Why U.S shunned Jonathan"s administration - Okorocha

The Imo State Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha, has explained why the United States Government was not keen on supporting the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, especially in the fight against the Boko Haram sect.

Okorocha

Okorocha said the US government shunned Jonathan because it (the US) could not establish confidence and trust in the former President’s administration.

He, however, said the American government had promised to assist Nigeria in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency.

The governor, who was among the few individuals who accompanied President Mohammadu Buhari to the US recently, added that the American government had pledged to rebuild the states destroyed by the activities of the terror gang.

Okorocha said, “The US made it clear that it could not support the government of Jonathan because it was not comfortable with it.

“Now the American government has promised to help us fight the Boko Haram sect and provide for the Internally Displaced Persons.”

The governor, who spoke while interacting with journalists in Owerri, the Imo State capital, said the meeting between Nigeria and the US would enhance robust relationship.

While describing Buhari’s visit to the US as the best so far made by any government, Okorocha said he was delighted when the US President, Barak Obama, described Buhari as a man of integrity and honour.

He said, “I felt like singing the national anthem when Obama described our President as a man of integrity and honour; the trip to America is the best outing any President has made outside Nigeria.”

Why U.S shunned Jonathan"s administration - Okorocha

Okorocha faults Imo monarch’s appointment as chancellor

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has faulted the appointment of Eze Cletus Ilomuayan as the Chancellor of Federal University, Benin Kebbi, by the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan.

Okorocha

The governor, who expressed his strong disapproval in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo, on Wednesday and made available to newsmen in Owerri, submitted that Jonathan made the appointment in error.

According to Okorocha, the monarch had been deposed a long time ago for allegedly abandoning his throne and administering his kingdom from the Diaspora.

He admitted that it was the prerogative of the President to appoint people, including monarchs, to positions, but argued that Ilomuayan was not qualified for such appointment, having been dethroned.

The statement reads in part, “Looking at the comprehensive list of the appointed Chancellors, they are all traditional rulers from various states of the federation, and such development only authenticated the claim that Mr. President must have erroneously given Ilomuanya the appointment on the perceived notion that he is still a traditional ruler in the state and the Chairman of the State Council of traditional rulers.

“Let us make it abundantly clear that we are not bothered about who gets what from President Jonathan in terms of appointments because as President, he has the legal protection to make a lot of appointments without explanation to anybody or group. But it becomes somewhat disturbing when some of the appointments impugn on the lawful actions of a state government or on the authority of a federating state.

“Ilomuanya had long been removed by the state government as the Chairman of the State Council of Traditional Rulers. And the matter to that effect is still pending at the Supreme Court. He has also been dethroned as the traditional ruler of Obinugwu Autonomous Community and a new traditional ruler had been installed and given a Staff of Office and certificate of recognition for long.”

Okorocha noted that the President had sacked people in certain offices or positions, but wondered why he did not want to respect similar actions by the Imo State Government.

He pointed out that it had also become increasingly worrisome that the President had continued to use Ilomuanya to slight the state government.

Chief Press Secretary to the monarch, Kennedy Iweama, in an interview with our correspondent, dismissed the alleged dethronement of the monarch.

He reasoned that if Ilomuayan was not a monarch as claimed by the governor, he would not have been appointed by the President.

He said his principal got the position allotted to the South-East.

Iweama said, “It is unfortunate that lawlessness can not apply at the federal level. Opinion of who made it does not count, the appointment was for Igbo speaking states.”

 

Okorocha faults Imo monarch’s appointment as chancellor

Okorocha faults INEC for declaring Imo election inconclusive

The All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship candidate in Imo State and incumbent Governor of the state, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, has faulted the independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for declaring last Saturday’s gubernatorial election in the state inconclusive and announcing supplementary elections in some wards across the state.

Okorocha, who expressed his disappointment to reporters at the Government House in Imo State on Monday, said the supplementary election would have been unnecessary if INEC had considered the number of Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, distributed in the affected areas instead of the number of registered voters.

INEC’s Returning Officer in the State, Ibidapo Obe, announced that the election was inconclusive because the margin (79,529) between the frontrunner, Okorocha and his contender, Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was less than the number of registered voters (144,715) in wards across the state where elections did not hold or were cancelled due to violence. He maintained that a new date would be announced for a supplementary election.

Although the APC candidate is mindful of the provision of the electoral law regarding the number of registered voters, he said INEC should have considered distribution of PVC in the affected areas instead of registered voters as only voters with PVC can vote.

His words, “The electoral act has talked about registered voters and in the workings of that act and in the spirit of the law, you cannot not make use of number of registered voters, you have to make use of number of PVC collected.

