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Tag: Okorocha

  • Okorocha to Oyegun: you’ve taken APC backward

    IMO State Governor Rochas Okorocha yesterday accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun of reversing the fortunes and goodwill of the party, since he took over from the pioneer chairman, Chief Bisi Akande.

    The governor noted that the manner Oyegun piloted the party’s affairs since he took over as the national chairman proved that he was obviously overrated by the APC leaders to have been entrusted with such position.

    Okorocha, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, maintained that “Chief Oyegun has taken the party backward by several kilometres to the extent that today, there is no state that the party does not have crisis or faction”.

    The governor expressed dismay over the way Oyegun went about the issue of the tenure elongation, which was truncated by the party.

    He said: “Again, the way Chief Oyegun has pursued the issue of elongation also showed how selfish and greedy he is. He is not interested in the wellbeing or future of the party but only interested in staying put as the National Chairman. And that is why he is after anybody who opposed the tenure elongation.

    “The worst thing that would have happened to APC is to allow Chief Oyegun to continue as the national chairman. It would have been worst for the party. Chief Akande never tried to destroy the party because he was leaving as the pioneer chairman. But Oyegun wants to destroy the party because he is leaving. He is not patriotic”.

    The statement added: “In the case of Imo State, Oyegun disobeyed two court orders with regard to the congresses in the state and the inauguration of strange elements as the state officials of the party just to get at Governor Okorocha because of the issue of tenure elongation. And we have no option now than to ask our lawyers to press for his imprisonment and that of the National Organising Secretary, Osita Izunaso, and all those who were involved in the lawlessness.

    “The only thing Chief Oyegun has achieved in his anger against Governor Okorocha is encouraging elements with no electoral value like Osita Okechukwu and those from Imo State to be insulting the governor. And these are people who cannot win their booths in an election.

    “The same elements came together during the Anambra State governorship election. The governor stayed away and at the end of the day, they could not justify their noise-making. They have also started again. And these are people who have been running election since 2007 and have not won any.

    “Chief Oyegun was also quoted to have said in an interview that the Southeast or Imo APC stakeholders are united against Governor Okorocha. Let them hold Southeast rally or Imo rally at a venue and let Rochas hold his own at another location and let’s see the outcome.

    “Governor Okorocha won his election in 2011 without any of these media created politicians and also won in 2015 without them and will also make the party win in 2019 without them. They are noise-makers.

    “In case Chief Oyegun does not know, Imo APC members won’t allow any faction. The APC in Imo and even in the Southeast is Governor Okorocha’s making. And it will be foolish of anybody to think that he would build the party and allow cowards to take it over. If they have the political strength, let them go and pick a party and present a candidate, and it will be very interesting.

    “And if Rochas Okorocha is no more the political figure to watch in Imo, why then are they bothered about the ambition of Uche Nwosu. Why is the issue of Uche Nwosu giving them unprecedented headache? They are bothered because they feel that with the governor behind Uche Nwosu, he would win. And they are right.”

     

  • ‘Okorocha can’t impose his son-in-law as governor’

    Imo State All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Senator Ben Uwajumogu spoke on the controversy over the party’s state congress on the Television Continental Programme, Platform, anchored by Sam Omatseye.

    The drama in Imo State, especially with the ward congress, has rippled and roared all over the country. What happened?

    The truth was that the APC as a national party scheduled ward congresses for the 5th of May in all the 36 states and the FCT. On that day, a day before then I must say, we were made to understand that the governor of Imo State had requested that we swap the panel that was coming to Imo with that of the panel that was in Anambra State because according to him, he didn’t know who the panel members were. We accepted that swap with caution. However, in the morning of Saturday, the 5th of May, the governor sent a detachment of security people to go and pick up the panel in Anambra while the party chairman also sent his vehicles to go and pick up party chairmen. When they got there, there was almost a shoot-out in Awka, the capital of Anambra State. The chairman of the panel and three other members insisted that they must follow the party vehicle as they had no arrangement that was in the plan for the governor to take them over. And eventually, the remaining three people were forced to enter the governor’s vehicle to come to Owerri. And they were taken to Government House and detained. Same morning, the governor personally went to Protea Hotel where the panel that was now tog ot o Anambra State were having breakfast and on his own abducted them, drove in a bus and took them to Government House. And they kept them there till very late in the day, almost like 1pm. And all of this was in a bid to collect the result sheets that was meant for the elections. He kept on asking them for where the result sheets were.

