actions taken by INEC to withhold my certificate on mere allegations of duress which was never founded, neither was there any committee set up to investigate the matter.

    “So, INEC on their own believe the reports of their Returning Officer without investigating the authenticity of the investigation. So, there was no issue of fair hearing at all.

    “What is important here is that INEC does not have the power to withhold the certificate of return having declared the result. I believe the INEC chairman is up to a game with the chairman of the APC who are being used as the people to frustrate my coming to the Senate and this is politically motivated. I’ve given enough time that INEC might correct itself and do the needful and issue me my certificate of return but to no avail.

    “Many things have happened so far and these should be of concern to everyone. INEC that made the submission to the tribunal have gone back requesting to withdraw it because the submission was defending the declaration by INEC.

    “But because the submission seems to be in my favour, they have said they want to withdraw the affidavit which is out of time. The withdrawal was made by one of their staff, who said that Festus Okoye, a Commissioner in INEC, has threatened to sack him if he does not withdraw it.

    “So, there is a huge threat going on in INEC. Festus Okoye is presently being used as the hatchet man; he has gone to the tribunal in Imo asking to withdraw the affidavit that has been filed defending APC.

    “I wonder what they want to do with the certificate, if they don’t give it to me, who will they give it to? Maybe they will give it to Festus Okoye because he is from my Senatorial zone but what they are doing is presenting INEC as a lying organisation and that is dangerous for our democracy because, as it stands right now, the image of INEC is bastardised.

    “What it means is that tomorrow somebody can withhold the certificate of anybody because you don’t like his face because you feel that he wants to politically challenge you in future. “Asked why he has not taken advantage of his close relationship to President  Muhammadu Buhari to seek for his intervention with the leadership of the party, Okorocha said he did not want to bother the President with such an issue especially  as it concerns INEC.

    “If you know the President well, you would know that he will never intervene as he would only keep mute. But whether President Buhari speaks or not, INEC should do the right thing by giving me my certificate of return,” he declared.

     

  • EFCC: No teams set up to quiz outgoing governors

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)  yesterday said it has not raised  teams to probe or interrogate some of the outgoing governors.

    It said it does not go after anybody, including ex-governors on speculative ground.

    The EFCC, which made the clarifications in a statement by its Acting Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Tony Orilade, said its job starts after investigators have done a thorough job on any individual or firm involved in corruption-related cases.

    The statement said: “The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been drawn to a lead story of a newspaper of March 31, 2019, titled: “EFCC raises teams to quiz Amosun, Okorocha, Yari as immunity ends.”

    “The newspaper had claimed that ahead of May 29, 2019, handover date to newly elected states helmsmen, the Commission has set up teams to probe some governors accused of perpetuating acts of corruption.

    “It is instructive to note that the reporter did not give the composition and terms of reference of the purported teams set up by the EFCC.

    “The report is a figment of the imagination of the reporter as everything about the setting of the teams ended with the first paragraph without details of such teams being set up.

    “Again, the story is not true, as the EFCC does not go after anybody, including ex-governors on speculative ground.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, the Commission only act after the investigators have done a thorough job on any individual or firm involved in corruption related cases.

    “The Commission wants to advise our stakeholders, including our friends in the media to be circumspect and verify their stories before going to press.

    “Members of the public are therefore advise to disregard the story as no team has been set up against any former governor.”

  • Squeezing APC out of Imo State

    AFTER the change of baton on May 29, 2019, Imo State is unlikely to remember with any amount of fondness that the All Progressives Congress (APC) once dominated the state’s political space for eight years. The outgoing governor, the self-willed and immodest Rochas Okorocha, contributed substantially to this sorry situation. It is not just because his preferred candidate, Uche Nwosu of the Action Alliance (AA), lost the governorship election, or because the APC at the state and national levels resisted his attempt to foist dynastic rule upon a people so ardently republican, or yet because he and the rump APC he so casually abandoned to its fate in the heat of the primaries split the so-called progressives vote. Yes, all these factors played some role in handing victory to the Peoples Democratic Party’s Emeka Ihedioha. But more significantly, the APC may be forgotten because it was unable to grab a toehold in the State House of Assembly, a small patch that might have afforded the party the opportunity to rebuild.

