As the war of words between Governor Emeka Ihedioha of Imo State and his successor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha continues, the governor has been accused of destroying the State’s infrastructure.
The allegation was contained in a press statement by Imo Patriotic Youths Vanguard, signed by its spokesman, Barrister Obinna Okoli.
According to the group, Ihedioha was engaging in the said action just to spite Okorocha, to the detriment of the people of the State.
The statement made available to DAILY POST read: “We wish to alert all well meaning Imolites and of course, all Nigerians to a badly advised action by the Imo State governor, His Excellency Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha and his agents, which targets to destroy some legacy infrastructures put in place by the administration of his immediate predecessor, His Excellency Owelle Rochas Okorocha. This unfortunate and ill-advised action by the Imo State governor is wrong and deemed a sabotage to the people of Imo State, and as critical stakeholders and non-partisan observers we therefore wish to state as follows:
“That every project executed by the immediate past administration and indeed every project executed in Imo State by any administration belongs to the people of Imo State and we demand that the new government takes steps to ensure that these projects are protected and maintained for the benefit of generality of Imolites.
“That the body language of the incumbent governor of Imo State, His Excellency Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha should grow beyond petty political sentiments and take steps to safeguard assets belonging to the State without minding which administration put these infrastructures in place.
“That as an association, our members are drawn from across political Parties, but our key interest is the continued development of the State and we deplore any action that tends to project our dear State in bad light.
“That we have it on good authority that the governor of Imo State has instructed some hooligans who mostly belong to the Peoples Democratic Party to destroy some infrastructure put in place by the immediate past APC administration in the State and we declare that this action is in bad taste and therefore highly condemnable.
“That we recognize that these projects were executed with funds belonging to the people of Imo State and the destruction of these projects is seen as sabotage by all well meaning Imolites.”
The Youth group further claimed that “assets of the State government are being looted by agents of the present government.
“These individuals have continued to loot furnitures, Hospital equipment and other properties belonging to the people of Imo State, because the present government has failed to completely take charge of governance and understand that government properties should be protected from the excesses of lawless individuals.
“That the recruitment of media influencers by the current administration for the sole purpose of projecting the state of Imo’s infrastructure in bad light is economically disastrous to the State, as this has scared potential investors away from the State, thereby contributing to job losses and insecurity in the State.
“That while we do not speak for the immediate past administration in the State nor are we fans to the governance style of Senator Owelle Rochas Okorocha, we are afraid that going by the initial steps, actions and utterances of the incumbent governor, Imo may be in big trouble, as it does not seem that the incumbent governor has any vision for the continued development of Imo State.
“That we call on the PDP led government to concentrate on governing the State and bringing the dividends of democracy to the people instead of the political witch-hunt targeted at Senator Owelle Rochas Okorocha and members of his political and biological families.
“We call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to pay special attention to Imo State, as it is becoming increasingly obvious by the day that the current government in the State is hell-bent on igniting crisis in the State through its actions and utterances.
“That the governor of Imo State should come out clean on allegations making the rounds on social media that he has squandered over two Billion Naira of Imo public funds on sponsoring media attacks against his predecessor, while civil servants and pensioners are abandoned to penury and pains.
“We demand an immediate stoppage to the ongoing destruction of public infrastructure in the State, and request the Federal Government through the relevant security agencies to do more towards protecting Imo infrastructure from vandalization and looting.”
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