The immediate past chairman of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, and a former Vice President of the Citi Bank, Sir Okey Ezeh, on Tuesday joined the governorship race of Imo State, to sack the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Government House.
They also accused the APC-led state government of plundering the fortunes of the state in the past seven and half years.
Amadi and Ezeh who are contesting on the platform of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to challenge the APC candidate, in separate interviews with newsmen when they came to pick their nomination and expression of interest forms at the party’s secretariat in Abuja, said their administrations would save the state from its present predicament.
Amadi said he will build 108 cottage industries in the 27 local government areas of the state when elected.
According to him, these industries will in turn create about 108,000 skilled and unskilled jobs, which will reduce thuggery and misery in the state, especially among the youths.
The APGA governorship aspirant, who served as chairman of NERC between 2010 and 2014, also said his administration will write a memo to the federal government to pay all local government allocations directly to them for rapid development of the rural economy.
“The 27 local government councils in Imo State will have 305 quality health centers and we will have public schools that are comparable to the best private schools. We will end the apartheid that subjects the children of the poor to failed schools that lead to more poverty and misery.
“Considering the damage Governor Okorocha has inflicted on Imo state, in 2019 Imo cannot afford another one from the tribe of political entrepreneurs whose interest in public office is to maximize personal wealth and indulge in endless sensuality.
“Imo needs an upgrade of Sam Mbakwe, a governor whose lack of interest in personal wealth enables him to focus all energies towards building economic and social infrastructure of rural prosperity, I am ready to provide such leadership”, Amadi said.
On his part, Sir Okey Ezeh said his pedigree as a management consultant and financial investment expert is his selling point desired by the people of Imo.
He said, “The economic rebirth and total transformation of our economy in Imo State begins today. As you know, Imo is one of the states that are called underperformers by variables that you can use to measure a state that is as blessed as Imo State. The first critical step has been taken today and from now on, it is forward ever, backward never.
“There is a consensus in Imo State that Imo requires a technocrat, somebody with a proven capacity to deliver value. Over the years, our fortunes have nosedived, as Nigeria is a mono-product economy and the tendency is that when there is oil boom, most states would depend on allocations. When this revenue begins to dry up, there is needed to look for people to create value, people that can create ways alternative ways of harnessing our great talents and resources.
“I am an investment banker and a technocrat, I am not a career diplomat and I would not be a governor that would be presiding over allocations, these are part of my selling points that I want to bring to the table.”
