http://allafrica.com/stories/201009300690.html
http://allafrica.com/stories/201009300690.html
September 2010
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Abuja — Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State yesterday said the shut down of Concorde Hotel, scheduled to be the venue of the South-East Political Stakeholders Summit last Monday, was occasioned by a security report which indicated that the hotel was targeted to be razed down.
While he admitted knowledge of the lock out, he said that he informed those scheduled to attend the meeting in the interest of their security to either relocate the venue of the meeting or postpone it, noting that the lock out was not in any way political or vindictive.
Speaking at the conference organised by LEADERSHIP newspaper yesterday, Gov Ohakim said that in his capacity as the leader of the state, he assented to the lockdown move because if he had allowed any Igbo leader to be hurt he would have been dead politically.
Reacting however, the secretary of Igbo Political Forum, and one of those who were locked out of the hotel, Chyna Nwanyanwu, questioned why the state government refused to arrest the culprits after it knew about the arson plans. He asked the governor to say the truth about what transpired.
The governor said "now what is every where today is Igbo leaders, locked out in Owerri. Anything that concerns Ohakim makes headline. There was no order from above and there was no order from below. The locked up or locked out was not political or vindictive. As days go by, the truth will come out and it will make me more popular.
"If you look at today's papers starting from LEADERSHIP, it states that President orders for the rescue of school children, what you would have seen this morning is that President orders the rescue of Igbo leaders kidnapped in Owerri or President mourns the death of Igbo leaders attending conference in the capital of Imo State. Which one would you have preferred?.
"I would not tell you that Ikedi Ohakim did not know that people were prevented from meeting If I say that I am not fit to be the Governor of Imo State, I knew about it and I did inform those involved for their own safety that they needed to relocate or postpone the meeting.
"That was the advise of the leader of the state and the leader of the security in the state. Those who were matching to burn down Concord Hotel, an investment of over N5 million and today the value of that hotel will not be less than N20 million and if they had burnt it down, they had burnt the asset of Imo State and if I left any of the Igbo leaders to be killed or hurt, I am finished politically," he said.
He however commend the security people for "rising up to that challenge and prevented that investment from been burnt down" even as he apologized "to our Igbo leaders, my fathers, brothers and uncles who suffered that inconvenience and that inconvenience was for their safety when their inquiry comes out people will know the truth and that is last comment I will make on the issue."
Political heavy weights of Igbo extraction had scheduled to meet at the famous hotel to chart the course of the region ahead of the 2011 election, but they were stunned when they were denied entry into the hotel. Admits speculations of political scheming, the presidency distanced itself from the lock down of the hotel.
Copyright © 2010 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
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Has Ohakim done the right thing?.

That's absolute thrash from Ohakim. If there were threats as he has claimed the best move would have been to notify the Police and let them do their job. Provide extra security around the hotel and assign special detective around the airport and other such places.

This excuse does not hold water at all.

ohakim is a bloody liar.

I pity my Imo state brothers who elected a foolish man as their governor.

@MetalGong4
You and I hardly see eye to eye, but Ohakim is a buffoon for a governor in my book - something we agree on finally. However, I must say that he is probably telling the truth here.

There was no real reason to shut down those meetings in Owerri and Abuja because it would really be strange behavior for President Jonathan - he is simply not that kind of person no matter how much politics he seems to be playing these days.

I think the shutdown of those meetings are related to the bombings in Abuja today. It has been reported that the government had intelligence about a bombing, but did not know where and when. They might have been exercising extreme caution, groping in the dark as usual, by shutting down potential targets - which would include these two meetings.

It is possible that Ohakim lies again, but I don't see how stopping these meetings produced positives for President Jonathan. See my point?

MetalGong4:

I pity my Imo state brothers who elected a foolish man as their governor.

MetalGong4:

I pity my Imo state brothers who elected a foolish man as their governor.

No one elected him. He even testified to this fact sometime ago. He has let me down greatly.

okeymadu:

That's absolute thrash from Ohakim. If there were threats as he has claimed the best move would have been to notify the Police and let them do their job. Provide extra security around the hotel and assign special detective around the airport and other such places.

This excuse does not hold water at all.

WORD.

Ohakim made more sense before he tried to explain.