The war of words between Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, and his Anambra State counterpart, Willie Obiano, has not only degenerated to name calling but also created room for unwanted insults and lack of statesmanship on the part of both leaders.
Following what may be regarded as final withdrawal, Obiano, on February 3, 2017, was quoted as saying that he was “so busy with issues of governance, providing qualitative service and abundant democracy dividends, and that he has no spare time for unnecessary politically motivated distractions.”
To this end, Okorocha has demanded that Obiano should render an apology to him for dragging him to public condemnation that was unwarranted, insisting that for Obiano to tactically withdraw the verbal attack which he initiated, he should apologise to him.
Okorocha whose latest reaction was contained in a statement signed his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, said: “Obiano came up with this volte-face after he had launched unprovoked media attacks against Okorocha. And allowing Obiano to tactically withdraw from an unwarranted media war he declared, without apologising to Okorocha and publishing his achievements as the governor of Anambra State for almost four years to show good leadership is totally unacceptable to us.
“And we make bold to ask for an unreserved apology from him because with the way he reacted to such an innocent comment, one could see that he was harbouring malice against Okorocha.”
Okorocha who had appreciated the concern of some Igbo leaders and groups that called for truce between them, maintained that such Igbo leaders should also “reason with us that it calls for concern when someone unreasonably declares war against you.”
He expressed surprises that Obiano who took up “arms” against him over an interesting claim he made that three governors in the South-east would soon join APC is the one now talking about being “so busy with issues of governance and providing qualitative service and has no spare time again for unnecessary politically motivated distractions.”
According to him, Obiano must have also forgotten that he was the one who initiated the so-called “politically motivated distractions.” And that also goes a long way to confirm our allusion that Obiano was not the one saying all that was credited to him, but it was alcohol that was talking.
“It is also difficult to explain why a governor that has governed a state with high IGR for almost four years and with lean workforce is finding it difficult to publish his achievements at least to show that he is a good leader of his people and on that basis, he would be asking for second term.
“The common logic is that if Obiano fails to publish his achievements, it means he has nothing to display and the interpretation of that development is that he has lost the moral justification to ask for a second tenure. And Anambra people should take cognizance of that.
“For Okorocha, he is in a hurry to use the challenge thrown up by the Anambra State Governor to show-case to Nigerians and the world at large about two thousand verifiable projects executed by his administration in various parts of the state including the new city of Owerri. And we know that all Obiano has done in his state for almost four years now cannot be equated with two flyovers built by Okorocha.
“The Imo State governor would also want to while publishing his achievements, showcase his profile to the world that either Obiano didn’t know him or he was not truthfully briefed about him or he was austere with the facts.
“The profiles of the two governors would have shown that while Obiano has first degree in Accountancy and Master Degree in Business Administration of the University of Lagos, Okorocha has bachelor’s degree in Law of the University of Jos, Master degree in Law also of University of Jos, Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Benue State University, Advanced Diploma in Law, Security and Conflict Management. So in terms of education
Okorocha is more educated than Obiano. And as a responsible government, we had restricted ourselves from talking about his personal life.”
Okorocha also revealed that he established the Rochas Foundation Colleges and students in the Colleges do not pay a dime, stating that till date, there are Rochas Foundation Colleges in Jos, Ibadan, Owerri, Ogboko, Kano with more than 15,000 students and with the ones in Kaduna and Sokoto States about to take off.
