Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, has taken exception to a newspaper assessment of his performance in office as AVERAGE.

Okorocha’s mood became soured when THISDAY in a special report on the scorecard of the state governors published last Sunday, May 25, 2014, deflated claims that he has been performing wonders since he mounted the saddle as Imo Governor on May 29, 2011.

“As a government, the moment the report was drawn to our attention, our initial reaction was that, it was a joke taken too far, because to the best of our knowledge those behind the report in the THISDAY must have sat somewhere and allocated scores, without taking cognizance of the achievements of the individual governors in taking such action,” said Okorocha’s Senior special Assistant Media, Sam Onwuemeodo.

Faulting the assessment, Onwuemeodo said in a statement in Owerri, a copy of which was made available to News Express: “In the report under scrutiny, only five projects of Governor Okorocha were briefly mentioned, and they used that to score a governor that is talking about more than one thousand projects to his credit. Let those behind the assessment tell us when they came to Imo State and mention who took them round to see the projects.

“Let those behind the contentious report mention the project sites they visited in Imo State. Nigerians and Imo people in particular would like to know on which bases the medium scored Okorocha average. You don’t score somebody without a basis. In what areas did they score Okorocha to arrive at average?

“And, it even becomes more questionable and worrisome when one recalls that those who packaged the report could not draw a line between governors serving out their second term of eight years each and men like Okorocha who have served only three years in their first term of four years.

Even at that, the government and people of Imo State strongly believe that if the THISDAY report was based on the achievements of the individual governors, governor Okorocha would have not only been scored above average, but “super above average” because they would have realised that he had beaten most of those completing their eight years, in his three years.

“THISDAY is a highly regarded tabloid in the country and is also reputable, otherwise, we would have seen the last Sunday’s scorecard as a political outing or opponents of Okorocha behind the scorecard, report because there was no reason, anybody would score Okorocha, average.

“To show the seriousness we attach to our rejection of the report, we invite the THISDAY team to Imo State, to come and see things by themselves, since it was obvious they never visited Imo State. And if someone had briefed them on the Imo Governor’s achievements warranting them to score him average, they should know that the person had deceived them seriously and it is up to them to find out the truth.

“We reject the report in its entirely, because it has no justification for whatsoever. No atom of truth in the report with regard to the Imo Governor. At best, it was a report in contrast to the verifiable facts on ground. Those who have been to Imo State would attest to our claims, and join us to condemn the report. If Governor Okorocha is not the first, he should be the second or at worst, the third even with those serving eight years against his three years.

“It will be highly appreciated if the THISDAY Team visits Imo State at no cost to them to come and authenticate their report or accept our rejection of the report.”

•Photo shows Governor Okorocha.

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