.Payment of salary now compulsory before month end in Imo — Commissioner
Senator representing Imo West Senatorial District, Rochas Okorocha has accused the incumbent Governor Hope Uzodimmaof Imo state of plotting to stop his presidential ambition in 2023.
According to him, Uzodimma has been paid to frustrate his presidential ambition next year.
He challenged the Governor to explain to the world, why he failed to mention names of the sponsors of banditry, kidnapping, killings and other forms of criminality in the state.
It would be recalled that at the peak of the security challenges in the state Governor Uzodimma had threatened to expose those behind the rise in various crimes and criminality in the state.
Senator Okorocha who spoke to newsmen at his private residence in Owerri, argued that unless the mystery of “Hopeism and Ebubeagu” is unraveled, members of the public would continue to grope in the dark in search of the sponsors and agents of banditry in the state.
The former Governor who recalled with shock and disbelief, the number of lives and properties so far lost in the state including the killing of some traditional rulers and over 104 others since the inception of the Uzodimma led administration said “this never happened for the eight years that I ruled this state”.
He regretted while everybody was waiting patiently to hear him mention those behind banditry, kidnapping, killing and all forms of mayhem in our state, he (Governor Uzodimma) trivialized the matter and shockingly avoided this important aspect which according to him means that something is wrong somewhere.
Okorocha who boasted that he has no skeleton in the cupboard as a former governor, stated that the increasing rate of killings and recent kidnap of his son-in-law Uche Nwosu in a church spoke volumes of a clueless and insensitive government to the people.
Dismissing the Uzodimma stakeholders meeting as an exercise in futility, Okorocha wondered why his legacies which impacted positively on the lives of the people are being systematically claimed to have been executed by the Uzodimma administration which he said is also making every effort to drag his hard earned reputation to the mud through baseless and groundless allegations.
“My legacies are all over the place and would ever remain indelible and cannot be erased because they are very clear”, he added.
While urging the PresidentMuhammad’s Buhari, the Inspector General of Police and other security chiefs in the country to intervene in the ugly drama taking place in Imo, the former he dismissed insinuations in some quarters of his plan to dump the All Progressives Congress (APC) and queried, “how can I build a house, furnish it and abandon it for a tenant? I was one of those who formed the APC and Governor Hope Uzodinma only came in through the window so I cannot leave the party for him”.
Meanwhile, the Government of Imo State has approved a proposal that would entail the payment of salary of workers before the end of every month.
By the approval, workers will now be paid their salary on or before the 26th of every month.
To achieve that, the Executive Council of Imo State has also approved a proposal for a rolling bank facility from Zenith Bank Plc to enable her live up to that expectation.
The approval for the rolling bank facility was sequel to a memo submitted to the Exco by the Commissioner for Finance and Coordinating Economy, Dr. Uzoka- Anite, which suggested that government could deal with the payment of salary of workers through the rolling bank facility pending the receipt of the monthly allocation from the federation account.
Briefing newsmen at the end of the maiden Exco meeting in 2022, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon. Declan Mbadiwe Emelumba said the proposal was well received as it was in keeping with the idea of Governor Uzodimma’s administration to pay workers at all levels their salary on or before the 25th and 26th day of every month.
Joined by the Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser to the Governor, Oguwike Nwachuku, Emelumba said Uzodimma tinkered with the idea and relied on it to pay Imo workers their December 2021 salary as well as the 100 per cent 13th month basic salary before December 25, 2021 and therefore feels it could be made a permanent programme.
Emelumba said that Uzodimma who presided over the meeting had earlier sworn-in the Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Hajia Rabbi Ibrahim and the Chief Economic Adviser to the Governor, Prof. Kenneth Amaeshi.
The duo, he said, were formerly admitted as members of the State Executive Council and that the Governor enjoined them and their colleagues to work for the interest of Imo people.
He said the Governor asked all the Exco members to acquaint themselves with the tenets of the 3R mantra and work as a team to deliver the dividends of democracy to Imo people.
He said that the Exco congratulated Uzodimma on the successes recorded at the Stakeholders meeting on January 4, 2022 “which indicated the people’s acceptance of the Shared Prosperity Administration.”
“The cream of Imolites that graced the occasion indicated the interest and concerns of Imo people in the administration of Senator Hope Uzodimma,” he said, adding that the Chairman of the occasion, a successful international businessman, Chief Leo-Stan Eke who is an Imo son and other very important personalities from the State who spoke at the occasion tells a lot about how successful the event was.
Fielding questions from journalists on Senator Rochas Okorocha, the former Governor of Imo State, who accused Governor Uzodimma at a press briefing on Wednesday of “funding a killer squad domiciled in Government House, telling Imo people lies at the Stakeholders meeting and failure to name the perceived criminals causing security breaches in the State,” Emelumba said
“Okorocha must be suffering from paranoid of a sort.”
He said Okorocha’s countenance since the issue of those behind insecurity in Imo State was brought to the fore speaks volume about someone who actually has something to hide.
“The worries of Rochas Okorocha may not be unconnected with the fact that he actually has something to hide and sooner than later the world will hear of those things that are making him jittery.”
Emelumba described the allegation of the Governor keeping a killer squad consisting of the Police, Army and the DSS, as laughable.
He however advised the former Governor to “follow the due process by petitioning the Security Agencies, furnish them with the facts and allow them get to the route of the spurious claims.”
He said “the former Governor is worried and embittered because he was prevented by Imo people from creating a political dynasty for himself ”
“Also, from continuing to take the people’s patrimony after looting the State dry alongside his family members and cronies for which the government of the day is working hard to retrieve.” he further said