“When you look at the number of PVC collected you find out that there is no need for this supplementary election because the number of PVC collected will be less than the 79,000 votes difference between me and the PDP candidate. But now they are basing on the number of registered voters. Number of registered voters does not cast the vote; it is the number of PVC collected that does.”

 Expressing his readiness to participate in the supplementary election, Okorocha went ahead to claim victory in the election as he said, “You can only change the date of a burial but you cannot change the burial. From the results available, the fact speaks for itself, we have won this election despite all the irregularities,” Mr. Okorocha with a contented smile.

Exuding much confidence, Okorocha asserted that he was in fact ready for the total re-run of the election if INEC deemed it necessary and guaranteed that it would be conducted fairly. He insisted that his contender cannot defeat him in a free and fair election.

“Let me say that there is no basis for comparison when I’m told that I’m in contest with the PDP candidate and he scored some votes it is not true. I think I’m in contest with more unseen elements than the candidate himself. If this election is conducted in the way it should be conducted in a free and fair manner, my opponent would have up to 100,000 votes. Never. Not in Imo State; not at all,” he boasted.

The incumbent Governor said he would have won the election with a landslide if his contender, abetted by men in security uniform, had not perpetrated widespread electoral fraud.

“If you look at what has happened in his areas of jurisdiction and his local government, Mbaise local government, Ahiazu, Ezinnite, Aboh Mbaise, where he gave himself almost 80,000 votes. Can you imagine in Aboh Mbaise, you have 51,000 voters when the actual PVC collected is about 60,000 and in Mbaitoli where you have over 100,000 PVC collected the total votes there is about 30,000 so that tells you the manipulation. What we saw in those areas was simply the militarisation of the entire process – snatching of ballot boxes and violence and what have you.

“But because of these manipulations and writing of results and taking result sheets and going to somebody’s house – escorted by security agencies- to write the result and come in the private car to INEC headquarters, that is why many people think there is a contest. So I’m not in contest with that gentle man, I’m in contest with the entire manipulation of the system and the election,” he said.

Okorocha faults INEC for declaring Imo election inconclusive

PDP winning Imo despite trailing with wide margin, party insists

By Nicholas Ibekwe

Despite trailing by more than 79,000 votes, with a near-impossible chance of upturning the deficit in the results of the governorship elections so far announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Peoples Democratic Party in Imo State has said that its candidate, Emeka Ihedioha, is on course to victory.

The Imo State Returning Officer, Ibidapo Obe, had declared the election inconclusive and announced that a supplementary election will hold in some wards across the state because the number of cancelled votes (144,715) was greater than the margin (79,529) between the two leading candidates.

The PDP, however, insists that Mr. Ihedioha “scored a majority of the popular votes cast by the Imo State electorates”.

Speaking to journalist few hours after the election was declared inconclusive, the Chairman of PDP in the state, Nnamdi Anyaehie, said results collated by the party’s agents at wards and local government collation centres show the party’s candidate was leading.

Mr. Anyaehie said there were widespread “manipulations, thuggery, harassment and intimidation visited on the electoral process, INEC officials and the voters”.

He said the ruling All Progressives Congress in the state indulged in widespread ballot box snatching, claiming that the Deputy Governor, Eze Madumere, was a chief culprit.

He also accused the incumbent governor of “cajoling, intimidating and threatening assigned officials of INEC in their duties”.

Mr. Anyaehie also faulted the Returning Officer for reducing the score of the party’s candidate in Ezinihitte local government.

But PREMIUM TIMES can reliably confirm that the result from Ezinihitte was recalculated after it was discovered that the total number of votes cast as reported by the local government collation officer surpassed the total number of registered voters by over 20,000.

Mr. Anyaehie also complained that Emmanuel Opara, the electoral officer of INEC in Oru East, publicly confessed that she was kidnapped and taken to a secret location where she was forced to enter fictitious results.

He said the PDP will take appropriate steps to reconcile the results of areas affected by irregularities and will seek necessary redress.

He called on the party’s supporters and Imo people to remain calm and peaceful while these issues are resolved.

PDP winning Imo despite trailing with wide margin, party insists

APC Presidential Candidate To Emerge Tomorrow

The national convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) begins in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, today (Wednesday).

Atiku and Buhari

The presidential candidate of the party will emerge tomorrow (Thursday).

More than 8,000 accredited delegates are expected to elect the party’s presidential flag bearer who is to face President Goodluck Jonathan, the sole candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, in the 2015 general elections.

