One of the dominant forces in the politics of Imo State and a chieftain of the APC, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume has revealed that it is the common desire of the people of the state to resist the attempt of the governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha to impose the son in-law, Chief Uche Nwosu as successor.
A war of words have ensured between Okorocha and Senator Araraume since politics of the state entered another level.
Reacting over a recent comment credited to Okorocha through his media aide Sam Onwuemedo, where the governor asked that Araraume should not be allowed to “destroy” APC, the two time Senator of Okigwe zone stated that the outburst of the number one citizen of the state is a fallout of the collective decision of Imolites to kick against the ambition of his son in-law, Nwosu.
Media aide to Araraume, IK Ogbonna in a statement made public and sent to Trumpeta states that the frustration Okorocha is facing to market his son inlaw has forced him to make scathing remarks about perceived opponents against the project adding that Imolites from different divides have joined forces to kick again imposition of Nwosu.
The statement reads “What we have in the state is that all well-meaning citizens, from the political class to the academia, from the professions to the clergy, the traditional institutions and even artisans are in agreement, beyond partisan, sectional, religious and cultural boundaries etc to stop Governor Okorocha from further destroying the state, economically, politically, culturally etc. In the last couple of months, Governor Okorocha has been raining abuses on every political leader of note in the state, including his predecessors, dead or alive.
“As for Senator Araraume, the good people of Imo state have so become used to the governor’s reckless and uncouth utterances on the former that they no longer take him seriously each time he goes to town with the type of statement as the one under reference. Needless to say, the governor’s recent utterances on the senator, especially the one under reference, merely reinforces the feeling among Imo people that the governor harbors a morbid fear over the wide acceptance of the senator by the people in his bid to emerge as their next governor and thus become the arrow head of the collective quest to end the decadence the governor and his administration has put the state into.
“Governor Okorocha deludes himself as a political giant but it is not a hidden fact that in his career, he has contested over 15 elections and lost all; governor, party chairman, senator, president etc. Even the 2011 governorship election in which he was declared winner was a make belief. In 2015, he ran for a second term but the election went into second balloting and he almost lost because of his abysmal performance in his first term. Prior to being finally railroaded into the office of governor in 2011, Chief Okorocha had moved from one party to another in search of political appointments. Even so, he was sacked from the one he eventually got into as Chairman of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, by the person who gave him the appointment, President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“Contrary to Governor Okorocha’s claim that Senator Araraume joined the APC just to contest for the office of the governor, the truth is that the senator was talked into joining the party by people that belong to certain political circles that are outside the reach of the governor. It was only a matter of circumstances that it was during the 2015 general elections that he finally decided to join; in his continual insistence that there must be fairness and internal democracy in politics. Still, the matter of when Senator Araraume joined APC is clearly diversionary. Even if the senator joined later, especially to ensure his second term election victory, what about his deputy, Prince Eze Madumere, the state chairman of the party, Chief Hillary Eke and others who joined the party the same time with him and who are currently part of the coalition”.
