Okorocha To Uzodinma: Fight Me But Don’t Destroy ‘My Legacy’

Senator Rochas Okorocha has called on Imo State governor, Hope Uzodinma, to stop the rate at which his administration had been destroying and under-utilising public facilities in the state, citing the recent demolition of Somto Hospital as a case in point.

Okorocha, in a recent interview with newsmen in Owerri, regretted that the Uzodinma administration, since its inception, had continued to destroy state infrastructure which his (Okorocha’s) administration built using huge state funds.

He particularly bemoaned the demolished Somto Hospital, which, according to him, his administration spent over N1bn to build, and was commissioned by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo upon completion. He recalled that the hospital was symbolic in that it was built in memory of a 10-year-old boy who died in front of his father’s shop as a result of a stray bullet during the demolition of Ekeukwu Owerre market on Douglas road.

Okorocha was quoted as saying, “I said the fight against Rochas Okorocha should be separated from fight against the people. My heart bleeds over that. I want to plead with the government of the day to fight me alone and not people of Imo State. I am not happy about the things happening in Imo State. The fight through the probe panel, EFCC and ICPC is enough. They need to separate politics from governance. I advise the government to leave behind legacy projects. The government must sit up and work, rather than fight. It pains me to see that my projects are being destroyed.”

The senator also expressed sadness that some structures his administration constructed were left moribund, including the police and 2,100-bed space correctional service headquarters in the state capital.

THE WHISTLER reported that the SSA to Gov Uzodinma on public enlightenment, Stanford Arinze Nwokedi, in defence of the demolition, said the demolished hospital was used by the administration of Okorocha to siphon state funds.

According to him, “There was no hospital in that Ekeukwu market arena. A hospital cannot be located inside a market square. A hospital should ordinarily have doctors, nurses and patients, medical equipment, drugs, et cetera. What was left there was a jumbo relic of civil engineering construction time-bomb. It is a typical white-elephant quickly used as a drain-pipe to loot public funds.

“There has been a proactive response to save innocent blood from being spilled following a very possible and obvious collapse prospect of that huge waste/public menace. In its place, to the delight of all sane Imolites, a befitting 1850-shops ultra-modern market with complete packages, including a hospital, a police station, shall be built and delivered in just eighteen months. The contract has been awarded and the foundation-laying ceremony had been done.”