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See What Okahim Said About Gov Okorocha Administration In An Interview by kingsman66(m): 8:23pm On Apr 06, 2016 |
For those who care to know, former governor
of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim hopes to
return to Imo Douglas House in 2019. In this
interview with a select group of Journalists, he
spoke on various issues including the crisis in
the Imo PDP and the alleged plot of governor
Okorocha to replace himself with an Orlu Man.
Excerpts:
Governor Okorocha during a media parley
with journalists has suggested that anyone
above the age of 50 should not be allowed to
contest the governorship election because
they are over aged. What is your reaction on
that?
Why are you asking me about my reaction on
what Rochas Okorocha said? Don't you know
that Rochas Okorocha is a comedian? He is very
good as a master of ceremony. He is a very
good M.C. and a very lawless man. Does he
have respect for the constitution? You should
ask me about what the constitution says about
the criteria to vie for the governorship election
and not what an M.C said. Look at how Rochas
Okorocha has destroyed Owerri Zone. Look at
how he disgraced Sir Jude Ejiogu out of office.
Look at how he messed up with the Agbaso
family. He does not know how the flyovers look
like. Do you know that the flyovers are five; he
has destroyed Owerri zone. Lands in Owerri
now have no values.
Again, the governor has also said that he
doesn't believe in the zoning of the office of
governor of the state, but rather that the
best candidate should emerge irrespective of
which zone he comes from. What is your
take?
Rochas Okorocha wants to make an Orlu man
governor. Yes, an Orlu man can be governor in
2019 but he can win the war and not win the
peace. Another Orlu man for Governor in 2019
is greed and insensitive to the sensibilities of
Imo people. Okigwe Zone for governor in 2019
is best for Imo charter of equity. If Okigwe zone
does not complete its tenure which was
truncated in 2011, it would be unfair. Let me
tell you, if an Orlu or Owerri Zone person
becomes governor in 2019, it would take
Okigwe zone another 16 years to produce
governor.
Are you saying that it is the turn of Okigwe
Zone in 2019?
An Okigwe zone governor for 2019 is what the
state needs. It will bring peace and usher in
political balance. Okiwge zone must and should
be encouraged to complete its truncated tenure.
We are still infants in democracy, so we must
rotate power. We are yet to get it right. Owerri
zone cannot be governor without addressing the
injustice it did to Okigwe Zone. Okorocha never
won election, it was rigged. I have to complete
my tenure. I forgot something in Government
House. I forgot the Imo master plan in
Government House. I forgot the design for the
flyovers, inner and outer ring roads. With the
plans I have, Imo would have been the number
one economic state in Nigeria by now . Who
will agree to go for only one tenure? Didn't
Okorocha swear before God that he would only
be governor for just one tenure? That he was
condescending to be governor.
A politician from Okigwe Zone, who was
opposing me, also promised to go for one
tenure; he even signed a paper, but everybody
knows that he would have gone for second
tenure if he had won. Rochas Okorocha will
engineer succession plan to Orlu Zone, but only
an Okigwe zone man for governor in 2019 will
engineer the perfect succession plan and hand
over power to the youths.
So, you want to complete your truncated
tenure from 2019?
Some people are asking why should Ohakim
complete his tenure. So why would my own be
different? Emeka Ihedioha was in government
for 16 years, four years of appointments and 12
years of elective positions. Araraume had eight
years. Achike Udenwa was governor for eight
years and Rochas Okorocha will complete eight
years by 2019. So, why will my own be
different?
But your bid to come back to power was not
successful as you lost in the gubernatorial
primaries in 2014
PDP failed at the election because the primary
election was not free and fair. Impunity reigned
supreme. Emeka Ihedioha and Ifeanyi Araraume
rigged the election against me. They imported
people from Ihiala in Anambra State to rig me
out. I won the election, but was denied the
ticket. Do you know that a prominent Imo
traditional ruler led a delegation to me, urging
me to run a joint ticket with my political son,
Emeka Ihedioha, but Ihedioha refused? The
idea was for me to round off my tenure and
start positioning him after two years to take
over from me. He thought he would have his
way through. Do you know that the PDP
candidate for the 2015 governorship election
did not even win Owerri Zone? He won only in
six local government areas, out of the 27 local
government councils in the state. What it
means is that he did not even win Owerri Zone
where he comes from.
Some people said that if you had contested
the Okigwe senatorial seat that you would
have won it. So, why didn't you contest for
the senatorial seat?
