Keke Operators in Imo State were Tuesday forced to stop operation and declare their support for Governor Rochas Okorocha’s re-election bid in 2015.
Government agents with some security men were seen at the Orlu Road roundabout, stopping the tricycle operators and parking them at the premises of the new international conference centre.
It was also the same situation at the Concorde area where the tricycles were being impounded and kept at Hero’s Square pending when their meeting with the governor ended.
It was gathered that any keke operator who did not want to be part of the meeting, was made to pay the sum of N2000 to go with his tricycle. But because most of them had no such money that time, they all agreed to attend the Okorocha support rally.
The tricycle riders [Keke], under the aegis of Imo Pilots Transport Association [IMPTA] later embarked on demonstration in support for Governor Rochas Okorocha as they chanted songs of solidarity along the major streets of Owerri urging the governor for a second term bid come 2015.
In their address at the end of their rally at the Freedom Square Owerri, the President, comrade Austin Chikere Ojukwu expressed gratitude to the governor for unifying the various Keke Unions under one umbrella known as “Imo Pilots”
The union equally commended Governor Okorocha for good governance and prudence in managing the resources of the state.
This they said had manifested in the numerous dividends of democracy visible in all nooks and crannies of the state.
The President pointed out that Keke Operators had benefited in such areas as provision of free fuel and kerosene, N10 million interest free loan, free Education from Primary to tertiary institution, massive road construction and dualization, construction of inland bridges as well as massive rural roads construction in each of the 27 local government areas among others.
Ojukwu assured the governor of their readiness to support his re-election bid come 2015 and stressed that “the Douglas House is not vacant for another governor come 2015”
He further assured the governor that the Keke Operators have volunteered to assist the state in tracking and checking criminality. He however appealed to the governor to provide the union land allocation for construction of their office complex as well as appoint some of their qualified members into political offices.
Responding, Okorocha thanked the group for their continued support. He recalled that he used the Keke during his first political rally in 2011 and assured them that he will continue to maintain the long standing relationship between him and Keke Operators.
The governor promised to send two keke operators to South Africa for training in Air Plane piloting and further pledged a donation of an official bus to assist the Keke Union in its activities to enable them continue to support him.