    So, the entire drama started by the abduction of the panel that was to conduct these congresses. And all this was done by the governor because he wanted the result sheets. And eventually the panel that eventually came to Owerri reported to the party office where the party office had a stakeholders’ meeting. We now escorted, all of us went to the police station to go and report to the police because thugs were brought in by the government to terrorise us. Over 200 thugs terrorised at the party headquarters. When we now got to the police station, the commissioner of police who eventually arrived brought with him the panel that the governor had hijacked. And they started detaining everybody. The two panels demanding for the result sheet. It wasn’t until they realised that congresses had started and that the result papers had been given to the electors that had gone to the various local governments to elect the party executives that the governor now rushed to Senator Izunaso’s home, accusing him of keeping the result sheets. So, the question everybody keeps asking is that, what business did the governor have to do with the result sheets of a congress which he was not the panel that was to conduct it. He was not a member of the panel, the local panel that was chosen by the state party, neither was he a member of the panel that was chosen by the national. So, the long and short of it is that the election held. It was peaceful, it was successful and thousands of our supporters and members of the party came out and exercised their franchise. And we elected ward officials who have in turn elected the local government officials.

    Now, the interesting thing here is that it looks like there was a decoy. This whole drama appeared as if there was a decoy. The governor was pursuing something and you guys acted as though you were playing game with him whereas the real election and the real papers, that is the result sheets he was looking for were already in operation on the ground.

    If he had realised that he wasn’t the person to conduct the congresses and if he had realised that there was a seven-member panel who were to conduct these congresses, maybe, he wouldn’t be in this situation. Maybe he would have known that elections were taking place there. But then, even his own people participated in the elections. We have videos from over 305 wards of the state and these videos were played for the vice president and everybody who has seen these videos are convinced that elections took place.

    Who played? Did the vice president demand for the videos?

    Yes, we did not only play for him. We also gave him the video.

    Why did you do that?

    And in some of the videos you would see staff and commissioners of the governor and his aides conducting congresses on the same day.

    You know, when this thing happened. After this thing happened, the governor went to the president, to the vice president and so on. Was that the reason why he demanded the videos, to know what really happened?

    Well, you know, the videos that were played… of course, the governor, being in control of the mass media in Imo State and then his own media team, manipulated the videos to appear as if elections didn’t take place. If you notice, when Osita Izunaso was being questioned, they only showed the last one minute clip where he was saying that if we don’t find the materials, that the elections would be cancelled. But the fact that they didn’t play what had transpired before then and then voiced it over to make it look like the time in question was like 6pm while the time in question was like 2pm. But, the truth remains that because they were pursuing the result sheets, the other members of the panel who had been released by the governor addressed the stakeholders panel and the stakeholders’ meeting and released the results, the documents, the result sheet. Every local government accredited three people to come to the state and they were eventually sent to the wards to go and conduct the ward congresses. So, they all went with the result sheet, conducted them and returned it. INEC certified the results. If you see INEC report on the matter, the summary is that 27 local governments conducted elections but the elections took place at different times. At least, 27 local governments, 305 wards

    Now, the interesting thing is that the senators, including you, Izunaso, the deputy governor and a number of stakeholders, were in on it. How come the governor did not know that there was this, would I call it conspiracy or gang-up or plot to undo his plans? How did it happen? How did he not see it?

    You know, there is saying that when everybody is wrong and only you is right, then, you should examine yourself or examine your process. When all the leaders of the party, we’re talking about two former senators and one is a national organising secretary of the APC. Senator Hope Uzodima who is a ranking senator who has just joined APC, myself who was a former speaker of Imo State house of assembly, so many leaders or former commissioners, other leaders of the party – all of a sudden, you know, we found the policies of the government as being very oppressive. I’m sure the press, you have been writing about all the policies of the government that were very inhuman. For example, you were aware at some point in time that pensioners were asked to collect 40% of their outstanding pensions and then sign that they have collected, a waiver that they have collected their final salaries, that is pension that was due to them. Medical workers have not been paid for almost four years. Salaries of civil servants have been paid in the bridge. Less than 70% of their salaries have been paid in the last three years despite the bailout that has been collected by government, so many people are being owed salaries, workers are being owed, contractors are being owed. Meanwhile, the government is busy pulling down peoples’ homes, pulling down to do the project they call ‘Urban Renewal’ which nobody has ever seen that kind of urban renewal in this world. Peoples’ homes are being pulled out without any compensation paid to them whatsoever. More than 17 markets in rural areas have been demolished without any market being rebuilt and people have been put out of business. Sometime in December, about three or four markets were pulled down. Even in Owerri capital territory, there is a place they call the New market where the traders begged the governor and said to give them the opportunity to trade, after Christmas holidays, they wold themselves pull down the market for him. Now, these markets have been pulled down and as I am talking to you, nothing has been done about rebuilding them and you ask the question, ‘what was the rush in pulling down these markets?’ You came into government in 2011 with the strong support of artisans, the okada people, the keke people, the bus drivers, the workers, everybody supported him when he came in 2011. Today, as I’m talking to you, none of these people are supporting this administration. He has lost all the support that we garnered in 2011. I was a speaker of his house for four years. All the projects that we started has been abandoned. We can’t find one concluded project in Imo state that makes any economic sense or with any regenerative capacity. And Imo State as at today has one of the lowest IGR in the entire country. It should not be so.

