Ohakim Govt impactful, Okorocha Destroyed Laid Foundation- Duruiheoma
*Says Uzodinma Is Doing Marvelously Based On what he met on ground
By Charity Uwakwe, Abia
Former Chairman of National Population Commission, NPC, Eze Duruiheoma has alleged that the immediate past administration of Senator Rochas Okorocha rather than drive the state forward, took the state through a process of retrogression.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN while fielding questions from journalists, at his office in Owerri, Imo State’s capital, over the week, regretted that the debris of the failed administration of Okorocha could be felt by all and sundry, as none, he said, was exempted.
The one-time Local Government Council Boss and a former State Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, regretted that although there existed sycophants who, according to him, applauded the immediate past administration, the “state in its entirety still pays the price of the effects.
“Rochas Okorocha took IMO back , Ohakim tried to move it forward but Rochas Okorocha destroyed everything in order to recreate Imo State in his own image and in so doing, everything suffered and everybody suffered, including the civil service suffered.
“Some people applauded him, he was busy moving heavy equipment here and there. We are paying the price today.
The Senior Legal Practitioner who despite the odds, exonerated the incumbent Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, blamed the abnormalities as suffered by the people under the APC government on Okorocha’s government.
He argued that the government of Okorocha destroyed the foundation laid by his predecessors all in his zeal to replicate his image in the State, stressing that:
“Okorocha didn’t lay any foundation; Okorocha destroyed the foundation that was laid before him so any Governor taking over after Okorocha has so many many years to recover. There was just nothing Okorocha did that was right except all those show-show things; he didn’t build any quality house, he didn’t build any quality road, so if you are mentioning, except those who want to play politics and I have told you am not playing politics. I’m an Elder Statesman, I am looking at things the way they are and not the way any politician who wants to score a political point will see it.
UZODINMA IS DOING A MARVELOUS JOB BASED ON WHAT HE MET ON GROUND
However, the former chairman of the People’s Democratic Party PDP, lauded the the APC led administration in the state, insisting that, “within the context of what Hope Uzordinma found on the ground on assumption of office, he is doing a marvelous job.
Duruiheoma who relieved Uzodinma of all blames as leveled against him, describing same as unjust, expressed displeasure over the protracted menace of Ebube Agu against citizens of the State.
It could be recalled that many have accused the incumbent Governor of taking pleasure in the brutal massacring of Imolites, which was presumably alleged to have been masterminded by him.
Also various Media houses, virtually on daily basis had reported, amidst dismay, the incessant, brutal massacring of Imolites by Ebube Agu Security Outfit, which lasted between the year 2021 and 2022.
Meanwhile, describing the situation as worrisome, he maintained that the act of accusing the Governor without having substantial facts to back up one’s assumptions, was unjust.
Hear him: “On the issue of insecurity nobody is happy about it, but it is unfair to my mind, being objective to blame it on him unless anybody has evidence…I don’t have any evidence to say he’s responsible for the killings, I don’t have such evidence”, he restated.
Asked what he he knew about the bloodbath that occured all through the years 2021 and 2022 in the State and the alleged role of the government in perpetrating the heinous act through Ebube Agu, he said:
“Like I said earlier when it comes to such matters, I’m a Lawyer and my training tells me that before I come to conclusion of any thing, I must have the best facts.
Speaking further, he added: It is sheer emotion that leads people to make conclusions without sufficient evidence. I will not condone any manner of killing by anybody. I will not do that.
But, I will not say anyobody did it without being sure of the fact so that is my simple reaction to that.
Asked whether the lives and property of Imolites could still be entrusted to the hands of Uzodinma, hence his bid for a reelection, Duruihuoma said:
“Let me simplify or reduce Governance for you and for the average Igbo man.
“I have had occasion to say this thing so many times; the Average Igbo man is not looking for anybody to spoon feed him; the average Igbo man wants to wake up in the morning, attend to his business, in a climate that is conducive for the thriving of that particular business that’s an average Igbo for you.
“So what the average Igbo man is looking for in Government is not what his counterparts in other parts of the country are looking for.
“These people are looking for Government to do this and that for them, in order words, what do we need here, any Government that does it, in our rating and assessment has done well, what is it? Provide roads, there was a time when electricity was the in thing and that was why most politicians said I would come out to say, I’ll give you road, water etc. But, unfortunately so many years later, we are still talking about the same thing.
“So, as far as I’m concerned, if you measure success in Government or achievements by a Governor in terms of infrastructure, Hope is on the right path. It doesn’t matter whether you like his face or not; he has taken up the task head on and then the examples are not far to find; the road from Orlu to Owerri and from Owerri to Orlu is a very good example; quality in aspects and that was something Okorocha for each year in Okorocha’s eight years, work was going on, on that road, for each year in the eight years of Okorocha, we will always find some people doing one thing or the other on that road at the end of the day, he produced nothing.
“The most scandalous thing Okorocha did, one of them was to heap laterites on the roads during the raining seasons; you heap latitude in the morning at night it will rain and wash it away and then tomorrow they start to same thing all over again that is part of what Okorocha did.
Below are some of the excerpts from the interview:
Q: Now, can Hope Uzodinma be seen as the long awaited Messiah to rescue Imolites, sir?
Resp: Hope is not a messiah; nobody is a Messiah but if you have to compare him with some of the people who have been on the saddle in recent times including Okorocha, Hope is so many poles apart.
Q: Sir, with the November 2023 gubernatorial election on mind, and placing side-by-side the incumbent Governor with the PDP candidate, who do you consider more suitable to drive the vehicle of Imo State?
Resp: Well, let me just simply talk about, Sam daddy. Sam daddy is my friend for I cannot bad mouth him. Sam daddy and his deputy are my friends. In fact, I can also proudly claim that I played a role in their emergence but that is not what I am talking about now; I am talking about Governance.
“You see, in terms of Governance, Hope is completing four years and most people will agree that four years ordinarily will not be enough to live a legacy behind and you don’t go into Government and come out without leaving things to be remembered for.
