Since the beginning of the current administration of His Excellency Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, Imolites have been studying the actions of this government to understand the policy direction and to avoid making hasty conclusions as we did at the inception of the previous administration.
However, the former governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha has taken it upon himself to act as opposition by unleashing propaganda after propaganda to distract the current administration from fulfilling its obligation of returning Imo State back to its enviable heights. It will be a mockery of our sensibilities as Imolites that the rescue mission team continues this show of shame in the name of opposition after they traumatized, brutalized and grossly abused our mandate while in power. They had the opportunity to be on the winning side of the future but instead messed it up with greed and selfishness.
The most fraudulent Government we have ever witnessed is the immediate past government and evidences abound to this effect so for them to turn around to claim to be fighting for our interest is a slap on our collective mentality.
The Imo people resisted vehemently the attempted imposition of Ugwumba Uche Nwosu by Owelle Rochas Okorocha for no other reason than as it was perceived as a third term agenda despite the huge financial inducement to take advantage of the poverty that they had weaponized.
We are ever ready to defend our interests if we realize that the current administration of His Excellency Rt. Hon Emeka Ihedioha is derailing and we do not need any assistance from the people who tried their best to run Imo under and should be hiding their heads in shame.
The Imo People implore the current administration to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that our common wealth that was transferred to a few is fully recovered and the process must be very transparent.
We have learnt from various sources that the current team that was setup to that effect is engaging in backhand schemes and we urge that they have a rethink of their actions as Imolites will no longer allow ourselves to be taken for granted.
We are looking up to the current administration to focus on the job at hand and move Imo forward and we will not accept any excuses as the reason for poor performance. Imolites have marked time for so long as the Owelle Administration came in with great promise and expectations and while we gave them the benefit of doubt after the first tenure of their administration despite the glaring misgovernance that was going on, the second tenure was a total aberration.
We have noted with dismay that for a long while, there have been a lack or absence of proper dialogue and understanding between the State Government and the governed, which have resulted in great pressures on we Imolites of being subjects without the compensating satisfaction of being properly governed. We are not talking of a gathering of the government’s praise singers and party people but a proper discussion with the Imo people as a whole from all walks of life on where we are and where we are going.
Access to information for Imolites is vital for the promotion of democracy, human rights, rule of law and entrenching accountability and transparency in the state. Without accountability, respect for human rights and rule of law, the quality of governance would decline.
There are several areas of frustration faced by Imolites and they include the uneven distribution of government amenities in the State which have led to a situation where some areas are over endowed with government patronage while others have stagnated in backwardness. We are therefore pleased with the recently launched World Bank assisted Rural Access Mobility Project by the Governor Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha but we are not yet excited and neither will we get carried away until we see full implementation. The project if fully implemented would have several benefits including but not limited to; easy access to market for the farmers and producers in the rural areas, reduced cost of transport, opening up of productive areas hence exploitation of the idle resources located there, reduced cost of operations and provision of variety of goods in many areas.
As stated earlier in another opinion piece by Hon. Divine Chike, the Leader/Convener of Imo Concerned Citizens, the proposed 27 Stadia in the 27 LGA while being a good idea is ill timed as there are several urgent issues which include basic necessities like access to clean drinking water and accommodation, tackling erosion that are wreaking havoc on life and property and exacting a heavy toll in human suffering in different parts of the state, that need to be addressed first to give the Imolites encouragement that the current administration will be different from the misgovernance they have become used to.
There is a whole lot of work to be done in Imo State to get back to a respectable position and we hope that this administration understands the gravity of work ahead and the high expectations of the people and lives up to its billing.
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Signed,
Hon. Roland N. Gabriel
