Imo State may be on the way to having its first-ever female governor, as Mrs. Ifeyinwa Maureen Okafor, has declared interest in next year’s race to dislodge Governor Rochas Okorocha from Douglas House, the state’s Government House.

According to the aspirant, popularly known as IMO, the state was due for real change and she was determined to bring about that change.

Vying on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the youthful mother of three said she had marshaled out her plans on how to transform the state if elected next year.

Her programme of action was encapsulated in an all-gloss   bulletin, tagged: My Vision for Imo,” which was distributed at a recent fund raising dinner organised  for her by some compatriots and lovers of Imo State, in  Lagos.

Okafor said her vision encompassed all vital areas, including quality education, healthcare, housing and lands, transportation, environment, water, rural development, ICT, adequate security, job creation, children, youth and elderly, flood and erosion control and agriculture.

The aspirant said she believed that she towered above other contenders, stressing that the party’s decision to give women 35 per cent slot of the offices is reassuring.

She also anchored her hope on the necessity to reactivate the Imo Charter of  Equity, which the emergence of Okorocha truncated in 2011, thereby giving her zone, Okigwe, the opportunity to complete its eight years in Douglas House in the interest of justice and equity.

Mrs. Okafor is an award-winning First Class graduate of law from the University of Bradford, England, and holds an MBA from the University of Lagos, among other sterling academic laurels. She is also a chartered accountant and fellow and member of many professional bodies, such as Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN), Institute of Directors (IoD), and Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).