The Imo State Government has told members of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state not to see it as an overstatement, a claim by Governor Rochas Okorocha that the All Progressives Congress would rule the state for 24.Okorocha had said the APC would not only become stronger in the South-East but would govern the state for 24 years, as against the former PDP’s National Chairman, Dr. Vincent Ogbulafor’s claim that his party would rule Nigeria for 60 years.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Imo State Governor, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, reads in full: “We want to quickly explain that the background of Governor Okorocha’s claim and that of Chief Ogbulafor’s claim cannot be the same.
“That of Ogbulafor was only anchored on ‘Federal Might’, which they had always leveraged on to indulge in a high degree of impunity during elections, while that of Okorocha was anchored on an enviable record of achievements by his administration.
“For instance, during the campaigns for the 2015 elections, the governor and his party, the APC, challenged the PDP to itemise the party’s achievements in the state for the 12 years they governed the state, for the Imo people and other interested Nigerians to read or see, but they could not do that because they had no valid claim to make to that effect.”
“The governor’s claim that his party, the APC, would govern the state for 24 years, was not based on nothing or made in the vacuum like that of Chief Ogbulafor’s. The governor’s claim was based on what his administration had achieved in his first four years as governor, and what he has also set out to achieve in his second term. All that put together will submerge all other parties even beyond 24 years. Facts and figures do not lie.”
Meanwhile, the PDP in Osun state has urged residents to cooperate with Governor Rauf Aregbesola by paying lawful taxes to the government to ensure development in the state.
The leadership of the PDP in Osun-Central Senatorial District said this in a communique made available to our correspondent in Osogbo after the senatorial meeting of the party.
The Chairman of the PDP in the district, Mr. Bunmi Jenyo, who read the communique to journalists, however, warned the state government against introducing what he called “butchery taxes.”
He added that the state government had no justification to introduce new taxes because the governor had not taken care of the welfare of the people of the state and should not bother them with unjustifiable taxes.
