By: Amaechi Kingsley
The final pronouncement of 9th March Governorship and House of Assembly results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Imo state has opened a new chapter in the altercation between the state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and the APC governorship candidate, Senator Hope Uzodinma.
For losing the only All Progressive Congress (APC) state in the South East, Imo Governor, Rochas Okorocha and his party governorship flag bearer, Senator Hope Uzodinma has embarked on fresh verbal wars over their roles in the dismal outing.
A love lost between Governor Okorocha and Senator Uzodinma ensued after the NWC of the APC led by Adams Oshiomole confirmed the Orlu Zone Senator the party’s governorship flag bearer.
This perhaps prompted the Governor to support his son in-law in another party, the Action Alliance, AA. The governor was latter suspended for alleged anti party activities.
According to Governor Rochas Okorocha, the national chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, and the party’s governorship candidate, Senator Hope Uzodimma, are to be blamed for the inability of the party to win the governorship election.
He said that posterity will judge Adams Oshiomhole and the Senator Hope Uzodimma for making the APC lose the Imo governorship election and alleged that Uzodinma worked for Peoples Democratic Party in the just concluded elections, as he was one of the first to celebrate with the PDP candidate, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, after he was declared the winner of the election.
“Chief Uzodinma succeeded through Adams Oshiomhole to ensure that only his supporters were made agents of the party, from the list he sent from Abuja to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
“Unfortunately, none of Uzodinma’s and Oshiomhole’s approved agents were seen either at the ward, local government or at the state level ; they didn’t care about the election and its outcome.
“At the end of the day, the APC candidate came fourth. And he has been celebrating with the PDP candidate.”
“Their target as it has been shown now is to totally destroy APC in the South-East and in Imo in particular, thereby authenticating the claim in some quarters that it is all about 2023.
“We had equally maintained the contention that Imo people would not vote for Uzodinma because they know him very well, but Oshiomhole refused to listen.
“He came fourth and never showed that he took part in the election; Posterity and history will Judge Oshiomhole and Uzodinma over the fate of APC in the South-East, especially in Imo State,” Okorocha said.
Reacting, The Imo State Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Hope Uzodinma, says the embattled Governor of the State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, is the real mole in the APC and cautioned the governor to stop the blame game and squarely face his woes.
Uzodinma in a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday said it was laughable that the Imo State Governor who had all long worked against the interest of the APC in the state, South East and indeed, Nigeria, would suddenly turn around to accuse others of being moles in the party.
He said events preceding the governorship election in the state clearly showed that Okorocha was against the interest of APC, citing the Zonal Youth and Women Presidential Campaign rally, the APC Presidential rally in Imo State and the adoption of another political platform-Action Alliance (AA) which he mobilised state resources to get some members of the APC in Imo State to defect to, in pursuit of his son-in-law’s governorship ambition.
Accordingvto him, “The clearest evidence of this sabotage was on live television when the result of Ideato Local Government Area (Okorocha home Local Government Area) was declared as more than 70,000 in favour of AA which created a stalemate and was later illegally reduced to 40,000.The question to ask is what was the basis for reducing the result at a Local Government Area (LGA) Collation Centre?”, he asked.
The Governorship candidate noted that Okorocha had brazenly continued to work against the APC and this manifested on the governorship election day in the state when having realised that “I was cruising to victory, the Governor quickly moblised thugs dressed in military and police uniforms to snatch ballot boxes to manipulate scores in favour of the PDP candidate when it became apparent that his anointed son-in-law will not make it. It was at this point that they falsified the scores for PDP and AA”.
“Prior to that, the Governor used the same thugs dressed in military and police uniforms to forcibly chase away APC Polling Agents at the various Polling Units and fielded those of the AA. So who is more of a mole in the APC than Rochas Okorocha?”
Uzodinma said Okorocha was simply reaping the result of his anti-party activities “but instead of accepting his fate, he is busy looking for whom to latch on as a drowning man”.
Meanwhile, on the purported report that he had felicitated with Emeka Ihedioha over the latter’s declaration as winner of the state governorship election, the APC Governorship Candidate reiterated that the video of him and Ihedioha trending on social media ”was at a different occasion, way before the election which is a wedding ceremony”.
He said it is the handiwork of mischief makers and detractors wondering how he could have congratulated the PDP Candidate when he has vowed to challenge the outcome of the election in court to reclaim his mandate.
Debunking the claim that he (Uzodinma) ensured that only his supporters were made agents of the APC during the Governorship Elections in the South East, the Senator said that was not white lie from Okorocha as the agents were duly approved and sent by the National headquarters of the party but which Rochas’ hired thugs chased them away.
Uzodinma thanked his teeming supporters and appealed to them to remain steadfast, assuring them that the APC led-Federal Government under the matured leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari would not abandon Imo State in the scheme of things.
