There are strong indications that the Imo State chapter of the All Progressive Congress, APC may not be able to gather itself together before the selection of candidate to carry the party’s banner in the coming election in 2019.
This is as a result of discordant tunes within the rank and file of the party arising from the purported endorsement of the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Uche Nwosu, by the governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha.
Okorocha had on Monday signaled intention to back Nwosu for the governorship if he declares interest even as he had tactically showed interest in the ambition of few of his appointees and acolytes for various positions.
But the party is beginning to lose cohesion and oneness ahead next election as various leaders and youths groups distance from the purported endorsement.
Trumpeta was informed that some of the top party leaders who were railroad into a meeting with Okorocha for the purpose of adopting and endorsing his inlaw, Uche Nwosu, for governorship, have not only regretted visiting Government House, Owerri, for such purposes, but also at war with the masterminds of the plot who didn’t disclose the intention of the visit.
An interest group in APC, the Imo APC Concerned Stakeholders had in an earlier press briefing condemned any act not in tandem with the constitution of the party. According to the group, the issues of Mock Primaries and Endorsements planned by Okorocha for selection of 2019 election candidates in APC shall be counter- productive as it is not within the confines of the party law.
Remarkably, a notable party Chieftain and the former Secretary to the State Government, Chief Jude Ejiogu in a recent statement expressed that while the party constitution does not recognize such exercise for contestants in the party, urged members not to lose grip in their efforts to ensure sanity reigns.
Meanwhile, some of the groups : Imo Youth Council, the Agenda Vanguard (A V), Imo Youth Enlightenment Organization (IYEO), Rochas Youth Alliance (RYA), APC Youth Vanguard (APCYV), Youth Equity Group (YEG), APC Youth League (APCYL) and the Imo Youths Agenda (IYA), it was gathered angrily stormed out of a meeting organized by the Special Adviser to Governor Okorocha on Youth Affairs, Kenneth Emelu at the Imo Youth Centre to lobby for their support for the governor’s anointed successor.
Addressing a press conference shortly at the Imo Concord Hotel, the State commander, AV, comrade Ibeawuchi Nwannaeri who spoke on behalf of the groups said that APC would only support a candidate who emerges through a credible party primary, irrespective of the zone.
Although, Nwannaeri described Nwosu endorsed by Governor Okorocha as a good candidate for the position but maintained that the party’s interest should be paramount.
“We don’t want to make mistakes, youths of Imo does not support endorsement of an individual , Nwosu is a youth and a good man ,but the interest of the party should be paramount, no matter what, be it Madumere, Nwosu, Ololo or Ejiogu, what we are saying is that they should emerge through the party primary” Nwannaeri said.
Similarly, a stakeholder of the party, and a former Commissioner for Information, Chief Vitalis Ajumbe while reacting to the endorsement by Governor Okorocha said that there is nothing wrong for the governor to endorse any candidate, but noted that he has no right to determine who becomes his successor in 2019.
He added that the right to choose who becomes the next governor of the State should be determined by the electorates. “Governor Okorocha has the right to support any candidate, but has no right to determine who becomes the governor, it is left for the electorates to decide”
“If he thinks endorsing his son -in-law would make him the governor, he is deceiving himself, it only shows that Okorocha wants to come back for a third term through the back door” Ajumbe said.
Trouble of high magnitude broke out when the youths demanded their share of N10 million allegedly budgeted to secure youths’ endorsements only to receive paltry N1, 500 each. The angry youths reached for their pound of flesh from the profusely sweating government official but for the timely intervention of security agents.
Meanwhile, no fewer than ten APC youths sustained various degrees of injuries as majority of aggrieved ones totally rejected Governor Okorocha’s son-in-law describing him a misfit and money-miss-road who knows nothing about governance other than.
