The immediate part Governor of Imo state, Chief Ikedi Ohakim has declared that if he finds himself in a position to serve Imo people again, he will not encounter the hurdles he met in office in his first outing, as he has learnt from his mistakes.
He said he was disappointed that over (N26.B) Twenty six billion naira he left behind has been squandered by the Okorocha administration, pointing out that the seven billion naira (7B) he left behind as part of the Bond the Government borrowed from the capital market for Oguta Wonder Lake cannot be traced, yet the Oguta lake is still abandoned and over grown with grasses.
Speaking to Journalists in his village Okohia in Isiala Mbano LGA, Imo state, the Business man cum politician said that he did all that he did when in office for the good of the people and for Imo state, and not to punish any person or group adding that posterity will judge him.
He said that when he banned Okada in the state, the operators came after him, even though his action reduced the deaths of Okada riders pointing adding that when he sacked 449 teachers with fake certificates, it was to sanitize the system, yet the “Teachers” formed opposition against him, even though they were not prosecuted for parading fake certificates which was a criminal act.
The former Governor said that he was only asking traders to give way from gutters for water to flow freely and avoid erosion, and for good health of all Imo people, yet he was called a bad man.
Ohakim disclosed that he removed shanties from illegal places in Owerri and was called names, but today buildings and Ware Houses are being bulldozed to the ground with reckless abandon and the masses cannot speak out.
He said he neither beat any Reverend father, nor flogged any journalist, but was accused of various things including owning twenty houses in Owerri, when the only properly he has in Owerri was his three Bed-room Bungalow at Prefab Owerri that was recently burnt down by an explosion.
“If I had any other property in Owerri, since Okorocha’s son-in-law is the present Commissioner for Lands in Imo, he would have found out” Ohakim said.
Ohakim said that when he heard the result of the Governorship election in 2011, he congratulated his successor Okorocha, but till date Okorocha has not paid him any of his entitlements, including that of those Imo citizens who served under his administration, as well as those dead.
He said he served Imo people with sincerity of purpose, as all sections and zones of the state were represented in the State Executive Council, adding that no contract failed under his administration because he followed due process and turned Imo state the cleanest state in Nigeria within one year in office.
