By Chidi Nkwopara, OWERRI
Politics of acrimony and unplanned changes in administration, has been identified to be responsible for the continued stagnation of Imo State and suffering of it’s citizens.
Former Imo State Governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, stated this weekend, in a 16-page keynote address he delivered at the 2024 diocesan synod of the Anglican Diocese on the Lake, Oguta.
Ohakim said: “The people of Imo State have, for too long, suffered the consequences of the politics of acrimony, which is the main cause of unplanned changes in administrations.
“I have said it severally that without prejudice to partisan proclivities, it is in the interest of the state and its people that former governors work closely with incumbents in order to ensure continuity.
“Although political exigencies, especially in our own clime, would hardly allow that, something is definitely wrong in a situation where those who have had the privilege of being elected into such high offices sometimes, end up as sworn enemies and which can only be to the detriment of the people.
“I am of the belief that continuity is derivable, even if informally, when past and serving governors have a window for comparing notes.”
He recalled that when he noticed the way things were moving under the Rochas Okorocha administration, he discarded their political differences and wrote him personal letters.
His words: “When I noticed the way things were going under Governor Okorocha, I threw overboard our political differences to write him private letters in which I pointed out certain things I felt were not proper in his administration. I did that in the overall interest of the people.
“But his handlers misunderstood me and abused me to no end. They even leaked the letters to the press, even when they were strictly meant for the governor’s consumption only.
“I make bold to say that had Okorocha listened to me, he would have most probably, avoided some of the mistakes he made and perhaps, we would not have been where we are today.”
Pressing home his belief in continuity, Chief Ikedi Ohakim recalled with grief, how the 10,000 graduates his administration recruited for the state civil service, the employment of 30,000 non-graduates for the Imo Road Maintenance Agency, IROMA, and the engagement of 5,000 teachers, were unceremoniously sacked by his successor.
He said: “I was hounded out of office after my first term, even after winning at the polls. At the risk of attracting some jibe, I dare say that it was the hapless Imo youths that bore the brunt of that perfidy, and not Ikedi Ohakim.
“The 10,000 graduate employees, who were sacked without notice, are from Imo State and they suffered the consequences of that mindless action.
“Yes, the administration that followed mine did eight years but partly because of the crisis of transition from my administration to it and partly because it was ran without records and due process, the one that came after it, had nothing to start with.
“In the first place, there were no handover notes from the outgoing one, that of governor Rochas Okorocha, to the incoming, that of Emeka Ihedioha.”
