Imo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Emeka Felix Ebiliekwe, has refuted claims by the immediate past governor, Rochas Okorocha, that he handed over N48 billion to his successor, Governor Emeka Ihedioha.
Okorocha recently claimed during an interview granted to one of the national dailies that in spite of leaving N48 billion, he was still being vilified and haunted by his successor.
However, in a statement yesterday, Ebiliekwe maintained that the claims of the former governor were not only false but that he has been entangled in his self-ululation and hyped achievements, which only exist in his imagination.
“Contrary to the hyped assessment of himself, the former government presided over by Senator Okorocha was indeed a disaster in governance, as could be easily assessed by the open expression of joy for the coming of Ihedioha, against the plethora of negative reactions of Imo people that trailed the exit of Okorocha from government.
“On the area of infrastructure reeled out by Okorocha, he claimed he performed more than all the past governors, and that no governor can surpass his achievements in office, or even get close to 50 per cent. He even went further to challenge the incumbent governor in that regard.
“On the aspect of leaving money behind, Okorocha said he left behind N48.5 billion. Okorocha said ‘they have no reason to fight me because I left a huge sum of money for them. I left N48.5 billion in the coffers, which should be enough to take off’.
“Now, this is hilarious, coming from one that owed pensioners, and civil servants, even contractors that did shoddy jobs for him, including a lot of garnishee orders, which ran into billions and obtained against government, due largely to his recklessness in office. His laying claims to leaving money behind in such circumstances is laughable. So, how can any reasonable person justify this, that you had such money you lay claim to tucked away, while unable to meet your basic obligations at the same time, this is indeed a clear case of hallucination?”
In that interview, Okorocha laid claims to massive infrastructural development in the state during his stewardship in Imo State.
“That is showcasing his hollowness in understanding the basic principles of governance. The truth is that raising substandard structures, more of mere block works doesn’t equate to building hospitals. That he is laying claims to building 27 general hospitals in Imo, smacks more of one suffering from amnesia of the highest order. How on earth does a mere warehouse equate to a hospital? I think it is only in the chequered imagination of Okorocha.
“Then again the roads he is priding himself of constructing, majority of which are themselves already washed away, indicative of their poor standards. Are we to talk about the tunnels he built that look more like rabbit holes and always waterlogged, same that have been adjudged by engineers of having structural defects, and more of a disaster waiting to happen, which prompted the present government, due to the outcry and professional advice from engineers to shut them down to avoid catastrophic consequences.
“Is it the overhead bridges, which foundations were laid by the Ohakim administration, for which Okorocha jettisoned the standard and completed same in his usual substandard manner, which as we speak now is being totally closed to vehicular movement, because of the structural defects. Same applies to the collapsed bridge leading to his hometown in Ideato.
“The schools he claimed he built, majority of them are homes to reptiles of different kinds, simply because teachers, pupils and students are afraid studying in them, obviously due to poor standards and structural defects noticed, as most of them are now merely relics of themselves, because they’ve never been inhabited, yet, the walls are cracking and the roofs leaking.
“All these substandard structures were built at whopping costs, all designed as conduit pipes to siphon the commonwealth of Imo people; Okorocha talked of erecting an insignificant Akachi statue, a statue built at a whopping cost of more than N700 million, now, these are unprofitable means via which he robbed Imo dry, does one need to begin to mention the humongous amounts he wasted on building mere block works, warehouses that have absolutely no economic value to the state, all in the bid to be seen as working.