By Onyekachi Eze
Former governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, has again re-opened the issue of 2019 governorship election where he failed to produce a successor.
After eight years reign with several verbal claims of political prowess, Okorocha was unable to have his preferred choice, Chief Uche Nwosu emerge his successor.
Barely two years after Nwosu, his son in-law lost the APC governorship ticket to the eventual governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, Okorocha who is now Senator representing Orlu zone has publicly opened up to elucidate on what transpired.
In an interview granted to a National newspaper, Sun, in Abuja, Okorocha while giving reasons why he could back other lieutenants for the plum position, confessed that his son in-law, Uche Nwosu, wasn’t his choice.
Talking about Prince Eze Madumere, his political son and loyalist everyone had expected him to support as successor, Okorocha said Nwosu wasn’t his preferred choice but became due to certain circumstances published.
In the interview, Okorocha said “well, I tell you, Madumere was my political son for more than 23 years. I picked him up from the US, and he was here. He started as a personal assistant in my office. I could remember his salary then was about N18,000. He was like my boy. He is like my son. I know him better than anyone knows him.
About his son in-law Uche Nwosu, the ex Governor revealed, “ Uche sold himself to the people that when I asked them to go to the field, let the people tell me who they want, because we must support a candidate”.
“When they went out, Uche won the 27 over 27 Local Governments, so if I did not support Uche, Uche had gone for election, Uche would have won election with or without me-his popularity”.
Highlighting why Nwosu didn’t win the polls, Senator Okorocha averred, “Uche won. Uche won election. Uche, as at the time the 24 Local Governments results came out, Uche was leading Emeka Ihedioha with 41,000 votes, so, you can imagine and the total votes then counted were about one hundred and eighty-something thousand;
“So, Uche was a clear winner. Among all my students I was teaching, he was the most humble, the one that would have continued from where I stopped. Imo would have been close to being the best today in the country if Uche had continued”.
“Now, when they went back and with the influence of Abuja and those who were working against me, they made the INEC REC to postpone the counting of results and they said results were coming more from the three Mbaise. Now, three Mbaise came with 133,000 votes. How can three Mbaise results be more than the whole 24 local governments? That is why even, Emeka never made the two-third. Emeka had only 12 Local Governments out of 27. So, he needed 18 local governments, but he was still declared winner. The instruction to declare the winner came from here, Abuja. He didn’t win. Uche won. And that is why till today, the injustice that is in that land is what is causing the whole problems because Uche, having won with such huge margin against Emeka, and Hope came the far distant fourth, so there was no way he could have jumped. And Araraume came third. Uche came first, Emeka came second, Araraume came third and Hope came fourth. So, there was no way they would have jumped Emeka, and jumped Araraume and give it to Hope. That was why they had no choice but to say Emeka should go instead of Uche because they felt Uche being there as a governor would give Rochas added advantage for whatever political he wanted to do. And they went and lied to the presidency that my son-in-law was running, my wife was running, my son was running, my sister was running, so, five of us were running for election from one family. And they bought that cheap lie. And I said, where does the constitution say an in-law cannot contest election? And yet, you have people whose in-laws are holding positions. So, what was wrong for a young man, who is young and want to serve the state? And he is the most experienced”.