    You were one of the very first people to really support this administration when it started. You, Izunaso and co. You had great hopes on him. How did things turn round? And did you stop him? Did you try to caution him at the beginning?

    We were so much on ground that during the elections that brought him into power in the second term, he won almost 22 local governments. And in 2015, after the election, we expected that he would build on those positive programmes that he started. Eventually, he abandoned all those projects and started all these inhuman policies that were tipping the generality of the people against us as a party. And you don’t need to go too far and you know, the worst part of it is that his decision to impose his son-in-law on the state using state resources, using all forms of arm-twisting. And the son-in-law comes from the same zone like he comes from. He comes from the Orlu Senatorial District. And Orlu Senatorial District has already been in power in the last 20 years of democracy for 16 years. So, his son-in-law who comes from the same zone is now been imposed on us for him to now be our candidate and if he wins, he will run there for eight years. And we’re like, generality of our party men do not accept that. And he is doing this with so much impudence. If you do not agree with him, then you become enemy number one in the state. People are not even allowed to associate with you if you are seen as a staff of the government or an aide to the government, even talking to me or visiting my house, you are sacked over the next day on the radio. That’s what Imo State has become. In the over 40 years of Imo State existence, we’ve never had this kind of administration.

    How did he get to acquire, as you say, this kind of attitude? How did it get to this stage?

    Well, you know, they say… I really don’t know. Me, I’m still surprised. I still find it… You know, they say, he that the gods want to kill, they first make mad. But, they also say that he that man wants to kill, they first make god. So, I think what we have here is a situation where he has taken his popularity for granted and he thinks Imo people have become foolish and stupid and that is the worst mistake any leader can make anytime. And people like us who came up with him and worked with him, gained some fame and political relevance. He gets it wrong because he believes that when you talk to the governor, he is like, these are the people like I made this man speaker. I campaigned to make him senator and I’m supposed to accept whatever he dishes out. If people are not happy with him, I’m supposed to accept it. I cannot stand up for the people that elected me to be their senator just because I want to show that I’m grateful to the governor. So after we won, I spoke to him. I personally went to him on several occasions, especially after the Ikoku market demolition. And I said to him, this matter, we must do something to make people realise that we care about their feelings and all of that. So, when he rebuffed all our moves, we went as a group. Even, he refused to see us or grant us any audience. Most of us decided that this was not for us. We had to pull out. And that is the result of our pulling out.

  • Moves to reconcile Okorocha, coalition deadlocked

    The crisis of confidence between Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and top stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state is still far from over.

    Repeated moves by concerned party members in Imo State and Abuja to reconcile the two factions have failed to have the desired impact with none of the two factions willing to concede to the other on the recently held congresses and the choice of the party’s governorship candidate in next year’s election.

    One of the leading actors in the reconciliation process is the governor’s younger brother, Jude Okorocha, a lawyer who a source said has done a lot to bring about a truce but to no avail.

    “His efforts have so far amounted to nothing, as none of the contending forces is ready to listen to any advice that would require making the needed sacrifice,” a source told The Nation.

    It was also gathered that some traditional rulers in the state have advised the governor and the APC Restoration Coalition to reconcile their differences.

    The coalition members are insisting that there is nothing to discuss until the governor drops the idea of imposing his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, as the party’s governorship candidate in the 2019 election while  the governor “would not hear of this, leading to the current stalemate,” according to  an aide to one of the traditional rulers.

    Reconciliation efforts from the Abuja end have also failed after Okorocha took the matter to President Muhammadu Buhari, first in his country home Daura, and later in Abuja with former Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole.

    Sources said Buhari’s position is that the matter be resolved amicably as a family affair.

    He is also said to have insisted he would not want to intervene ‘unnecessarily’ in the affairs of the political party in states.

