Imo State governor Rochas Okorocha on Thursday directed Imo workers to dismiss any directive handed to them on discharge of their official responsibilities by the governor-elect, Hon Emeka Ihedioha.
The governor pointed out until Ihedioha takes the oath of office, he lacks the power to issue directives on how civil servants should carry out the duties.
The governor, who was reacting to the directive by the governor-elect that civil servants in the Ministry of Lands should stop the issuance of Land titles forthwith or be penalised, said that he is the only one with the Constitutional right to give a directive until the end of his administration.
The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, in a statement, explained: “A Press Release with the referenced Caption, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, through his media aide stated that “Processing, Issuance, Execution and Collection of Certificates of Occupancy in respect of land within the Owerri Capital Territory are hereby suspended.
“He threatened to deal with “all the Civil Servants, Public Officers, Special Aides and Government Officials in all Departments of Government” who would disobey this order.
“We want to ask those mentioned in the press release to ignore both the directive and the threat. There is no Office like governor-elect in the Constitution of Nigeria or in any other known ordinance.
“In other words, there is only one office of the governor in the State. And Owelle Rochas Okorocha is the Occupant of that Office now.
“Owelle Okorocha is the only one that has the Constitutional right to issue such directives not the governor-elect. Therefore, those concerned should continue to do their works without fear of molestation since they have not contravened any law of the land or any Civil Service rule.
“And the activities of government cannot be kept on hold because someone has been declared winner of a contentious governorship election.
Okorocha added: “Once again, Chief Ihedioha should remain civil until he is sworn-in on May 29, 2019. When he comes in, he knows what to do on any action taken by Owelle Okorocha’s administration. It does not require too much noise or rascality.
“Rochas Okorocha has transformed Imo State to a very large extent. Introduced and ensured free education from Primary to the University since 2011, made Owerri a befitting State Capital with 8 to 12 lane-roads and street lights.
“Indeed, Rochas Okorocha has more than one thousand verifiable projects to his credit. PDP only promoted share-the-money policy and dwelt extensively on merriment with expensive wines like MOET, XO, HENNESY as their choice drinks.
“And we do not expect them to perform any magic this time. So, they should curtail the whole noise. We know their capacity”.
