Ihedioha swears in interim LG  committee bosses

Imo State Governor Emeka Ihedioha has appointed and sworn in the chairmen and members of the interim management committees for the 27 councils of the state.

The governor had on Monday suspended all the elected chairmen and councillors as well as some appointees of the outgone government of Rochas Okorocha.

He also inaugurated Ernest Emeziem as the Special Adviser and General Manager, Sanitation and Environmental Transformation Commission.

During the swearing-in ceremony at Douglas House, Owerri, Ihedioha charged the new appointees to be responsible and accountable to their offices, adding that he would not hesitate to remove anyone found wanting.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor disclosed that his government, in keeping to relevant laws guiding his office, would, within six months, conduct elections into the councils.

Some local governments had boycotted the council elections organised by Okorocha last year.

Meanwhile, three lawmakers elected on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) have defected to the PDP.

The lawmakers, Chyna Iwuanyanwu (Nwangele), Chidi Ogbunikpa (Okigwe) and Onyemaechi Njoku (Ihitte Uboma) said yesterday that their defection was to enable them serve their constituents better.

Ihedioha has, however, defended his actions since assumption of office, saying they were in the overriding interest of the public.

His Chief Press Secretary, Chibuike Onyeukwu, yesterday, said: “The action is in the overriding public interest, and to give government an opportunity to execute the policies, programmes and agenda that brought it into power.”

The governor had come under several attacks from the opposition, majorly supporters of the immediate past All Progressives Congress (APC) government, who insisted that he had done nothing differently from what Okorocha did when he assumed office in 2011.

He added that his actions were backed by relevant laws, in particular the federal constitution.

In a related development, the newly inaugurated members of Imo House of Assembly have resolved to assist Ihedioha to recover all stolen assets of the state.

The speaker, Chiji Collins, disclosed this to newsmen in Owerri shortly after he led the lawmakers to inspect the assembly’s facilities in the state.

Collins, who asserted that some assets of the assembly were also looted, said the lawmakers had set up a committee to begin the recovery of the stolen properties.

He decried the dilapidated condition of the assembly complex, including the speaker’s and deputy speaker’s lodges, adding that the facilities needed urgent renovation to avert possible collapse.

His words: “We have finished touring the House of Assembly complex, the speaker’s lodge and that of the deputy speaker. The level of decay is highly unbelievable. The complex was renovated last year, but it is very unfortunate that it has cracks. It is clear that those who undertook the renovation work did a very poor job.

“But beyond the dilapidated state of the complex, we have set up a committee to begin the recovery of stolen government property belonging to the House of Assembly.”