Five aspirants are ex-Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari; a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso; Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, and the Publisher of Leadership Newspaper, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah. They are all vying for the party’s sole ticket.

Already, supporters of Buhari and Atiku, the two leading aspirants, have appealed to the APC delegates to vote wisely.

Buhari’s supporters, under the aegis of Buhari Friends Organisation Network, at a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, said today’s (Wednesday’s) APC’s primaries offered a unique opportunity for party delegates to vote for change.

The spokesman for the group, St. Athanasius Okon, said Nigerians have not had it so bad since the return of democracy in 1999.

Kwankwaso

According to him, the nation’s economy is in a shambles while the ruling party carries on as if nothing is amiss.

He explained that “the race to Aso Rock begins from the party’s presidential primaries because the choice of the right candidate will pave the way for APC’s success in the forthcoming polls.”

http://www.punchng.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Chairman-of-Leadership-Newspapers-and-an-Exco-member-of-Newspapers-Proprietors-Association-of-Nigeria-Mr.-Sam-Nda-Isaiah.jpgOkon added, “We want to use this medium to call on the All Progressives Congress’ delegates across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory that would be in Lagos on December 10, 2014, for the presidential primaries, to consider a lot of factors before they cast their vote, as there can be no better time than now for us to use the opportunity God has given us to redeem this country from the shackles of the political class, especially those in the ruling party, the PDP.”

Speaking in a similar vein, Atiku’s supporters urged the party’s delegates to consider his track record of public service and his democratic credentials as they cast their votes.

The spokesman for the group, Alhaji Abdullahi Sugar, while speaking in Abuja, on Tuesday, said Atiku had proven over the years to be a detribalised Nigerian who is determined to change the nation for the better.

He noted that the former Vice President had proven himself as a visionary leader who when given the opportunity would transform Nigeria.

Sugar said, “The Turaki is the leader we need at this time, we urge the APC delegates to give him the chance to lead the party to victory come 2015.”

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APC Presidential Candidate To Emerge Tomorrow

I"ll be the president in 2015 - Okorocha declares

Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha on Monday in Enugu declared his intention to contest next year’s presidential election, saying his victory had been prophesied.

Okorocha

“In 2015 I will be the president of the country,” Okorocha declared to loud cheers from broom-wielding members of the All Progressives Congress at a rally attended by prominent members of the party in the South-East.

The governor, who spoke in Igbo and English languages, said his emergence as the country’s president after the 2015 presidential polls would surprise many, particularly the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.

Okorocha, whose speech was punctuated with exclamations of “my people, my people,” said the APC presidential ticket was never zoned to the North.

He said his name would come first on the list of APC presidential aspirants and that when the party’s aspirants were being counted, his would be mentioned before those of a former military Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.); former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; and Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso.

He said, “Three months ago when I said I want to be president they asked, “Can an Igboman be president?”

“But now when they count those contesting for president they will first count Rochas Okorocha, before Buhari, Atiku Abubakar and Kwankwaso.

“When they said they have zoned the presidency to the North, I asked, “When was the meeting held?”

“Now we have zoned it to Igboland. In 2015, there will be a turnaround in the fortunes of Ndigbo.”

Recalling the suicide bombing at a school in Yobe State earlier on Monday, in which several students died, Okorocha said that the PDP had failed God.

He said Igbo had been neglected by President Goodluck Jonathan such that no Igbo man is currently occupying any prominent position in the country.

He also accused prominent Igbo PDP politicians of not caring about the well being of Igbo.

“They only know themselves; they don’t care about Igbo. APC is an emergency party for a new Nigeria; I would not have joined APC if PDP was doing well. We will defeat PDP in 2015,” he declared.

Okorocha stressed that he had the resources to realise his ambition, noting that he was richer than his rivals in the PDP.

He also presented two APC governorship aspirants in Enugu State, Dr. Ifeanyi Asogwa and Okey Ezea, to the crowd at the rally.

Addressing the two governorship aspirants as “excellencies in waiting,” Okorocha advised them to emulate his achievements in Imo State when anyone of them becomes the governor of Enugu State.

He urged the people of Enugu to vote the APC aspirants, whom he described as “my people in whom I am well pleased.”

A former governor of Anambra State, Senator Chris Ngige, and many other APC chieftains were at the event.

I"ll be the president in 2015 - Okorocha declares

Okorocha’s 2015 presidential campaign train in Bauchi

THE 2015 presidential campaign train of the Imo State governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, on Monday, was in Bauchi, the Bauchi State capital, in continuation of its nationwide consultations ahead of the governor’s declaration for the presidential race.

