Imo state Governor Rochas Okorocha has challenged his predecessor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim to give account of the N200 billion his administration misappropriated in four years with nothing to show for it.
The Imo governor also demanded an explanation from the embattled former governor on how he squandered the N11 billion he appropriated for the phoney contract to dredge the Nworie River.
Ohakim had during his declaration to join the 2019 governorship election and formal defection to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the platform on which Okorocha ousted him out of office in 2011, threatened to probe governor Okorocha if he returns as governor.
He also vowed to lift the ban on tricycle in the state capital and return the relocated markets, especially the Owerri Main Market, popularly known as the ‘Eke Ukwu Owerri’.
But the Imo governor in a statement signed by his Chief Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, lambasted the former governor for failing to give account of his four years in office as the justification to seek re-election.
Okorocha also observed that the embattled former governor “has eaten his cake and can never have it”, adding that “Ohakim cannot even win election in his ward”.
According to the statement, “the media had, weekend, quoted the former governor of the State Chief Ikedi Ohakim as threatening to probe Governor Rochas Okorocha among other unfriendly remarks, if he becomes governor again in 2019.
“The former governor was said to have given that threat while declaring his interest to run for the governorship of the State again in 2019 on the ticket of APGA. He was governor from 2007 to 2011, and was defeated by Governor Okorocha even as incumbent. And since that 2011, he has been contesting for the governorship without success.
“To us, we won’t dignify the governor with a response, but to only remind him what he failed or refused to do while making the declaration. It was an aberration for the former governor of the State for four years to declare to run for the position again without mentioning at least, one or two achievements of the government he led for the four years”.
The statement continued that, “in simple logic, you go from the known to the unknown. Chief Ohakim would have told the less than five hundred people at the venue of his declaration what he achieved for the four years he was in charge as governor and then tell them what he left behind at the Government House that he has been labouring to come and take.
“Chief Ohakim knows that nobody would have known that he made declaration for the 2019 gubernatorial election if he didn’t mention Rochas Okorocha. Hence, the angle of probe. He would have begun with himself to be taken serious. He would have given the assurance that he would find out why he failed woefully in his first outing and what he did with more than N200billion his government appropriated with nothing to show for it, including the N11billion on non-existent dredging of Nworie River.
“Chief Ohakim had eaten his cake and won’t have it again. He cannot even win his Osu-Owerri Ward 2, in any election at the moment. He didn’t do well at all as governor. He wasted the four years. And that is the reason he has become an unattractive candidate to all the Parties in the State. He is anxious to fill some gaps but he does not know how to go about it”.
It added further that, “he would have challenged Rochas Okorocha to publish his achievements and let him publish his own if any, on the same day so that Nigerians of goodwill can see for themselves and give their verdicts, for him to be taken serious.
“He has been governor and the emphasis should be what he was able to do when he was the Chief occupant of the Douglas House and not the threat of probe. He should also explain why he was voted out in 2011 by Imo people and what has changed between that time and now. Or what would change between that period and 2019. The best advice anybody can give him is that he should find other things to do and forget about coming back as the governor of the State”.