By Valentine Amanze
Former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has assured the Ghana President-elect, Mr. Nana Akufo Addo, of Nigeria’s support. He also advised the president-elect to run the affairs of Ghana justly when he assumes office.
The former president spoke in Owerri, the Imo State capital, during the “Imo Day of Thanksgiving” at the Hero’s Square, with Addo in attendance. While urging Addo to strengthen the relationship between Nigeria and Ghana, Obasanjo said that he was delighted to join Imo people in thanking God for what their governor has achieved in the state.
He said that he was amazed to see a new Owerri town.
His words: “Rochas Okorocha was my unpaid adviser who helped me in most of the good policies I initiated as a president. I want to congratulate him because he has changed the face of Owerri. I know this city very well. As I came in today I came to ask, is this the Owerri that I used to know or another Owerri?”.
But the Ghana President-elect, Addo, at the event said, “The relationship between Nigeria and Ghana should be an example of good relationship to the rest of West Africa. I am determined, following the mandate my people have conferred on me to do everything to establish good relations with the leadership of this great country, Nigeria, because together we can work for the construction of a better Africa.
“We Ghanaians value so much our relationship with Nigeria which dates back years ago. And the stronger the relationship, the better for the rest of African region. I cherish the progressive zeal I have seen in Rochas. In the next four years I hope to improve on the living standards of the Ghana people”.
Responding, Governor Rochas Okorocha said that the Imo Day of Thanksgiving was not for APC members in the state only but for the whole of Imo people irrespective of political affiliations, adding that the thanksgiving was organized for Imo people to thank God for what he has done for the state and its people, using him as the tool.
He said that all that his administration has achieved in the state would not have been possible without God, while thanking the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and President-elect of Ghana, Nana Akufor Addo, for honouring the invitation of the government and people of the state.
Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, who was the chairman of the occasion, described Okorocha as a statesman, who knows when to play politics and when to offer leadership to his people, adding that as the governor of the state, he has never discriminated against people on party basis.
