There is palpable fear and tension among the teeming followers of the major contenders for the All Progressive Congress APC Governorship ticket in Imo State, namely Senator Hope Uzodinma and Chief Uche Nwosu.
According to information available to Trumpeta, an Abuja High Court has slated tomorrow, October 2, 2018, as the date fixed for the hearing on who between Nwosu and Uzodinma is the authentic Governorship candidate of APC in Imo State.
Both men have been laying claim to the position, which led to litigations in Court, and caused the APC to suspend the submission of the name of who is the Governorship candidate of the party in Imo State to INEC.
However, INEC has fixed Friday, Nov 2, 2018, as the final day of submission of all candidates by all the political parties. The closing date is 12 am on Friday.
Luckily for Imo APC, Court also fixed Friday for the final judgment on the issue between Uche Nwosu and Hope Uzodinma over the Imo APC Governorship ticket.
It would be recalled that APC had fixed Governorship primaries for October 1, 2018, and that of Imo State was held in the various wards, with a faction of the party led by the State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha boycotting the exercise.
But the Senator Hope Uzodinma camp went on with the process, supervised by Alhaji Gulak, sent from the APC Head office in Abuja.
Immediately after the one-sided exercise, Senator Hope Uzodinma went to Court praying that no other name, other than his should be submitted by INEC, as the authentic Governorship candidate of the party in Imo State.
However, on the October 3, 2018, the Rochas Okorocha Group held its own primaries, where his son inlaw, and anointed successor was hoisted as the winner of the exercise which other Governorship Aspirants Boycotted.
Following this development, the battle shifted to Abuja, where Uzodinma and Okorocha with their followers relocated to do battle both at the party head office and Court.
When the matter was first raised in Court, Nwosu asked to be joined in the suit as an interested party, which the judge obliged him.
However, before the Court could sit for more deliberations on the matter, Nwosu through his cousin and Deputy Chairman of Imo APC, petitioned the Court alleging bias by the judge, Justice Othman which led the matter to be adjourned indefinitely, until the allegation on the judge was resolved.
Days ago, the Justice Othman handling the case was exonerated of any bias, and asked by the Abuja Chief Judge to continue with the matter expeditiously.
Therefore, tomorrow, the much awaited case will come up in Abuja, and will finally settle the issue of who between Uzodinma and Nwosu is Imo APC Governorship candidate while INEC waits till 12am for the Imo APC candidate, or lose the slot of having a Governorship candidate in the 2019 election.
This case has caused a lot of tension in Imo State, as nearly all the citizens await the outcome of the case.
Meanwhile, as the case was still in court, the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas has been mobilizing members of his own faction of APC to continue demonstrating and attract the attention of the Presidency, for his son inlaw, Uche Nwosu, to be handed the ticket. He has even threatened to dump PDP with his followers, should Uche Nwosu lose the ticket to Hope Uzodinma.
The Okorocha Group has demonstrated against the APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, against Gulak who submitted a result bearing Hope Uzodinma’s name, and against the Coalition faction of Imo APC.
Meanwhile, the Uzodinma Group has also made Newspaper publications, urging APC to ignore Okorocha and his inlaw, as it is nothing but Third term for Okorocha in disguise.
Therefore, the Court case tomorrow holds the ace to settle for good, the Imo APC Governorship debacle so that Okorocha, Uche Nwosu, Hope Uzodinma, Imo APC members the Coalition and Imo citizens can move on with their lives and get set for the 2019 general elections.