Why would I run for the easy position? Who
would run for the strong position? Any time I
want to retire from politics, I will contest for
the senatorial position. If not for the military
coup in the early 90s, I would have contested
for the governorship election . I contested for
governor in 2007 and won, so why should I
contest for senate in 2015, because people
thought that it is easier and that I would have
won? No regrets at all, I won the PDP primary
election and they rigged me out. They brought
people from Ihiala in Anambra state to make
sure that I was rigged out. I am launching a
book very soon, where I will x-ray the people
who have destroyed Imo. I can forgive people. I
fight for justice. I do not fight individuals.
Impunity will destroy our party, PDP. There
was no due process in constituting the 419
caretaker committee. Let me tell you that there
is no difference between Imo PDP and any other
small political party in the state, the same
impunity and injustice which destroyed PDP at
the general elections in the state are re-
surfacing that you would constitute a caretaker
committee and you would not consult the
leaders of the party and you think that you will
succeed? You think you would win election with
it? I would have defeated Rochas Okorocha
without PDP ticket. If I had used the over
N2billion I spent in PDP primary election which
Ihedioha and Araraume rigged in flying the flag
of another political party in the state, no matter
how small it is, I would have defeated
Okorocha.
The truth is that you needed one who has the
kind of capacity I have to have beaten Okorocha
at the last general elections. You need one who
will face Okorocha administration for
administration, structures for structures,
projects for projects, capacity for capacity,
acceptability for acceptability and it was only
myself who has that kind of capacity and
advantage, the youths do not understand the
power play in the state and I pity them.
They need one who will engineer a successful
succession plan and hand over to them after
2019 and only an Okigwe Zone man can do that.
Okigwe Zone for governor in 2019 will restore
Imo charter of equity so that an Owerri man
can be governor afterwards. Everybody should
encourage and support Okigwe zone to complete
its tenure in 2019.
Imo PDP has been embroiled in crisis lately;
as a major stakeholder, what is the root
cause?
It is nothing but impunity. Now, we had earlier
agreed that no caretaker committee would be
constituted till after the Okigwe senatorial zone
re-run election, so that it would not bring
disharmony in the party. But Kema Chikwe and
Emeka Ihedioha connived with Prince Uche
Secondus, who everybody knew was going out,
to quickly constitute the 419 caretaker
committee. It is a failed coup. In Imo State, PDP
has no advantage over other smaller parties
because we don't have the president nor
Governor. The same thing that made us to lose
the 2015 governorship election has started
again; impunity and injustice. They are busy
building structures while the party is dying.
Look at the kangoro caretaker committee, only
two persons are from Okigwe Zone and you say
that PDP is ready to win Imo in 2019? That you
want to constitute a caretaker committee and
you did not consult a political leader like Ikedi
Ohakim? A political party everybody
abandoned and I single handedly rebuilt it
between 2007-2011 and made it attractive and
very formidable. They did not consult a two
time former governor of the state, Achike
Udenwa from Orlu Zone, they did not consult a
former deputy governor, Ada Okwuonu from
Owerri Zone. Let the caretaker committee come
and sit now, let us see.
Now what is your take on the Okigwe senate
re-run election between the APC candidate,
Hon Ben Uwajumogu and his PDP rival Chief,
Athan Achonu?
People should know that the Hausa people who
own APC have rejected it. There is no APC
government in Nigeria today; what we have
now is CPC government. All elections in Nigeria
since after the APC took over, PDP has won over
90 percent. It is a sign that APC has been
rejected and somebody wants us to produce an
APC senator. A party that has been already
rejected by the owners, Hausa people. It is not
about Athan Achonu, it is about the survival of
the zone. Athan Achonu is only a beneficiary of
the realities of the current times. An APC
senator for Okigwe Zone would marginalize us.
What it means is that when all the senators
from South-East, South South gather for
meetings and other political engagements,
Okiwge zone will be missing out. So, we are
fighting for the survival of the zone and Athan
is only a beneficiary of the entire process.
You have been charged by the EFCC for
alleged money laundering. What is actually
the true position?
Look, what I am going through is persecution
and not prosecution; the whole thing is
politically motivated. It is politically induced
and manipulated. It is a political vendetta.
Politicians from Imo State who want me out of
the political scene before 2019 are behind my
EFCC ordeal. They want me out of the political
space before 2019. Their names are in the open.
Yes, it is politically motivated. They wrote the
petitions and it is to get Ikedi Ohakim out of the
political space before the next general elections
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