The train, tagged “Rochas We Know 2015”, was led by Mr Chidi Yerima to the state secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

According to Yerima, the delegation was in the APC secretariat with a view to intimating the party leadership in the state of Okorocha’s intention to seek the presidential ticket of the party for next year’s presidential election.

According to him, “we are in Bauchi to solicit the support of the party leadership and party members in respect of our leader’s ambition. I can assure that if voted into power, he has the capacity to turn around the misfortune of the country for good.”

Yerima stated that the Imo State governor was capable and competent to be Nigeria’s president, adding that his track record as the helmsman in Imo spoke volume of his performance .

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Okorocha’s 2015 presidential campaign train in Bauchi

Okorocha may be impeached due to unpaid salary

OWERRI—Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Imo lawmakers may commence impeachment proceedings against Governor Rochas Okorocha next Thursday, if he fails to clear their outstanding salaries and allowances which he had allegedly withheld since 2011, among other grievances.

Vanguard had earlier reported that the lawmakers are particularly irked that despite spirited attempt to make Okorocha clear the bill, he had failed to do the needful.

A close aide of one of the lawmakers confirmed that before the current threat, the lawmakers had been having series of meetings on how to make Okorocha pay them their salary arrears, adding that the build up was concluded Friday, July 25, 2014.

The lawmakers are said to have vowed not to accept any payment which is not inform of cash, adding that “if the speaker stands in the way, he would be bulldozed along with the governor.”

When anxious journalists contacted the Senior Special Assistant, SSA, to the Governor on Media, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, he dismissed the allegation, saying Okorocha had a good relationship with members of the state assembly.

“There is no iota of truth that such a thing was in the offing. You can verify from the assembly members.

“The state government has a good working relationship with them and I don’t think anybody is plotting any impeachment. How can they impeach a governor who is performing. It’s not true my brother,” he said.

Reacting also, the House Committee Chairman on Information, Mr. Acho Ihim, dismissed the alleged impeachment plot, describing it as “baseless and malicious”.

Ihim, however, confirmed the disparity in the salary of the current lawmakers and the former ones, adding that “during the last administration of Chief Ikedi Ohakim, the House took a loan and it was deducted monthly from the salary of the lawmakers so when we came in, the Clerk of the House was changed and the new one who was ignorant of any such deductions, started paying with the records he met on ground.

“When it was discovered, we quickly wrote the governor who promised to reverse to the constitutional rate and he has started doing that.

“For instance, we were paid normal salary for the month of June. The governor is ready to pay, all he is asking for is a little time because the money is much. It is about N18 million per lawmaker,” Ihim explained.

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Okorocha may be impeached due to unpaid salary

Crisis brews in Imo as lawmakers seek better welfare package

OWERRI—The executive and legislative arms of government in Imo State may be heading for serious confrontation, following what the lawmakers see as executive exploitation.

Already, the lawmakers, who are mainly from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, have reportedly rejected cheques for their June salary to press home their demand for better welfare packages and appropriate salary.

Similarly, Vanguard gathered that when the lawmakers refused to go on their annual recess, the executive soft-pedaled to get the budget passed and later reneged on its agreement with the legislators.

A close aid of one of the legislators told Vanguard that, “the lawmakers rejected the cheques because it only reflected what they had been kicking against, prior to the passage of the 2014 budget last month.”

The legislative aide lamented that the lawmakers in Imo had allegedly been losing over N400,000 monthly since their inauguration in 2011.

He recalled that the lawmakers had been making frantic efforts to get government to redress the shortfall, especially when they realised that the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission recommended something higher than what they were receiving.

Vanguard recalls that the House had earlier set up an ad-hoc committee to visit other state legislatures to verify the take home of lawmakers.

Armed with their findings, the lawmakers were said to have called off their long vacation, as well as plan to resume plenary.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/crisis-brews-imo-lawmakers-seek-better-welfare-package/#sthash.FBBm7xtP.dpuf

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Crisis brews in Imo as lawmakers seek better welfare package

Imo 2015: Okorocha is a governor full of baggage - Nzeribe

• Imo 2015: Nzeribe Writes Off Okorocha

By Tribune

Veteran politician and elder-statesman, Senator Arthur Nzeribe, has vowed to resist the re-election of the governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha in 2015.

Senator Nzeribe, who described Okorocha as, “a governor full of baggage” boasted that a new governor would emerge in the state in 2015. He described nine key governorship aspirants in the state as belonging to the “analogue age.”

His words: “On May 29, 2015, Douglas House in Imo State will play host to a baggage-free brand new governor. The fresh governor will emerge from one of the two distinct groups in Imo politics, made up of 15 candidates.

