Imo was associated with deities before I became gov —Okorocha

By Chinonso Alozie

Owerri—Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, yesterday, said that before he became the governor, the state was associated with “deities.”

Okorocha stated this through a release issued to newsmen in Owerri by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo.

The release quoted the governor to have made the statement when senior priests of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, led by His Eminence, Dr. Samuel Kanu Uche, paid him a visit at the Government House.

According to the release, “the situation in Imo before my governorship was embarrassing with nothing to show that Imo was a state.

“And with the state being associated with deities like Otamiri, Nwaorie, Ahiajoku and so on,  I decided to rebrand the state, which also occasioned the rumour that I was slapped by one of the deities, Nwaorie.

“When I came in here as governor, it was an embarrassing situation to see that even the Government House was full of shanties. The entire environment was filthy.

“We had to clean up the place and make it look like a home for business. I have two years left as a governor, I am not building the state for myself, but for governors and citizens, even those  yet unborn. This is the spirit with which I have come to this state.

“There was also a systematic handover of the state to deities before I came in, and I said I have come to bring light and that light has come with our projects scattered all over the nooks and crannies of the state.

“We have embarked on urban renewal and have to remove shanties and create the  eight lane roads you are seeing now, though with challenges from the elite. But today, people are happy.”

According to the release, Okorocha was not happy that he was branded Boko Haram by his brothers in the South-East zone because he joined the All Progressives Congress, APC.

It stated: “Governor Rochas Okorocha says he has forgiven politicians in the state and even in the South-East, who branded him Boko Haram, because he was part of the merger that gave birth to APC.

“The name-calling got worst during the campaigns for the 2015 elections during which he was also called Alhaji in Government House, and was also accused of working with Muhammadu Buhari to Islamize the Igbo.”

 

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