POOR IMO STATE

At the debate organised by the Nigerian Union of Journalists for gubernatorial candidates‎ in Imo recently Governor Okorocha disclosed that Imo was a poor state. He disclosed that after paying salaries, all that was left of the monthly allocation from Abuja was 400 million Naira.

Four years ago, after he was elected, he always used every opportunity to declare that Imo was a rich state with plenty of money. 

Money which according to him was mismanaged by the Ohakim administration which he said spent the money on champagne and other indulgences.

 The people believed him.

That is why they were surprised by the declaration that Imo is poor state

Okorocha went on to tell the Debate audience that the "massive" projects he had undertaken were made possible because of the astute manner he had managed the meagre finances.

 As is usual with Okorocha,he did not tell the whole story.

He did not mention how much accrued to the state from other sources such as the Excess Crude , Millenium Development Goals , Education Trust,Ecological, Isopadec, and Local Government Funds among others.

 In the case of the last two, he seized the money and said he was saving it for them. 

The Local governments and the oil producing areas should ask him about their saved money which should have come to a huge sum after four years.

‎ Rochas also failed to mention how much had accrued to the state from its investments and  assets which he had leased out.

He did not disclose that he had inherited some money from his predecessor or how much he had borrowed.

Imo state is indeed a poor state. 

It is impoverished by Okorocha's un planned and reckless expenditure, high living and plain thievery‎.

Projects are not ‎thought through or planned. 

An example being the twenty seven teaching hospitals the government planned to build in all the local government areas. 

When Okorocha realised how ridiculous the proposal was he scaled them down to General hospitals. 

This was at a time he was selling off the eight general hospitals in the state because his government could not run or maintain them and their staff went unpaid for months. 

If he could not run eight existing hospitals, one can't help but wonder how he is going to be able to equip, staff and run twenty seven new hospitals. 

At the end of the day, the structures built at great cost will end up being inhabited by reptiles.

Okorocha's high living is costing the state a lot. Before now, Imo Governors travelled to Abuja and other locations within the country on commercial planes along with ordinary people.

Since he became Governor, Okorocha has never travelled on a commercial plane. 

All his trips have been by chartered private jets, hired for 2.5 million Naira for each trip.

 Considering the number of times he travels, plane charter must leave a big hole in the state's finances. 

So also has his Presidential project which he financed with state funds

 Many have questioned why Okorocha unilaterally, without seeking approval from anyone spent a whooping 4 Billion Naira to upgrade the Government House.

That was not the biggest problem facing the state, nor was the project necessary considering that previous Governors had lived there comfortably and happily.

The brazen theft of Government money running into billions through payment of huge mobilisation fees for useless projects which are soon abandoned or for non existent projects has contributed in no small way to the impoverishment our state. Examples include the Five star hotels in each of the three senatorial zones of the state, the multilevel car park and the high rise residential skyscrapers to mention a few.

With all the uncontrolled and reckless expenditure going on in the state, one is not surprised that‎ Imo state is broke or poor to quote it's Chief Executive. 

The situation must be really bad for the Governor to be facing an election almost two weeks into the new month and workers have not been paid for the previous month. Some have not been paid for months. As for Pensioners and Contractors, their ‎own is a sad story.

This is a taste of things to come. 

If Rochas is re- elected, the recklessness and impunity will increase as he will not be asking anyone for another mandate. 

Such impunity and recklessness will make life really difficult. 

Nobody wants that.  This is why Okorocha must be voted out on Saturday. 

God bless you as you vote. Remember,  Ka o puo!

Government By Deceit.

Shortly after Go‎vernor Rochas Okorocha  assumed office, he introduced what he called the Imo Anthem to be sung  in schools and at every occasion where the National Anthem is played.

 The wording of the anthem was apt and the tune melodious. It was what the people wanted to hear. 

 Soon it was on the lips of many, especially students who had to sing it every day. 

