Former Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Dr Nkem Okeke has opened up barely one month after he left office amidst controversy over his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Deputy Governor who is currently the zonal secretary to the national zoning committee of the APC in a press conference at his Enugwu-Ukwu home said he had no regrets joining the party as it would enable him play national politics to contribute his quota to the State’s and nation’s development.
He thanked the Anambra people for the opportunity given him to serve the State as a Deputy Governor. He gave special thanks to the former chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Senator Victor Ume who he said facilitated his being chosen to deputise former Governor Willie Obiano.
He declared that Obiano as well showed him kindness as he insisted to work with him in his second tenure despite pressure from some quarters for the former Governor to drop him. He noted that the opportunity given to him to serve for eight years had gone into history as the first Deputy Governor in Anambra to do so.
Dr Okeke said what happened to former Governor Obiano concerning his case with the Economic and Financial Crime Control (EFCC) could have been avoided, if the former Governor had surrounded himself with people of integrity who should have told him what he needed to hear and not those who told him what he would like to hear.
“I knew that something would happen but I didn’t expect it the way it happened. I thank God he was released. But as a human being, I have mixed feelings. All these could have been avoided.
“A good leader has to surround himself with people of integrity, people he will listen to, people who will advise him and he will listen to them. That’s the advice I give to the new Governor, Prof Charles Soludo, ” he said.
He disclosed that till when he left office his entitlements and severance allowances were not paid to him. He said he did not get what he was supposed to get as a Deputy Governor. He hoped that Governor Soludo would do the needful in that regard at the appropriate time.
Dr Okeke noted that he had his expectations while in office but that things did not work out the way he expected. He explained that the Governor was all in all and whatever he said he could do, that he would do.
Okeke said he tried to advise where necessary even though his pieces of advice were not accepted most of the time, adding that he put in his best.
On his defection from the APGA to the APC, he said: “My joining the APC has to do with what next after serving as a Deputy Governor for eight years. I decided that it was time to go into national politics. And to do that, there is the APC and PDP. I chose to join the APC as the party in power.
“I know some people were not happy for that decision I took. I don’t narrow my thought processes. I looked at what the APC has done for Anambra and indeed the entire South East. I looked at the second Niger Bridge and I know what that bridge could do for the State when commissioned.
” We have a lot of Anambra people in the APC who are contributing their quotas to the development of the State. I have no regrets. It is through the APC that I will gain national limelight which is currently happening. The party welcomed me with open arms, ” Dr Okeke noted.
Source: The Sun
