Ihedioha Dumps Imo PDP Media Crew, Lavishes Millions Of Naira On Lagos And Abuja Based Bloggers

                        
The governor of Imo State, His Excellency Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha has been accused by some of his most loyal supporters of abandoning them to their not too pleasant fate after they had sacrificed so much towards helping him actualize his dream of becoming the governor of Imo State.

This is coming as the governor is said to have spent millions of Naira in hosting some Lagos and Abuja based bloggers and online media practitioners at the Imo State Government House, Owerri.

Some sources within the Imo PDP New Media team complained bitterly that the Imo governor has abandoned them since he emerged the governor of the State, while some of his closest men openly deride them for lacking the needed capacity to withstand the media onslaught against the governor.

According to one of the pioneer members of the Imo PDP New Media team who would not want her name published, the governor is ungrateful.

"We spent most part of the last six years helping to launder the governor's image in both the conventional and new media. We also did a lot to demarket the governor's opponents, especially the immediate past governor of the State. We don't have much to show for it, except the 25,000 Naira monthly stipend the Party was paying us during the campaign period. Most of us abandoned other things we were supposed to do, believing that we would be rewarded when the governor takes power. Today, the story is different. We have been used and dumped."

"The governor says he wants professionals to handle his image on social media. These professionals were nowhere when we managed the governor's image and helped him win his election. Most of them were contracted to some of his opponents, yet, we defeated them, but today, each of them has come with proposals asking for millions of Naira from the governor. It is unfortunate that the governor has not deemed it fit to interact with us since after his inauguration as governor, but has gone ahead to meet with and interface with strangers to his cause, who have only come to take their own share of Imo money."

Another aggrieved member of the Imo PDP New Media, pointedly accused the governor of paying as much as 100 Million Naira to each of the so-called social media influencers from Lagos and Abuja, without caring a hoot about the welfare of hundreds of young men and women drawn from across the 27 LGAs of the State, who have followed him even at the risk of their own lives, for the past six years or more.

"Nigerian politicians are not worth any loyalty. They don't place any value on loyalty, especially, when they have access to public funds. We have become fools, for staying loyal and volunteering to work for his success. Today, we are regarded as nonprofessional. God will judge them."

Sources at the meeting between the governor and the so-called social media influencers have alleged that the governor specifically asked the online media influencers to use their platforms to project the image of his administration in good light. He was also said to have taken the team on a tour of some bad spots in the State, in order to buttress his allegation that the previous administration 'destroyed the State's.

"The governor is not joking about his threat to demonize and criminalize Governor Okorocha and members of his political family. The Social media team, assembled from Lagos and Abuja are among the best in the country and they are going home with an instruction to ensure that Governor Okorocha and anything linked to him are dented before the public eyes." Said one of those who attended the meeting.

Source: By Aliu Mambara