    Now, thanks to Mr Okorocha’s imprudent politics and imperious carriage, the entire Southeast can no longer boast of the substantial presence of the APC, not to talk of the party occupying any of the zone’s five Government Houses. Mr Okorocha may continue to claim victory in the senatorial election he fought very recklessly to win, but there is nothing to suggest that even if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) gets round to issuing him a certificate of return, which they have so far withheld, he could retain that seat for much longer on account of the irregularities both INEC officials and his opponent in that race are determined to bring before the courts. Mr Okorocha is glib; he will hope to talk himself out of the sticky jam his poll win has brought him.

    Out of the 27 seats in the Imo House of Assembly, the PDP, who are winners of the governorship poll, took a sizeable 13. The AA, which ferried Mr Nwosu piggyback into defeat, corralled some eight seats; and the sentimental darling of the Southeast, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), snatched six seats. The APC’s governorship candidate, Hope Uzodinma, could not help his party to win any seat, indicating how perilously the APC had fallen out of favour. Whether this disfavour was caused by Mr Okorocha’s reproachable style, or sometimes uncouthness, or his disloyalty to the party on whose pedestal he fought for his senate seat and claimed to have won, is not entirely clear at the moment.

    Mr Okorocha of course refuses to claim responsibility for the APC’s obliteration. Instead, he blames the APC’s national executives, particularly the party’s chairman, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, whom he accused of being tyrannical and meddlesome. The APC chairman naturally denies responsibility, alleging that the governor’s style and methods are chiefly to blame for the catastrophe. What is, however, clear is that Mr Okorocha unwisely burnt his bridges, practiced scorched-earth politics, and exposed his party to the electoral inclemency and trouncing it justifiably received at the hands of its enemies in the state, many of whom disdained, and still disdain, the party as a pariah in the region. However, no one should absolve the party at the national level of a share in the blame. Their inability to deftly manage the obstreperousness of the Imo governor, and their quarrelsome and incautious approach to conflict resolution, not to talk of the intransigence of Mr Oshiomhole himself, virtually doomed all reconciliation efforts and doomed the party itself.

    Can the APC rebuild in that hostile political environment? It is doubtful. The party is not really loved, and has never pretended, especially under the suzerainty of President Muhammadu Buhari, to play inclusive politics. For the next four years, the president will probably merely gesture at the region, and will not feel under any obligation to embark on any rapprochement. Mr Okorocha himself has exhausted all the goodwill he got when he first practiced his sorcery on the state and mesmerised the booboisie with his inimitable bombast. In short, the APC in Imo State, and perhaps in the entire Southeast, will be an orphan. Except the party at the national level can once again summon its ruthless streak to cajole one of the zone’s governors to defect to the APC through the hostile and oppressive deployment of state security resources, including using the secret service, there may be no hope of life for the party in the zone in the foreseeable future.

  • Supreme Court affirms N1b debt owed Imo Govt.

    The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal Owerri which upheld N1 billion contract debt owed E.F. Network Nigeria Limited by the Imo State Government.

    Delivering judgment, Justice Amina Augie, held that the appeal filed by the Imo state government and Gov. Rochas Okorocha challenging the judgment of the lower court was not meritorious.

    Augie, who read the judgment prepared by Justice Kayode Arioola therefore, ordered the Imo State Governor all other three appellants to immediately pay the firm and its promoter, Mr Gideon Egbuchulam the N1billion.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the judgment sum was an outstanding amount left unpaid in a contract awarded to the company in 2008 under the administration of the state’s former governor, Ikedi Ohakim.

    Augie went ahead to dismiss the appeal and awarded N500, 000 cost against the appellants.

    NAN reports that other appellants listed in the suit were Attorney-General of Imo State, Environmental Transformation Committee (Imo Entraco) and The Ministry of Environment, Imo State.

    Okorocha and others had approached the apex court to challenge the July 4, 2016 judgment of the court of appeal, Owerri.

    READ ALSO: Court orders arrest of Imo APC Caretaker Committee members

    The appellate court had upheld the Feb. 11, 2014 judgment delivered by Justice Ijeoma Agugua of the Imo State High Court which gave the initial judgment against the state government.

    The judgment creditors (E.F Network Nig. Ltd and Egbuchulam) had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the appellants failed to pay the sum after an execution of a contract for the state government.

