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Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano has said his Imo State counterpart, Rochas Okorocha, does not deserve to be governor because of his alleged antics.
In a statement yesterday in Awka, the state capital, by Obiano’s Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media, Strategic Communication and Legislative Matters, Prince Oliver Okpala, the government accused Okorocha of playing to the gallery.
The statement reads: “The attention of the Media Directorate of the Anambra State governor, Chief Willie Obiano, has been drawn to the gratuitous diatribe by a fellow Southeastern Governor Okorocha of Imo State against his person and the government of Anambra State.
“It is not in our tradition to respond to such issues, but since silence in the face of such grave claims often amount to guilt, we are, therefore, duty-bound to make our position known to properly guide the public.
“Okorocha mischievously titled his attack against Obiano: ‘Governor Willie Obiano’s Unwarranted Media Attack On Governor Rochas Okorocha over his innocent claim that three governors in the Southeast would soon join APC’ and claimed that it was a fallout of a harmless statement he made at the APC stakeholders’ meeting in Owerri, that three governors in the Southeast would soon join APC.
“He referred to Chief Obiano as a ‘clueless governor’. One, therefore, wonders what cluelessness means if Governor Obiano, who has dazzled all Nigerians with his superlative style of governance, is referred to as clueless.
“If a governor, who has built countless number of roads and bridges, embarked on several rural electrification programmes, constructed uncountable number of schools and health facilities as well as rid Anambra State of crime and criminalities, is being termed clueless by Okorocha, then there must be another meaning for cluelessness.
“Okorocha’s claim that there is a general impression that 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 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 tries to intimidate Imo State retirees to forfeit 60 per cent of the arrears of their sweat. Are those the kinds of idea we need at this critical time? Those are destructive ideas, and a destructive idea cannot bring about constructive ends.
“Okorocha claimed that Obiano has taken Anambra State several kilometres backward, but the records are there to show who has taken his state backwards.
“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 youths and strength to labour for the state; in their old age, Okorocha’s government has abandoned them at this most critical time that they need the state. What an abomination!
“While claiming a noble antecedent, Governor Okorocha questioned Obiano’s antecedent before he became governor. What insolence and tomfoolery! The world knows Obiano’s antecedent as an accomplished banker of repute and a juggernaut in the Finance industry.
“But the same cannot be said of Okorocha as Nigerians truly know him for the wrong reasons: they know him as a rabble-rouser, who claimed to be a politician and flew the tricky kite of contesting for the Presidency just to corner some change into his pockets. The records are there for everyone to see.
“As Nigerians ruminate on this matter, the question should be asked: What was he before he became governor? What was his visible source of income? May be we should look a little bit at Okorocha’s antecedent. This is a man who managed to wangle his way into the corridors of power through intrigue and deceit.
“He was the chairman of the Nigeria Red Cross Society who railroaded gullible politicians and made many individuals and corporate organisations to donate several billions in a bogus scheme.
“In other climes, people like Okorocha cannot ascend to the high office of governor. This is another indication of a lacuna in our laws that should make room for the scrutiny of the antecedents of individuals who aspire to such sensitive office. Therefore, that Okorocha is a governor today in Nigeria is indeed an insult on our collective psyche. “
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