Some of its verses are reproduced here: 

Imo my state,

Great state, my state, Land of Wisdom, Peace and Unity

O Lord my God

 We cannot do without you

Grant our leaders the wisdom to lead us

Rule of Law

Rule of Law in our time

Rule of Law,

This is our prayer

Corruption must stop

must stop in our time

Corruption must stop, this is our prayer

Education must be free

Must be free in our time

Education must be free

This is our prayer

Imo must be better, must be better in our time, 

Imo must be better 

This is our prayer

Voice of the People

Voice of  the People

Voice of God

Voice of God

No shaking.

While the people were singing Rochas was busy doing ‎every thing but what the song was about.

 In short the people were singing a lie.

There has been no rule of Law under his tenure

 Rochas ignored the Procurement law, declaring  that he did not believe in Due Process and going ahead to spend the state funds as he saw fit. 

 He single handedly awarded contracts running into billions without recourse to anyone. Paid very hefty mobilisation fees for projects of dubious value with some of the contractors absconding with the mobilisation fees. 

He took some of the money himself,  to go to China to buy school uniforms including sandals and furniture, and to refurbish the Government House at the cost of four billion to mention a few.

 In the area of land matters. He bastardised the existing Master plan, converting open spaces and streets to plots allocating them to his relations and cronies as well himself. 

Revocation and reallocation of land previously allocated to other people by earlier governments has been the order of the day with Rochas working through his son in law who he appointed the commissioner of Lands, to allocate land to themselves through proxies, only to turn around and sell the lands. 

In many cases, people's land is seized for no reason. 

Rochas  destroyed property running in hundreds of millions in places like Orlu, Akokwa, OsinaN Anara, Amaraku and along the road from Owerri to Orlu and in many parts of Owerri capital without due process and without paying any compensation to anybody.

In the civil service, appointments, promotions and retirements or dismissals were not done in line with laid down procedure, only according to the whims of almighty Rochas. 

He  tampered with the third tier of government, the Local government by trying to outlaw Town unions and introducing what he calls community government which is not in the constitution and which has refused to work. 

Okorocha is renowned for his blatant disregard and disdain for court orders and processes. 

So where is the rule of law in his government?

The part where the song talks about stopping corruption is a joke. The present administration will go down in history as the most corrupt. Evidence of this can be seen in how much property Okorocha, his siblings, cronies and members of his inner cirle have amassed in the past four years. They have gone about this in a most brazen manner, not caring what anyone may feel

 Okorocha apologists say he was wealthy before he became Governor.

 Maybe so, but the fact remains that he was very heavily indebted to some banks to the tune of several billions on naira and most of his property was mortgaged to these banks.

 After one year in office he had paid off his debts and still has money to keep acquiring more property all over the world.

 All those around him including people who could not even meet their rent obligations before 2011, have become multi millionaires, buying up houses left right and centre.

 Where is the money coming from?

 Okorocha's government saw more money than the previous two administrations put together. 

With the price of oil at more than 100 dollars for most of his regime, the money from the Excess Crude account was huge as was the Isopadec funds. 

Other monies such as Ecological fund, VAT and Local Government allocations among others were all coming and they were cornered by Okorocha.

 Despite all these and the 13 billion Naira he inherited from Ohakim, Imo under Okorocha is heavily indebted to the banks. 

What is there to show for all the money apart from a few shine shine projects situated along the road where the can be seen and some incomplete and uncompletable projects he has embarked on?

What about the scams in Imo Transport Corporation, Adapalm,Concorde Hotel, Ministry of Lands and others to mention a few?

The grandest deceit of all is Okorocha's so called free education.

 How can he say Education is free when he is deducting a per‎centage of workers salaries every month to fund education? 

How can education be free when the students of Imo state university are paying incredible sums as'Acceptance fee'. 

The fee covers what the students were paying as acceptance and school fees before the introduction of free education. 

The founding fathers of IMSU established it to help cope with the large numbers of Imo students, who though qualified were denied admission every year due to such reasons as catchment area. 

