APGA Sues Okorocha for Defecting to APC

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has declared the seat of the Imo State Governor vacant in view of the defection of Governor Rochas Okorocha to the All Progressives Congress (APC).   The party wants the court to direct the replacement of the governor with either his deputy or speaker of the House of Assembly.   The party’s lawyer, Victor Odjemu, said the suit filed was in furtherance of the unanimous decision of members of APGA National Executive Committee (NEC) at their meeting in Abuja on August 3.   He said it was the NEC’s resolution to initiate a legal action to reclaim their mandate from Okorocha upon his defection to a party, whose ideals…

Governor’s Overseas Trip paralyses Imo

Imo State appears to have grounded to a halt and nothing seems to be moving since Governor Rochas Okorocha travelled to the United States of America, last month. Our investigations revealed that government activities were paralysed as most of his aides were neither empowered nor have any authority to transact serious business. Last week, the Deputy Governor ordered the contractor handling the Nekede-Ihiagwa Road to return to site immediately. The order was ignored as the contractor is yet to return to site more than a week the order was issued. Observers say the contractors feel the deputy governor doesn’t have a biting power to sanction. The Leader also gathered that a World Bank Project team…

Governor suspended from APGA

The Imo State Governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha has been suspended from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for engaging in alleged anti-party activities. Report reaching us disclosed the rising from an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting Saturday in Abuja, the party said NEC unanimously decided to dissolve the Imo State chapter of the party’s executive, replacing it with a 21-man committee to be appointed to oversee the party until a new congress is held. “The NEC unanimously resolved to suspend with immediate effect the Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okoroacha, from the party, for gross anti-party activities, bordering on his involvement with the All Progressives Congress (APC), contrary to the clear provisions of…

Umuna Flood Victims yet to be rescued

The traumatic experience of the torrential down pour of 27th of June, 2013 still lingers in the minds of inhabitants of Orlu Urban particularly in Umuna, where the trapped victims are still begging for attention to save them from this perennial floods that have been ravaging the city, getting worse each year. As the rescue government of His Excellency, Owelle Rochas continues its massive road construction of the Orlu Urban Town; the residents of Umuna continue to count their massive losses worth millions of naira. Buildings and perimeter fences were pulled down, demostic animals-birds, goats, sheep and their likes were drowned in their hundreds. Even places of worship were not left out in the flood…

NULGE strike paralyses LGAs in Imo State

The 3-day warning strike by members of National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in the 774 Local Governments in Nigeria has crippled activities in all the councils in the federation. According to the Ehime Mbano NULGE Chairman, Comrade Ebirim Chinedu, the strike is precipitated on the decision of the Senate of the Federal Republic not to grant autonomy to the local government Councils. It is noteworthy that the Federal House of Representatives granted autonomy to the Local Governments in the ongoing constitutional amendments. While the senate is opposed to it. But the staffs of the Local Government councils insist on autonomy for the local governments. Chief A.l Onuoha, Imo State Chairman of National Union…

No regret serving Under Rochas – Nnanna Okoro; As Governor grades ex-commissioners, aides

The erstwhile Commissioner for Community Government Council (CGC) and Chieftaincy Affairs, Imo State, Barr. Lady Ugochi Nnanna-Okoro said she enjoyed her tenure while it lasted and that she would not feel disappointed if she was not re-appointed. Nnanna-Okoro, popularly called the Lady of the Masses, spoke to THE LEADER while handing over to the Permanent Secretary, on Friday, July 19 as directed by Governor Okorocha.  The Governor had earlier dissolved the enlarged executive council, comprising commissioners and senior aides. Lady Nnanna-Okoro said dissolution of cabinet is a normal process of administration, explaining that dissolution is not “sack” as some press would like to put it because the chief executive could dissolve the cabinet for several…

Structure without Sanity in Owerri

Please permit me a space in your widely read newspaper to register my feelings with regard to the pressing issue of sanity in Owerri metropolis, the capital city of Imo State. I must first appreciate the obvious efforts of our indefatigable governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha to transform Imo state far beyond what it was before his inception in May, 2011. The problem of traffic in Owerri has been remarkably dealt with as he has opened up alternative routs to fast track movements in the city. Our governor has created numerous roads within the city as by-pass from the crazy traffic jam that held Imolites to ransom a few months back. He has also given the…