    The company and its promoter were contracted by Ohakim’s administration which Okorocha succeeded to implement the state’s Clean and Green Initiative.

    The firm was awarded a contract to supply 10 million refuse bags and 40,000 plastic rolling containers at N42 per bag and N20 per plastic container.

    NAN

  • Another bridge built by Okorocha collapses in Owerri

    The bridge at the Children’s Amusement Park located at the Ikemba Ojukwu Centre in Owerri, Imo, built by Gov. Rochas Okorocha’s administration has collapsed.

    Witnesses at the scene told the NAN in Owerri on Wednesday that nobody was killed or injured in the incident.

    The incident which caused pandemonium in the area, gave room for criticism by some parents whose children visited the place on May 27 during the 2018 Children’s Day Celebration.

    A NAN Correspondent, who visited the scene, reports that the incident occurred after a heavy downpour on Tuesday night.

    The bridge, being a major tourism site, has been used to generate funds for the state government.

    When contacted, the State Commissioner for Happiness and Purpose Fulfillment, Mrs Ogechi Ololo, told NAN that she had yet to be briefed on the cause of the incident.

    Mr Collins Ibe, who witnessed the incident, told NAN that the windstorm that accompanied the downpour might be responsible for the collapsed of the bridge.

    Another witness, Mrs Mary Nlemadim, said: “It is unfortunate that this is happening in the state, especially at a place that is supposed to be a recreation centre.

    “I thank God that it happened in the night when people were not around; otherwise, there might have been casualties.

    “I urge the state government and engineers working on construction projects in the state to be more dedicated and thorough,” she said.

    Also, an Engineer, Mr Okechukwu Uba said: “There is need to critically look at all the construction projects going on in the state.

    “This is necessary to avoid unnecessary waste of resources, time and human capacity.

    “These projects need to get proper approval from professional hands or bodies; they also need to be properly supervised by qualified and experienced personnel.

    “Again, they have to be done systematically and not many things at the same time.

    “These projects need to be finished up in a tidy manner and subjected to stress tests where necessary, before being opened to the public,’’ he said.

    NAN reports that the state Chairman of the Nigeria Society of Engineers, Mr Emeka Ugoanyawu, had earlier warned against substandard engineering work in the state.

    Also, the National President of Council for the Regulation of Engineers in Nigeria (COREN) Mr Kashim Ali, had recently faulted the quality of a flyover constructed by the Okorocha administration, located at Orji.

    Ali, as a matter of urgency, urged Gov. Okorocha, to stop work on the flyover.

  • VON DG: Okorocha free to leave APC

    Following the conclusion of ward, local and state congresses of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo, Osita Okechukwu, Director-General, Voice of Nigeria (VON) and a chieftain of the party has advised Gov. Rochas Okorocha to leave the party if he so desires.

    Okechukwu spoke on the heels of Gov. Okorocha’s disagreement with the outcome of the congresses held in Imo last month.

    He told newsmen at the APC national secretariat in Abuja on Monday that the APC would win the 2019 elections without Okorocha.

    According to him, the actions and inactions of Okorocha have caused the APC more setbacks in the last four years in Imo and the South-East in general.

    He said recent development that made the governor to lose at the party´s just concluded congresses was a grand plan to reposition APC toward winning elections in the South-East.

    “At least there are more than 60 political parties now. Okorocha is free to join any one of his choice, though, we are not forcing him to leave.

    “What we are saying is that we have taken the leadership out of his hands because he is playing God; so, what I am saying is that he is at liberty to leave APC.

    “But let nobody anywhere think that the APC will lose because we have retrieved the party from him. Mr president is going to get more votes, we are going to win more parliamentary seats, more governorship seats without him,” he said.

    He noted that over 90 per cent of the leadership and membership of the APC in the South-East were against Okorocha and his style of governance.

    However, Dr Toe Ekechi, Convener of APC Restoration Coalition in Imo, said they would rather prefer that Okorocha remain in the party than leave.

    “Rochas Okorocha is the governor of Imo, I think there is joy in heaven when one’ s lost sheep is found.

    “We will be most joyous to see our governor Rochas Owelle Okorocha come back to the fold and work with us as a family to ensure the success of APC in 2019.

