Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha has denied involvement in the construction of a billboard with a photo of him shaking US President, Barack Obama.
Okorocha has been severely criticized over the billboard which described those captured as the "new faces of change."
The governor however said, via a statement released by his media aide, Sam Onwuemeodo, that he had nothing to do with the advert.
The statement reads:
"The attention of the Imo State Government has been drawn to His Excellency, Governor Rochas Okorocha's photographs with president Barack Obama been shown on the digital billboard screen and flex billboard banner. "
"To say the least, the Imo Governor or the state government he superintends did not place the photographs on the referenced screen or billboards, and was not aware or informed of such development, and could not have authorized anybody or any group to do that since it was totally unnecessary."
"We had done our investigations and had discovered that some politicians in the state did that and they had done it with good intentions without their knowing the implications since they are not experts in public relations. They had thought that by doing the adverts they were going to impress the governor. And we can understand that. The government has however told them to put a stop to that."
"So, we take the liberty to call on the general public who had seen or who will see the photographs on the networks in question to discard them. They are not from the Imo State Government."
Okorocha was part of a delegation which accompanied President Muhammadu Buharito the US for a four-day official visit from July 20 to July 23, 2015.