Now, for Okorocha to be able to fund his dubious free education, more non indigenes are being admitted so they can pay the fees Imo indigenes are not paying.  

The result is that we are back to where we started, with our qualified children being rejected in their own state university. The cost of this policy is the thousands of  qualified Imo youths who cannot get into the school. How can they say education is free when students are required to pay 20,000 Naira to get cheques for the sum of 100,000 Naira, which they now present as their fees. 

How can education be free when the state is paying greatly for it in terms of falling standards of education. 

The performance of students from the state in all national exams has fallen greatly from the commanding heights of the past. 

There are not enough qualified teachers. The ones who have retired or died have not been replaced. 

The poor funding or non funding of education in the name of free education is taking  a great toll on the state.

 If you are paying a great price for something how can anybody say it is free? Payment does not always have to be cash. It could be in the form of missed opportunities and inferior education owing to poor standards.

Most people will testify that the only people Imo has been better for these past four years are Okorocha and his family and friends, who have truly rescued themselves from poverty, while at the same time plunging the state into the deep abyss of poverty and debt. 

Another four years of Okorocha and his deceit will bring irreparable ruin to Imo. Please vote for change in Imo. Vote out Rochas Okorocha.‎ Ka o puo!

THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA: IGBO'S SPEAK

The Igbo Conversational Group (ICG) wishes to, first and foremost, congratulate Nigerians for the successful conduct of the presidential and national assembly election held on March 28, 2015. ICG wishes to place on record the high sense of patriotism and maturity displayed by Nigerians across the country during the election.
ICG also commends the leaders of the different political parties for maintaining decorum and shunning precipitate acts. We enjoin all stakeholders to look forward to the remaining plank of the general election with great optimism and remain steadfast in their determination to uphold the collective integrity of our dear country, Nigeria
THE PRESIDENT-ELECT
ICG congratulates the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari GCFR and the All Progressives Congress (APC). We further thank the President-elect for sending a delegation led by Professor Pat Utomi, to our conversation meeting in Enugu on the 21st of March 2015, a few days before the presidential election in spite of his very busy schedule.
Agreed that conceding to demands made at the eve of an election is a common trait among politicians, it needs no exaggeration to state that the President–elect is a politician of a rare mould. We have no doubt in our minds, whatsoever, that, going by his antecedents, the President-elect was under no pressure in agreeing to look into the plight of the Igbo. Needless to say, we firmly believe that he will live up to his promises and go ahead to offer the Igbo a much needed leverage that will enable them fully tap their enormous individual and collective potentials, as canvassed by ICG in our previous statements.
In spite of the imperatives and nuances of electoral contest, the ICG expects the President-elect to be magnanimous in victory. He should take immediate and practical steps to allay all the fears hitherto held about his personality and every allegation of a fixated mind over some sections of the country. And because the entire country is his constituency, no part should be seen as an underdog. Above all, he must consult deeply and widely and be a good listener.
As against what was bandied during the campaigns, wisdom comes with age and as such Nigerians expect to reap from the Buhari presidency all the benefits that are accrue to a people when a fellow who has been schooled in wisdom and maturity mounts the saddle.
In Buhari, Nigeria expect to have her own Lee Quan Yu (Singapore), Gen. Park Chung-Lee (South Korea) and Deng Xiaoping (1904 -1997) China. The President-elect is mounting the saddle when the country has just entered into a deep economic crisis. With our oil no longer attractive to the rest of the world, it needs no exaggeration to state that the new leadership must be creative and assertive in fashioning out a new blueprint for national economic revival.
MATTERS OF URGENCY
Without prejudice to the existing manifesto of his party, ICG believes that there already exists a concise agenda that the President-elect must as a matter of urgency pursue in order to return the country to the path of sanity, equity, justice and rule of law. As it concerns Ndi Igbo, this priority agenda should include but not limited to:
(i) Boko Haram Insurgency:
It is needless to dwell in any details on the Boko Haram insurgency since the President-elect had even before his election assured Nigerians that Boko Haram will be a thing of the past as soon as he is elected. ICG believes he has what it takes to live up to expectations in this regard so that Ndi Igbo can go back to their businesses in the affected areas having lost over $7b.
(ii) Reviving the Economy:
On the economy, the ICG believes that the issues are so fundamental to warrant mere pontifications. What ICG expects the incoming administration to do will be to pursue a line of action that will include inputs from knowledgeable Nigerians irrespective of partisan inclination.
(iii) Addressing Injustice To The Igbo:
The ICG in a widely advertised statement in several national dailies, especially ThisDay, the Daily Sun and The Nation of Thursday 19th March, 2015 highlighted several issues which we wanted the presidential candidates to address.
As indicated earlier in this statement, the President-elect had in an interactive session with Ndi Igbo including a delegation of ICG resource persons, agreed to make these issues one of the priorities of his administration. For emphasis, however, we represent below an abridged version of the issues concerned.
(1) ELECTRICITY
Aba Integrated Power Project
In 2005, the Federal Government under President Obasanjo concessioned the Aba metropolis to the investors of this 141MW plant in Aba as a security for financing the project. The then President convinced many Igbo investors who rushed and set up various plants/factories on the understanding that this power plant will see the light of the day.
The plant was completed by M/S Geometric Consortium with state-of-the-art equipment from General Electric (GE) with an investment of over N100b since 15 months ago.
Unfortunately M/S BPE went ahead to double concession the same zone. The plant cannot take off. The investors are crying, unemployed youths are crying, Igbos are crying. This conspiracy and injustice must be addressed by the in-coming administration as soon as possible.
(2) ADDITIONAL TWO STATES
This issue was dealt with elaborately in the earlier statement by ICG and needs no emphasis here. Happily, it is one of the issues the President-elect promised to look into during his interaction with Ndi Igbo in Onitsha.
(3) ABANDONED PROPERTY
Over 85% of property belonging to Ndi Igbo in Rivers State, remain classified as abandoned property 45 years after the end of the civil war. The Igbo demands that the incoming administration should look into this matter as a top priority and bring to a closure this festering wound which remains an embarrassment to Nigeria. Under no circumstance should it be acceptable that the property of a Nigerian citizen is called abandoned property in any part of the federation. The ICG calls on the in-coming federal government to review this injustice as a matter of urgency.
(4) SECOND NIGER BRIDGE
The ICG has earlier noted that the decision of the federal government to prosecute the second Niger Bridge project on a private-public sector (PPP) arrangement is against the interest of Ndi Igbo. We urge the in-coming government to review this immediately. The second Niger Bridge is the only project under the N400 billion national intervention project of 2005 that is being handled as a PPP arrangement. In the alternative, we demand that South-east share of the intervention project be channeled to the development of Osemoto seaport.
(5) THE OSEMOTO SEA PORT
We wish to seize this opportunity to restate our demand that the federal government should as a matter of urgency revitalize the proposed sea port in Osemoto, Imo state.
> Osemoto (Oguta LGA, Imo State) and Oseakwa (Ihiala LGA, Anambra State) is the deepest natural harbour in Nigeria and will offer real naval and marine transportation platforms if developed.
Most interestingly the ADB report shows that it lies only 18 nautical miles to Atlantic Ocean and will be a strategic hub for oil and gas industry and inland dry docking to promote trade and create employment. Above all, it open the Igbo land to the sea.
In addition, it will open up more than 3,000 square kilometers of the most fertile agricultural land that has one of the highest alluvial deposits which has been in existence for well over a million years.
The Osemoto deep sea port and all the associated industry will create well over two million jobs for our teeming unemployed youths.
(6) GENERAL ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE
The ICG demands that in addition to the immediate rehabilitation of all federal roads in the Southeast with high economic value, we would like the Buhari administration to complete the Otuocha-Mmiata-Kogi Road. This road is less than 150km and will knock off about 3 hours from every journey from the South-east to Abuja. This road was awarded to Nigercat in 2009 under President Shehu Musa Yar’Adua administration but curiously the Federal Government has not shown any interest in completing this project of high economic value to Ndi Igbo.
IGBO IN THE NEW DISPENSATION
The outcome of the 2015 presidential election has introduced a new vista to Igbo politics. Without any exaggerations, Ndigbo stand to benefit immensely from the change that has just taken place, in the sense that the new era will re-define Igbo politics more positively. Presidential power may become less accessible to Ndi Igbo but the current state of affairs offers an opportunity for a new and purposeful leadership to emerge in Igbo land.
This new leadership must be people who will have the guts and intellectual capacity to become a credible opposition to the new dispensation if need be. In the new dispensation, politics of money and contract will have no place and in this regard, ICG is of the firm belief that the Igbo will be the biggest beneficiaries.
Consequently, the ICG, calls on Igbo youth to see the opportunity offered by the current development in the country to be more proactive and begin to think of ways of ridding Igbo land of the near zero intellectual content in its politics. Igbo youths should seize the present opportunity to come to the fore front on the fight against injustice to the Igbo.
PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN
ICG commends President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan GCFR for his comportment and deep sense of accomodation. Nigerians will forever remember him for steadfastly upholding democratic ethics and allowing space for every player.
President Jonathan came to power when the nation was in a big quagmire and it is to his credit that the country had a smooth transition following the sudden demise of his predecessor, the late President Umaru, Yar’Adua. We salute him for his courage in conceding defeat while asking that he should remain available for the country to tap from his experience.
INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC)
The ICG is satisfied with the outcome of the presidential election and urge Nigerians to accept the result. ICG wishes to congratulate the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for being able to overcome the initial challenges to give the country a credible election at the end.
IGBO IN THE DIASPORA
ICG commends Ndigbo residing outside Igbo land especially in the North part of Nigeria for seeing the wisdom in keying into the movement that gave rise to what we are witnessing today. By that singular act, they have created a conducive atmosphere for preserving the age long tie between them and their fellow compatriots in the North and the Southwest. Contrary to the picture painted during the campaigns, Ndigbo have shown that they have no issues with General Buhari or with their brothers up North.
ICG expects that in the days ahead, the symbiotic relationship that exists between the Igbo residing outside Igbo land and their hosts will become even more mutually beneficial. ICG commends Igbo politicians and members of the intelligentsia who supported and worked towards the Buhari project. We commend patriotic Nigerians in other parts of the country, especially the South-west led by the indefatigable Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (Governor Lagos State 1999 – 2007) who saw the wisdom in the alliance that gave rise to the present moment.
GENERAL
We congratulate General Muhammadu Buhari GCFR once more. We know that as a leader whose transparent lifestyle and synchronicity between words and deeds are so eloquent that the last campaign couldn’t sink his reputation.
Igbo Conversational Group (ICG) believes that the new era can become the foundation of Nigeria’s march into a secured future of prosperity and political stability.
While pledging to give the President-elect all necessary support, the ICG will employ every legitimate means to ensure that the Igbo are no longer however denied access to the common patrimony. We pledge to engage all the relevant authorities constructively with an abiding faith in the unity and overall economic prosperity of the country at large.
THIS IS THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA.
Long Live Igbo!
Long Live Nigeria!
Long Live Democracy!
Signed for and on behalf of:
IGBO CONVERSATIONAL GROUP (ICG)
1. H.E. Dr. Ikedi Ohakim
(Chief Convener)
2. Nze Chidi Duru
3. His Lordship Bishop Blaise Iwuogo
4. Barrister (Dr.) Chike F. Maduekwe

