The former governor of Imo state, Chief Ikedi Ohakim has thrown his weight behind the re-election bid of the Imo state governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma.
Ohakim during his interaction with the media in Owerri called on eligible voters in the State to support the re-election bid of the governor during the November 11 governorship election in order to guarantee the implementation of Imo charter of equity.
He maintained that the Imo charter of equity which started in 1998 was only truncated by Senator Rochas Okorocha in 2011.
He said it’s only Uzodimma that can implement the charter as he has only one term to complete his tenure as stipulated by the Constitution for an eight years in office.
Ohakim who traced the historical background of the charter however, blamed the collapse on the lies sold to the Imo people by Okorocha that he would serve only one term as well as promoting false allegation against him of flogging a reverend father, hence the Catholics without proper investigation bought the lies which eventually truncated the charter of equity in the State.
. According to him “Given our experience in 2003 and 2015, forget the aberration of 2011 we have to take into consideration the sitting governor” he said
Ohakim also commended Uzodimma for returning to the stipulation of the charter because it was witnessed under Governor Achike Udenwa and some of the States also paid heed to it.
He opined that if Uzodimma gets his second term through another round of scrambling for power among the three zones, it will again be ‘to your tents oh Isreal’.
Also Ohakim revealed that contrary to the thinking in some quarters that Governor Uzodimma might have engineered the new interest on the Charter, the truth is that it will be impossible to implement it without taking his interest as an incumbent into account,” he stressed.
On insecurity, Ohakim admitted that the situation is worrisome in the State and across the South East, but he exonerated Governor Uzodimma from the insinuations that he deliberately hoisted it in the State.
He noted that Uzodimma is also affected by the insecurity in the state and is doing everything within his means to nip it in the bud.
Ohakim said according to statistics shown by the Nigeria Police, it does not show that Imo has the highest number of crime in the South East.
“As a private citizen, I move around the South East and I can say without any fear of contradiction that on the matter of insecurity, our dear State, Imo, is not worse off. That does not mean that we should give any room for complacency but we should not blackmail ourselves and act in a manner that would rubbish the collective integrity of our dear State and it’s people”.
“I have been personally involved in several meetings on the matter of insecurity in the South East and I know that the governors are doing quite a lot. Whether we like it or not, the matter rests squarely on the shoulders of the Federal Government; which is why I would once again restate my position that in this highly tempestuous time, we need a governor who enjoys a good rapour with the federal authorities as Governor Uzodimma does,” he stated.
Ohakim also seized the opportunity to advice the youths not to allow themselves to be used as tools to destabilise the state but should support the governor in his administration to make the state better.
