The teeter-totter journey of the Imo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC witnessed another interesting dimension on Thursday July 5, 2018, when the judiciary stepped and reinforced a see-saw movement bedeviling the ruling party in the state in recent times.
It is no longer news that a war of attrition is ravaging the party in the state courtesy of the deliberate efforts of a section of the party members, known as the Imo APC Stakeholders, vehemently resisting attempts by the state governor, Rochas Okorocha, to not only pocket the party structure for the purposes of foisting his son in-law on people of the state as his successor but also ensure the emergence of cronies he had endorsed for other elective positions come 2019.
The sharp division in the rank and file of Imo APC was prominent during the recently concluded congresses to elect officers in Ward, LGA and State strata held in May this year.
The supremacy battle became more pronounced during the National Convention in a Abuja as the warring factions presented different candidates for the National Organizing Secretary, NOS, position allocated to the state in the sharing formula arranged for the South East zone.
However, before the “feast of furry” at the Eagles Square event ground of the Convention, allies of the governor had gone to court requesting the presiding judge to declare that congresses of the party didn’t hold in the state.
There is no intention to bore readers with the celebrated case of Imo State congress of the APC, but suffice it to note that the Congress Committees for the Ward, LGA and State exercises had submitted a report to the National Working Committee okaying the conduct. A bamboozled Okorocha and followers in his Rescue Mission government, who turned “Complainant Generals”, went to court to ask for cancellation of the exercise.
Okorocha had his appointees and sympathizers otherwise known as the Rescue Missionaries on one side, he branded “Nde Agburu”, while a cross section political heavy weights of Imo State extraction in APC like Senators Ifeanyi Araraume, Osita Izunaso, Hope Uzodinma, and Ben Uwajumogu as well as embattled Deputy Governor, Eze Madumere, who led a chunk of former allies of the governor to form the coalition, further known as Allied Forces.
After few weeks and the outgone NWC inaugurated is the State APC chapter Proceedings at the Federal High Court, Owerri, created another scene as the presiding judge, Justice Lewis Allagoah in his judgment nullified the congresses and asked the party to organize fresh ones.
The judgment has opened another vista in the struggle between the APC Stakeholders, also known as the Coalition or Allied Forces and the Okorocha’s Rescue Missionaries for the soul of Imo APC.
Expectedly, the outcome of the court decision elicited joyful noise from the camp of the governor who went frenzy in town to savour the judgment on the premise that Rescue Mission advocates prayers have been answered even as proper cognizance of the new horizon arising from the pronouncement Of Justice Allagoah was not observed by the elated Okorocha sympathizers.
Indications are rife that it was a pyrrhic victory for Okorocha and his allies as the realities of the court judgment begin to manifest. Only on Tuesday, the governor declared intentions to organize his own congress to elect officers at all the levels. The new turn of Okorocha, according to knee observers was in realization of the implication of the Federal High Court judgment his cronies went to court and asked for.
The end result of the court decision was the authentication of the Hilary Eke’s leader hip of the state APC party structure pending the final determination of the court matter which may be settled by the apex court in the land as the factions are unyielding in their desire to observe a truce.
It was not surprising that Okorocha is opting to have a congress despite that the national secretariat of APC is yet to give directive on fresh congresses since the legal fireworks are yet to be settled.
Observers had after the court decision raised a point that Okorocha would have benefitted from the ruling had his group conducted a parallel congress during the event. The officers of the parallel congress would have been entangled in fresh leadership tango for the soul of Imo APC following the discrediting of the congress by the courts.
Events trailing developments may have overtaking the latest approach of the governor which somehow puts him and followers in tight corner especially now the judiciary may not finally dispense justice on the case before the primaries.
Beyond the facade of the struggle for who gets what as a party official during the battle for the Ward, LGA and State Congress hinges on who is incharge of the party structure to control the delegates. Apart from the statutory delegates, APC law guarantees a section of the party eligibility to choose those entitled to be flagbearers of the party during primaries.
For Okorocha who is poised to have Nwosu, his son in-law as APC governorship ticket bearer, as well as guaranteeing the chances of his followers seeking elective positions, losing the structure would be suicidal for his future political projections. The status quo which guarantees Eke chance to continue is a nunc dimities to his political desires in 2019.
.
The implication is that the Hilary- Eke led state Exco where the principal officers, like the Chairman, Deputy, Publicity Secretary, Woman Leader and Organizing Secretary are on the side of the Allied Forces would due to proclivity to Allied Forces, continue to resist his influence and control during the primaries. Apart from Eke, his Deputy Ugochukwu Nzekwe, Clems Anozie and Nwabueze Oguchienti Organizing Sec and State Public Sec respectively are Coalition members.
Similarly, the LGA officers, especially the out of favour G16 who fell out of with Okorocha and majority of their wards Excos are Allied Forces Compliant.
With the Allied Forces going to Appeal Court and asking for stay of execution of the Fed High Court judgment, coupled with the slight delays that may characterize the court processes arising from the vacation of officers of the Bench, the case may drag to September after the party’s primaries may have concluded.
While the Allied Forces are holding forth to their end and strategizing to give Okorocha and group a technical knock-out, the governor is not resting on his oars since he appeared to have woken from slumber and putting tactical finesse to his attitude to redefine the chase for the soul of Imo APC.
Considering the manner lie has bounced back after Allied Forces torpedoed his political prowess in the earlier battles, the coming fights over who gets what undoubtebly will be titanic.