Ministry to wade into Umunwaku CGC crisis

The Ministry of Community Government Council and Chieftaincy Affairs has disclosed plans to investigate the claims and counter claims that forestalled the inauguration of Umunwaku Community Government Council (CGC) in April this year when the councils of other communities in the Ohaji/Egbema LGA were inaugurated at Mmahu, the council headquarters. The Chairman of the Committee on the Resolution of CGC crisis, Pastor Onyema Ubaka, who represented the Commissioner for Community Government Council and Chieftaincy Affairs, Lady Barr. Ugochi Nnanna-Okoro at a meeting convened on July 9, 2013 at the ministry in connection with the crisis, disclosed this fact.  He assured them that the disagreement will be peacefully resolved. It would be recalled that two rival…

Dr Reginald Anyadike – Government has done well but…

He wears two complementary hats – one as Assistant SecretaryGeneral, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the other as Chairman Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), in charge of ImoState. Bold and articulate, Anyadike describes himself as the “foremost labour leader in ImoState” and, like most labour leaders likes to hear his own voice. But the Agbala-born trade unionist doesn’t make noise for nothing. He heads the largest trade union and speaks for thousands of workers, teachers especially. He finds himself in hot water sometimes but most times he is the one who turns on the heat on employers when labour is unhappy. Right now, Anyadike and his unions are at loggerheads with Government over the following…

OGUTA STATE CONSTITUENCY RE-ELECTION (2) – Why I am not excited

Also, there are many students in state public schools that have not gotten this so called stipend before but fund is regularly allocated on their behalf monthly. Interestingly, allocation for this project has been made available for more than 12 months now but no student in the state can claim that he or she has received stipend for up to 12 months. The rest of the fund for the supposed stipend is not remitted to government coffers but ‘disappear’ at the end of the day and PDP is still in the majority. Generally, the selective sharing of this stipend is just to justify the fund allocated and for political show-off and PDP is still in…

Rochas Okorocha must hear this

One Dr. James Madubuonu, not real name has made very frantic efforts these years to see Owelle Rochas Okorocha, Governor Imo State, to help solve the most important problem facing the state but his aides have made it impossible for them to meet. The said citizen is a lawyer by profession specialized in security matters for 43 years in the U.S. but those who think that they matter so much feel that insecurity is not a problem in Imo State. This man, being a citizen of Nigeria feels that charity begins at home that is why he chose Imo State as the home of the program and he named it Imo Security System. It is…

Engr. Obinna Nshirim: Spread the Money…

For a man who’s been around politics for most of his life, Engr Obinna Nshirim should know when a politician is playing politics or playing to the gallery. Additionally, for a man whose dream of obtaining good education was nearly aborted by lack of a mere two naira, in 1970, Engr. Nshirim also knows how to praise a Governor who removes school fees and tries to clean up the education system, especially primary and secondary. Even when it seems Engr. Nshirim is contradicting himself, one thing is certain; he knows the terrain well, having been around political circles for long.  From his undergraduate days at University of Benin until now, he’s been in politics, although…

Abandoned Road Projects

Governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha recently warned contractors handling road projects in Imo State to expedite action and ensure completion of their jobs to avoid disruption by the rains.  He said government will deal ruthlessly with contractors who fail to deliver according to specifications and on time.  The Governor gave the warning while inspecting state road projects at Okigwe town.  His Commissioner for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Uche Nwosu had some weeks earlier issued similar warnings to contractors handling Government’s Monumental Projects in Owerri. We commend the present administration for its laudable achievements in construction of imposing edifices at several locations in the major cities of Owerri, Orlu and Okigwe such as the Multi-Million…

Okorocha’s Administration and the Zenith Bank Loan Scandal

Not too long ago, the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) wrote a petition to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) accusing Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and his team of taking an unauthorized loan that runs into many billions of naira from Zenith Bank using the monthly allocations for the 27 local government councils in the state as collateral for the loan. Consequently, the Imo State Commissioner for Finance, Deacon Chike Okafor and the Accountant General of the state, Mr. George Eche were arrested and detained by the EFCC in relation of the accusation. These government officials were later granted administrative bail. As an offshoot to the alleged controversial loan, there…

