hedioha’s Decision To Probe Past Imo Govenors A Welcome Development – Ohakim

A former governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, has described the decision of the state Governor, Emeka Ihedioha, to probe the award of contracts and land deals during his administration as well as Achike Udenwa and Rochas Okorocha administration as a welcome development.

Ohakim while speaking on the decision of Ihedioha stated that it is a welcome development and that he had “no skeleton in the cupboard.”

The former Imo State Governor stated that the decision would help the new administration set the record straight and help it start on a good footing. He stated that the step should not be addressed as witch-hunt but a programme that would address injustices.

Ohakim stated that he did not allocate a plot of land to himself while he served the state as governor between 2007 and 2011.

The ex-governor said, “Anybody with nothing to hide should welcome the idea of a probe. It would be irrelevant and a waste of time probing the Chief Achike Udenwa regime but very logical to probe my administration as well as that of my successor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha.” “For me, it shows there is no witch-hunt and it’s just the government trying to set the record straight and understand where to work from as far as land matters are concerned in Imo State.”

Ohakim noted that he had challenged people who accuse him to show him any plot of land he allocated to himself while serving as the state governor.

He further stated that he still lived in a three-bedroom bungalow which he had as a commissioner during the era of the late Chief Evan Enwerem in 1993.

“The Ihedioha probe panel is a response to calls from many corners of the state to investigate allegations of land grabbing and illegal allotment of land to individuals by the immediate past administration in the state”.

Ohakim revealed that he would make himself available for the panel set up by the state government if his presence is required.

The Imo State governor, Emeka Ihedioha, on Wednesday stated that the Senator representing Imo West Senatorial district is intimidated by his success story.

The Governor in a statement through his Chief Press Secretary, Chibuike Onyeukwu, accused his predecessor of running the state aground.

The governor said Okorocha was only criticising him in the media to “shore up his image.”

Ihedioha said, “We are not also surprised that the former governor, who recently made statements to the EFCC on how he ruined the state, could make public claims that his government spent N200m for the monthly clean-up exercise in Owerri alone, to justify the humongous corruption that ravaged his government.”

“If Chief Okorocha was spending N200m every four weeks on a monthly environmental sanitation exercise, it means that he has more questions to answer, especially for the fact that Imo State was an environmental disaster for the period he was governor, necessitating the recent declaration of a state of emergency on the environment by the Ihedioha administration.”

According to Ihedioha, Okorocha should stop grandstanding, show remorse and apologise for eight years of bad governance.