The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Sam Onwuemeodo

  • My son is alive, strong, healthy – Okorocha

    My son is alive, strong, healthy – Okorocha

    Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo says his first son, Mr Ahamefula Okorocha is alive, strong and healthy, contrary to social media reports on Sunday that he died in London.

    The Social Media on Sunday went wild with reports that the governor’s son, Ahamefula Brendan Rocha, had died at The Royal London Hospital located at White chapel Road.

    However, Okorocha’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Sam Onwuemeodo, has dispelled the claims, describing those behind the reports as agents of Satan.

    Okorocha said: “The young engineer is doing very well in his profession.

    “How could anybody ever wish his fellow human dead?

    “This is strange and we all should discourage this kind of insinuation.’’

    The governor recalled that he was recently reported to have died when he travelled overseas on a business trip shortly after he had announced plans to relocate the ancient Ekeukwu Owerri market, situated at the heart of the city.

    Other markets marked for relocation are the popular Ama Hausa market, the yam traders and all traders along Douglas road in the capital city, Owerri.

    The state government had directed traders in the markets to move out of the affected places to their new locations by Sept. 30, 2016.

    The relocation issue had been enmeshed in protest by Owerri women and a court case between the Owerri Indigenes and the state government before the market was eventually relocated on Aug. 26, 2017.

    According to Okorocha, the false report on the death of his son is coming only two weeks after the relocation of the market.

    “God is the giver of life and nobody can determine how God does his things.

    “The general public should disregard such report,” he said.

  • I have not borrowed money to execute projects – Okorocha

    I have not borrowed money to execute projects – Okorocha

    Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo State says he has not borrowed any money to execute ongoing projects in the state.

    Okorocha made the disclosure in a statement signed and issued to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Owerri on Friday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Sam Onwuemeodo.

    “I was able to fund such projects following my unconventional style of administration that has blocked all financial leakages,” the statement quoted the governor as saying.

    The governor described the state as the ‘fastest developing state’ in Nigeria, adding that he was able to achieve the feat through sacrifice and prudence especially in handling public fund.

    “ I have not borrowed any money; neither is Imo owing any bank or institution.

    “I am using the state fund to execute all my projects for the state especially the new urban renewal program.

    “Those people carrying rumours that the state is hugely indebted to new generation banks are either not well informed or enemies of progress.

    “Upon completion of the massive infrastructural developmental stride of this administration, the incoming governors will have less work to do for the state.

    “I am laying a solid foundation for the future and I have cut off all means of embezzlement.

    “This bold step has enabled me to achieve what I am doing today,” he said.

  • ‘Imo PDP aspirants should be issue-based’

    ‘Imo PDP aspirants should be issue-based’

    Governorship aspirants on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State have been urged to be issue-based, instead of dropping the name of Governor Rochas Okorocha on the pages of newspapers.

    The Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Governor, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, in a statement, advised the aspirants and other PDP chieftains to concentrate on laundering the battered image of their party, instead of attacking a man, who had endeared himself to the people through his programmes.

    He said Okorocha was not the problem of PDP in Imo, but its inability to justify the mandate given it by the people for 12 years.

    The aide said: “It is correct to allude that the problem of Imo PDP is not Governor Okorocha, but the indigenes, who are yet to reconcile with the party for fooling them. PDP chieftains should reconcile with the Imo people, instead of wasting their energy by casting aspersions on a performing governor.

    “PDP ruled Imo for 12 years. APC will also rule for 12 years, after which the indigenes will look at the scorecards of the two parties, rate them and pick the one to continue governance. The decision is that of Imo people and not Okorocha’s or PDP’s.

    “It is equally important to tell those insinuating that the Federal Government or the Presidency will come here and force somebody on Imo people as the governor to drop such an unpopular idea because it will not work. The indigenes will not allow that to happen.

    “Any party, which cannot secure victory through the ballot boxes, should not participate in the poll, because a winner must emerge through this process. That is the truth.”

  • Minister to Okorocha: account for cash received from federation account

    Minister to Okorocha: account for cash received from federation account

    •Let PDP account for 12 years in Imo, says governor’s aide

    The Supervising Minister for Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, has challenged Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha to give account of how the allocation accruing to the state from the federation account in the last two and a half years was spent.

    She accused the government of misappropriating the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) fund, the allocations meant for the local governments, which she put at over N40 billion, and the excess crude fund.

    The minister said the Federal Government would soon compel the governor to account for the funds.

    Prof. Onwuliri, who addressed reporters in Owerri, said: “What we have on ground in the state is not commensurate with the funds so far collected. We have received complaints from the victims of last year’s flood disaster that the intervention fund has been diverted. We are waiting for explanations because it appears the state government has a lot to account for. The governor has been collecting local government allocations and disbursing same without elected council executives.”

    But the Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, told the minister to first demand explanation from the two former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors on how they mismanaged the allocations of the state for 12 years.

    He said: “The call by the minister that Okorocha should account for the money his government has received from the federation account since he became governor has been noted. But she must ensure that the exercise is holistic.

    “Governor Okorocha must sit side by side with the two former governors produced by the PDP. They should tell the people what they did with the allocation for 12 years and Okorocha will account for his two and a half years. We will see those who will lose at the end of the exercise.”