Youths storm Owerri for Rochas Jobs, stipend

Last week Monday, Governor Rochas Okorocha announced the release of N5bn for youths employment, and approved N20,000 monthly stipend for unemployed graduates in the state. Addressing the youths in their thousands at the Heroes Square, Owerri during the launching of youth empowerment Programme tagged, “Youth must work”, the governor said that under the programme, 100 youths will be trained as pilots in South Africa while another 200 will undergo entrepreneurial training in Singapore. The governor further announced that unemployed graduates of Imo State origin will be paid monthly stipend of N20,000 “to sustain them until they gain employment”. He explained that youths from each of the 560 communities in the State could form a co-operative…

Ada, Opara Imo Winners Emerge – Get Brand New Cars

The Owerri Capital City of Imo State was agog as winners of Ada-Imo and Opara-Imo emerge from youths numbering over 1000 from the 27 Local Government Areas of the state. Miss Anabel Obianugu Amadi, a 300 level student of Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) from Aboh Mbaize emerged the 2013 Ada-Imo while one Kenneth Nwadike from Mbano Isiala LGA came was crowned the Opara. The winners went home each with a cash gift of 1 million Naira, a brand new car and a trip to South Africa and a brand new bus for their community. In his remarks, Imo state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha said that the competition was organized to promote and re-invigorate…

BOOK REVIEW: ROCHAS REVOLUTION, Leadership By Example

BOOK REVIEW Title:                      ROCHAS REVOLUTION, Leadership By Example Author:               Rev. Fr. Nathaniel I. Ndiokwere Pagination:     240 Pages Reviewer:       Mr. Brendan Ikechukwu Nwaozor; Principal Information Officer;                                               Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Owerri. The author, Rev. Fr. Dr. Nathaniel I. Ndiokwere is not new in contributing to the literary world, as he has to his credit some of the soundest quotable materials which are regularly used in academic parameters. Beginning this project with a simple quote from the Book of Proverbs in the Bible highlights the author’s status as clergyman of sound intellectual standing and a good homilist, who knows his onions of the pulpit. The Quote: “Where…

Community Government: Is it viable?

Governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha has on several occasions enumerated what Imo people stand to gain from embracing his Fourth-Tier System of Government, otherwise called, Community Government.  The novelty of it all, being that the state power base will, as it were, relocate from Douglas House Owerri (Government House) to the various autonomous communities in the 27 local government areas of the state. According to the new structure, the duly recognized traditional ruler of each autonomous community will preside over the Community Government Council (CGC), which will include: a Government Liaison Officer (GLO), a Community Liaison Officer (CLO), a Woman leader, Youth leader and Secretary.  The concept is to bring development close to the people as…

Town Unions and Community Governing Council In Imo State

A town union is an association formed by members of a particular community for the socio-economic development of that community. Accordingly, town union collaborates with traditional administration, government at all levels and sometimes non-governmental agencies to achieve its aim. Town unions existed in communities in Nigeria even before colonialism. Interestingly, when the colonial masters came to the country, they also associated with town unions and made adequate use of them to foster their mission. With the country’s independence and the constitutional provision on Freedom of Association, town unions became stronger institutions. Also, with the promulgation of the Companies and Allied matters Act, town unions are now incorporated as legal persons. Today, many town unions are…

Auto crash: Why Okorocha was not treated in Government hospital

Insecurity and protracted labour dispute between the State Government and staff of the Imo State University Teaching Hospital (IMSUTH), were reasons why Governor Rochas Okorocha was not taken to the hospital for treatments when he was involved in an auto crash recently. Okorocha’s vehicle had head-on collision with another vehicle belonging to one Osita Nnawuihe on Friday, April 19, 2013 at Umuoma, Orlu, while driving himself without the usual outriders and government house ambulance. Daily Sun learnt that the governor was rushed to St. Mary’s Children and Community Hospital, Umuowa where he received first aid, while Nnawuihe was taken to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Owerri for treatment. The State Government and the teaching hospital…