Ohakim charges Ihedioha’s opponents to eschew vendetta, embrace peace

Former Governor of Imo state, Chief Ikedi Ohakim has advised the opponents of Governor Emeka Ihedioha in the gubernatorial election to eschew vendetta and embrace peace in order to move the state forward.

Ohakim, who was reacting to last Saturday’s tribunal judgment that upheld the election of Gov. Ihedioha as the governor of the state, said that “in every verdict, somebody will win, somebody is expected to win and somebody won. The verdict returned Gov. Ihedioha as duly elected.

“I want to seize this opportunity to call on all our brothers that went to the tribunal to please be bold enough, be patriotic enough to join forces no matter how you feel. I want to also call on all your supporters to please don’t fan the ambers of disunity any longer.

The verdict could have gone your side and others could have joined you. But, now it did not favour you, you will be expected to join other people to move Imo forward.”

The ex-governor who was fielding questions from journalists in Owerri, the state capital added that “I want to seize this opportunity also to call on my brothers and sisters Ndi Imo to show that zeal, that patriotism, show that thing that make us Ndi Imo, so that we can come back together once more, to make sure that we put all our forces together because Imo requires a lot of service.

“Volunteerism must be our watchword. Support for the government in power should be our creed. We must eschew vendetta. We must not say it must be us forever. It could be you, it could be another person.

“I want to thank all those people who stood by the side of the governor. That yes, you have won, but then, nobody wins his brother. You only succeeded in the verdict, you did not win; Imo people won.

“This is what I want to tell you. I, Ikedi Ohakim has decided that I must join forces with this government, join forces with the legislature, join forces with the local government chairmen and let this government begin to implement its promises and programmes for the benefit of the common man.

“Today, we have the problem of unemployment, today we have problem of food, today we have problem of health, we have infrastructural decay and we have emergency in water. All these require devotion, a lot of resources to be able to tackle.

“It does not require tearing ourselves. We must have to swallow our pride to begin to reason and to begin to work for the people of this state.”