“Nine politicians out of the two identified groups can be regarded as analogue or old political activists, the rest six are digital or new political activists.”

The veteran politician, who has been out of the nation’s political space since his exit from the Senate in 2007, equally vowed that he would influence the emergence of the next governor of Imo State in 2015.

He said: “Here in Imo State, critics may want to know why Nzeribe has taken it upon himself to pontificate on who should govern the state in 2015. Should this question arise, it will be an interesting poser.

“In the last three governorship elections in Imo, I looked the other way when the governors were being installed by outsiders. In this very project of seeing that decent and straightforward politicians take over the mantle of leadership in Imo State, I will never look away again.

“I made genuine mistakes in the past and kept quiet, this time around, it will be undemocratic, if not immoral and cowardice of me to keep quiet.”

Nzeribe also identified politicians, who would not rule Imo State in 2015. “In fact, we do not want those that will run our economy down to file out either as pretenders or as contenders to the governorship seat in the state in 2015.

“Those whose agendas are to buy and fuel private jets, build intimidating estates in choice places at the expense of the state will not get near Douglas House.

“Imo State will not fall in the hands of those who want to continue to own houses in strategic areas across the world.”

Also, those who purchased and owned private banks in tax haven countries abroad will not be allowed to govern Imo State come 2015.

“The dubious politicians maintaining fat foreign accounts in different hard currencies will not come near Douglas House in 2015,” he affirmed.

He revealed that consultations among stakeholders in the state have reached advanced stages, adding that they would not sit back and watch the state looted.

“Money will not be an issue for stakeholders in the project of purging Douglas House of looters. Already, the stakeholders have come together and consultations are continuing. Purging Imo State Government House of treasury looters is a task that must be done. Imo State is no longer for sale,” he added.

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Imo 2015: Okorocha is a governor full of baggage - Nzeribe

Learn work or risk arrest, Rochas Okorocha tells unemployed youths

Owerri – Unemployed youths in Imo have been advised to enrol in the “Youth Must Work Programme” of the state government to engage in viable activities.

Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo gave the advice at a Town Hall meeting he held with youths and people of Ikeduru and Mbaitoli Local Government areas of the state.

He said that the current administration introduced the programme and other empowerment projects as part of measures to keep Imo youths away from anti-social activities.

Okorocha said that with the programme in place, there was no reason for any Imo youth to roam the streets or engage in anti- social activities.

He, however, warned that youths, who failed to engage in meaningful activities, would risk arrest by May.

The governor, who inspected projects at the two local governments in company of his deputy, Mr Eze Mmadumere, expressed optimism that the meeting would bring about new focus and programmes for the areas.

He said that his government had put machinery in place to ensure that all projects initiated by the current administration were completed.

“I will not start any project that I will not finish. It is not in my character,” he said.

Okorocha assured the people that the state would continue on the path of progress in terms of infrastructure and social development.

He urged the people to resist any government that would put the free education and other current development programmes of the state government on the reverse.

The governor approved the building of 14 new primary schools for the people of Ikeduru and awarded the construction of two additional roads for the people of Mbaitoli as special packages.

He expressed regret that out of the 24.8-km road approved for Ikeduru at the cost of N1.48 billion, only about five kilometres  had been tarred.

The governor said that N705 million had been paid to the contractors, assuring that no contractor would be allowed to embezzle money meant for road construction.

Earlier, Mmadumere who hails from Mbaitoli/Ikeduru Federal Constituency, said that the governor’s visit had provided opportunity for the people to get acquainted with programmes of government.

Madumere urged the people to continue to support the government.

In his address, the Chairman, Transition Committee of Ikeduru Local Government Area, Mr Obinna Nshirim, applauded the governor’s policies on education, healthcare and aggressive rural road transformation.

That of Mbaitoli, Dr Pat Nnah, expressed confidence in the visionary leadership of governor and assured of the continued support of the people of the area.

The Chairman, Imo Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Samuel Ohiri, who also hails from the area, appealed to the people of the area to reciprocate the governor’s kind gesture by giving him massive support.

Two members of the state House of Assembly representing Ikeduru and Mbaitoli Constituencies – Mr Sam-Daddy Anyanwu and Mr Victor Ndunagu- said the governor had performed creditably well.

Ndunagu appealed to the state government to capture construction of more roads in its budget for Mbaitoli to compensate for its land mass and large population.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that many political appointees and stakeholders from Mbaitoli and Ikeduru attended the occasion. (NAN)

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Learn work or risk arrest, Rochas Okorocha tells unemployed youths