Tuesday, May 10, 2011

I’m happy Ohakim lost, says activist flogged by Gov.


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Imo State Governor Ikedi Ohakim































An Imo State-based rights activist allegedly flogged and stripped by Governor Ikedi Ohakim, Mr. Samuelson Iwuoha, said on Sunday that he was the happiest man on earth that the governor lost in the governorship election concluded on Friday.

Iwuoha, who spoke with THE PUNCH on the telephone, said that with the defeat of Ohakim at the governorship election, he was vindicated that the governor was cruel and incapable of leading the state.
He said that the scars of the koboko flogging he received from Ohakim in his office on January 21, 2010, were still visible.

He said his sins before the governor was that he wrote petitions and articles to expose the governor’s financial recklessness and anti-people’s policies by the state administration.

He said, “Naturally, I am the happiest man on earth. The people of the state have spoken that he is not the right material for the state.

“When I exposed him and wrote petitions to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and series of articles about his financial recklessness and anti-government policies, he became uncomfortable.

“He lobbied me through influential people in the state but I did not budge. One day, I was bundled to his office. When I got there, he stripped me naked and flogged me several times with koboko. The scars of the flogging are still there. I was not surprised that he lost the election. He deserved to lose. Whatever any man sows, he reaps. With his defeat, I am vindicated that he is cruel, wicked and lacks the skills to govern a state.”

Iwuoha urged the Governor-elect, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, to set up a commission of inquiry to look into the running of his administration.

“I wrote petititons also to the Presidency, EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission and Code of Conduct Bureau. I also expect Okorocha to ask them to make public their findings and investigation on Ohakim so that the people of Imo State and Nigeria will confirm the kind of character he is,” the embittered Iwuoha appealed.

He said since the governor would lose his immunity after May 29, his legal team were on stand-by to revisit his case in court against the governor for assault, abuse, financial reckless and bad governance.

Meanwhile, some members of the opposition political parties on Sunday hailed the defeat of the Governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, saying the defeat was a testimony that the defeated governor was not popular in the state.

The Citizens Popular Party and the Progressive Peoples Alliance said that voters in the state had shown that they were no longer docile and asked those sympathetic to Ohakim not to cry for him.

A statement by the National Chairman of the PPA, Lisa Olu Akerele, said politicians should learn from the conduct of the elections that “things are no longer the same.”

Akerele added that the electorate was no longer docile as the people now voted out non-performing politicians.

“The elections have taught us that we cannot toy with the electorate by waiting till the last moment to storm them with transformers, bags of rice and cartons of money,” he added.

Also, the chairman of the CPP, Mr. Maxi Okwu, congratulated Okorocha over his victory and advised him to listen to the electorate while carrying out his duties.

He said the result of the election had shown that the people of the state voted for change, and therefore urged the governor-elect to formulate and implement people-oriented programmes that will raise the living standard of the people.

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