I Owe No Apology For Inviting Zuma, Erecting His Statue - Rochas Okorocha

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of not building the image of the state, as well as looting public treasury.

The accusation comes days after he unveiled a huge statue in honor of South African President, Jacob Zuma.

The decision has been widely criticized as endorsing the governance style of a president who is facing corruption charges in his country.

More so, the honour was done Mr. Zuma few days after another Nigerian, Jelili Omoyele, a 35-year-old, was killed in South Africa.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Sam Onwuemeodo, on Tuesday said the PDP never attracted any meaningful personality to the state.

“If it was in the days of PDP, Schools and Markets would have been shot down. And roads closed because President Zuma was coming. But none of such things was done because Rochas and his government have human face. The PDP for the 12 years they held sway never attracted any meaningful visitor to the State except PDP NEC members who were coming to loot the State,” the statement read.

In a non-apologetic manner, Mr. Onwuemeodo said Gov. Rochas was determined to bring development to Imo state and would not be deterred by criticisms.

“And in case these “Galatians” do not know, if all we need to do to attract good things or investments to Imo is erecting statues, then, we have no option than to erect as many of such structures as possible. We owe no one apology. Rochas made a promise to open the doors of Imo to the rest of the world, for good and he is doing that and we cannot be deterred by these enemies of our people,” he said.

Source