BUHARI'S VICTORY: SAFEGUARDING THE IGBO INTEREST

The Igbos used to be one of the most formidable of the tripod that held Nigeria together, and to a large extent decided its fate. But unfolding political dynamics make it obvious that the Igbos are fast losing grip of their hallowed place in Nigeria's political equation. Chief Ikedi Ohakim foresaw what happened today, at least several months ago. He made every effort to ensure that the Igbo interest is well protected within the outgoing PDP government led by President Goodluck Jonathan and his entreaties were rebuffed by those who feel they own Goodluck Jonathan more than Nigeria owns him.
Some weeks ago, Ikedi Ohakim went public with his concerns over the chances of Jonathan's re-election and charged the President to ensure that he does the needful to ensure that most of the leaders of the Party who are aggrieved are made to return to the Party. In an article he titled; OBASANJO: WHAT HAPPENED?, the former Governor of Imo State decried the high level mistakes by the Party leadership which made it possible for the Party to lose some of its most valuable leaders across the Federation, culminating in the public shredding of Obasanjo's PDP membership card, which he likened to a father tearing his child's birth certificate, which can be interpreted as the father repudiating the child. Ohakim called the President and the Party leadership's attention to the reality that a handsome amount of PDP leaders have torn their own Party cards in the privacy of their bedrooms, the huge deficit in votes which President Jonathan suffered in most PDP ruled States confirmed this.
When Ohakim's efforts at salvaging his Party's fortunes were rebuffed, he discarded his partisanship like Obasanjo and began to look for ways to ensure that the Igbos extracted the best deals possible for the emerging political leadership in Nigeria. While not a tribal Lord, Ohakim was disturbed by the obvious retrenchment of the Igbos in Nigerian politics of the day. He forgot about being a member of any political Party and concerned himself with fighting for equity for the Igbo nation. He understood that Nigeria can only survive if all the groups within the country are treated fairly.
His decision to convene the Igbo Conversational Group attracted some flak from those who did not care about the Igbo interest but were and are still more concerned about their personal interests. When Ohakim released a document which was titled 2015 AND THE IGBO QUESTION: AGWO NO NA AKIRIKA, he called attention to the glaring injustices and marginalization which the Igbo ethnic group and especially the Southeast region suffered under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, notwithstanding the massive support which the Igbos have given the President and the Peoples Democratic Party, since its inception in 1998. Ohakim spearheaded an unprecedented mobilization of the Igbos to ask the right questions before throwing their support behind any of the presidential candidates. He reminded the Igbos that politics is all about negotiations and bargains and not blind followership. The reality is that, President Goodluck Jonathan took the support of Ndi Igbo for granted, and we needed to let him understand that. Ohakim gave him an opportunity to correct that, but he kept dragging his feet till it became too late.
Instead of taking up the points raised by the Igbo Conversational Group based on its merits or otherwise, some acclaimed PDP leaders from the Southeast and elsewhere started a hate campaign against Ohakim, accusing him of anti-party activities and even making moves to suspend him from the PDP. In response to their concerns, Ohakim made it clear to them that he is first an Igbo man before becoming a PDP member, hence, he has to advance the Igbo interest beyond that of the Party. He made it clear to all who cared to listen that he can stop being a member of the PDP, but will never cease being an Igbo man.
It is to Ohakim's credit that the Igbo nation will not be completely relegated in the unfolding scheme of things. Without any of the Igbo States producing an APC Senator, the chances of an Igbo Senate presidency is ruled out and the reality that there is no ranking legislator of Igbo extraction who won election into the House of Representatives also blurs the chances of an Igbo becoming the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The deputy Senate presidency and deputy speakers positions which the Igbos had in their kitty have also eluded us. What then, shall the Igbo's get in the coming federal government? A situation where the Igbos will fail to take any sensitive position within the federal government will be very disastrous to our political survival as a people. If we do not get a sensitive political position, we can at least ensure that we get good infrastructural allocations. If the coming federal government picks up that Ohakim document in which he pointed out the several areas where the Igbos are being shortchanged and addresses those concerns, then, our complaints can be less.
By Onwuasoanya Fcc Jones