    “That is not taking away the fact that he has the right to make political decisions that suits him, but in terms of what we want, we wish that we work with him.

    “I will not want it to degenerate to that extent,  not necessarily in the interest of the party but in his own interest and I think he is a smart governor and won’t want to contemplate leaving APC,” he said.

    He expressed confidence that even if the governor decided to leave the party, the coalition was prepared to sustain the APC in Imo.

  • Youths protest against Okorocha at APC secretariat

    A group of placard carrying youths on Tuesday besiege the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to protest against Imo state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, demanding an end to his style of governance in the state.

    The youths wants the party to stop governor from actualising his plans to install his in-law as his successor in the Imo government house , vowing to resist the move.

    Read Also: Protesting Shiite members chase away Police team in FCT

    The agitation is taking place as the APC National working committee was expecting a delegation from Imo state led by the governor.

    Some of the placards read : no more Rochas , After Rochas, No Rochas In-law, we are tired of Rochas Okorocha, Stop Embezzling our Money, Rochas, and many others.

  • You can’t quell Biafra agitation with force, Obi warns FG

    You can’t quell Biafra agitation with force, Obi warns FG

    Former Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, Thursday warned against the current approach adopted by the Federal Government in handling pro-Biafra agitations in the Southeast.

    Obi who spoke with journalists after a closed door meeting with the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha at the Governor’s lodge in Owerri, the Imo State capital, insisted that the use of force or the continued incarceration of Biafra activists cannot quell the growing agitations.

    According to him, the Federal Government should continue to engage the players in continued dialogue as a means of finding a lasting solution to the challenges, particularly the issue of Biafra, which he said is given Igbo leaders serious concern.

    In his words, “I have warned against the use of force against Biafra agitators. The Federal Government should be open to continued dialogue, which is what we are supporting. That is why I am here today to thank Governor Rochas Okorocha for his efforts in managing the Biafra challenge”.

    He continued that, “our people won’t support the use of force against those agitating for Biafra; it is a very delicate matter that must be treated with caution. As a matter of fact, the FG should release all Biafra activists that are currently in detention to begin the process of meaningful dialogue”.

    Although details of the meeting were not made known to journalists, but The Nation gathered that it may not be unconnected with the plan by the former Governor to join the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    It was also suspected that the ex-Anambra Governor also came to perfect plans on how to assist the APC win the November 22 governorship election in Anambra State.

    Obi, who has been locked in a cold war with his successor, is said to be weighing the option of joining other Igbo leaders in the APC and helping the party win the governorship election will brighten his chances in the APC.

    But the former governor dismissed any plan to join the APC, “I am a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and I am not dumping the party for any other party. So I am not joining the APC. I am here for a private visit that is all, nothing more”.

     

  • Contractors who abandoned projects must return to site – Osibanjo

    Contractors who abandoned projects must return to site – Osibanjo

    The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, has directed contractors who abandoned projects in oil-bearing communities of Imo State to return to the site with immediate effect.

    Osibanjo gave the directive on Tuesday in Owerri during a stakeholders’ forum held at Imo International Convention Centre.

    He said that from the list submitted to him by various groups, Imo had over 40 abandoned projects awarded in oil-bearing areas apart from numerous roads projects that were abandoned.

    He warned political office holders not to divert projects meant for oil bearing communities.

    He added that diversion of projects contributed to restiveness and cry of marginalisation in oil producing communities.

    He said that the federal government was committed to injecting fresh ideas to fast-track the development of the Niger Delta region.

    According to him, the idea will entail the federal government, oil firms, corporate bodies and the host communities coming together to step up development of the area.

    In his remarks, the Minister of State Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, assured that his ministry would investigate reports of allocation of oil wells owned by Imo to other states.

    Gov. Rochas Okorocha, who thanked the acting president for the visit, said a lot was still needed to be done for Imo people to carry them along in the scheme of things.

    He appealed to the federal government to site more projects in Imo and include the state in projects meant for oil producing states.

    Chief Jones Uzoka, an indigene of oil-bearing communities of Imo, who spoke at the meeting, alleged that some oil wells that belong to the state were allocated to other states while some were shut down for no reason.

    He said that as a result of the development the state does not get its right share as oil-bearing state and called for a redress of the injustice.