    The National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, had separately led the initiative to reconcile the Imo APC impasse amicably. But a stakeholder confided that his efforts also suffered rejection because some of the aggrieved members, who are part of the coalition said issues like lack of compensation for demolished properties and allegation of land grabbing have combined to put APC on the defensive. According to a source, “we felt that Oyegun’s reconciliation moves will achieve very little except he has concrete answers to these worrisome questions.”

    The Imo State Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere, dissociated himself from reports on the ongoing reconciliation moves.

    In a statement by his media aide, Uche Onwuchekwa, Madumere said he was surprised to hear “the rumour of ongoing reconciliation, adding that he only got to know about the “purported reconciliation through barrage of calls and text messages by concerned Imo citizens.”

    According to him, there was nothing on the table to call for such reconciliation.

    Asked to confirm the progress of the reconciliation efforts so far made over the controversies arising from the congresses and choice of APC’s governorship candidate in the state, Okorocha’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, said “Imo APC is intact with Governor Okorocha in charge. The coalition folks are 10 in number. They are based in Abuja. They have no valid claim to make in Imo APC. Those who vote are with us.”

     

  • Don’t undermine Okorocha –S/East APC stakeholders warn

    A pressure group within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), under the aegis of the Concerned South East APC Stakeholders, has warned that undermining the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha in the affairs of the party in the Southeast, will not be in the best interest of the party.

    The group in a statement jointly signed by its convener and the secretary, Hon. Kemdi Ekwuaba and Chief Hon. Moris Ikediash, respectively, insisted that sharing positions zoned to the South East without reference to the Imo State governor is dubious.

    According to the statement:“ We want to state that Governor Rochas Okorocha has become the new face of Imo and South-East politics.

    The APC and its leadership as the ruling party should be celebrating success and not failure.

    “The reported meeting of APC leaders from the South East during which they shared offices zoned to the area to some people without reference to Governor Rochas Okorocha, the only APC governor in the South- East is dubious”.

    “It is unfortunate that instead of using Governor Okorocha to ensure that APC wins more states in the South East, the enemies of the party from within are even working to bring down the party in Imo that is already APC and also block the party’s chances of making progress in other South-East states.

    “In 2015, when the issues of religion and tribe featured prominently in the South East politics concerning the 2015 election, Governor Okorocha even at the risk of his second term, left APGA and took the bold step of joining the merger that formed APC. Trying now to undermine Rochas in the state or in the South- East is not in the best interest of the party.”.

    It added: “Governor Rochas Okorocha joined the merger that metamorphosed into APC, when Imo was the target of the PDP controlled Federal Government. He ran the election against a sitting deputy speaker of House of Representatives and with INEC, army, Police and other Federal Government agencies deployed against him.

    “Yet, he won the election, produced 24 out of the 27 House of Assembly members, three House of Representatives members, and an elected Senator on the ticket of the party.”

  • Emmanuel, Okorocha, Lagos Speaker, others advise parents, kids

    GOVERNORS Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom State), Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara State) and Rochas Okorocha Imo State have urged parents to take special interest in their children.

    The governors as well as Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker Mudashiru Obasa  advocated the need to instill the right values to enable the children become upright citizens and contribute to the socio-political development of states and the country.

     

    Nigeria’s future depends on investments in children, says Emmanuel

     

    The Akwa Ibom governor, in a statement to celebrate the Children’s Day, issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Ekerete Udoh, said the future of Nigeria and how far it can compete with the rest of the world, depend on investments on the children.

    He said: “We are living in an increasingly shrinking globalised world, where technology has reduced the vast expanse of lands and oceans into a tiny community.

    “Nations across the continents are spending huge resources to prepare their children to compete in the market place of ideas. We must not relent in ensuring that our children are not left behind. That is why we are spending huge resources in education, recruiting the best teachers and providing the right tools and atmosphere for our children to learn.”

     

    Run away from crimes, Lagos Speaker advises children

    Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker Mudashiru Obasa has advised children to avoid cultism and other crimes that can work against their progress in life.

    Obasa also advised children to be good ambassadors of not only their families and communities but also the country at large.

    The Speaker’s message was contained in a statement yesterday greeting Nigerian children on this year’s Children Day celebration.

    The statement was issued by his Chief Press Secretary Musbau Rasak.

    Obasa assured Nigerian children that the All Progressives Congress  (APC) at all levels will continue to protect their interest by putting in place programmes and policies that will enhance their welfare and improve their standard of living.

     

    Future generation ‘ll do

    better, says Okorocha

     

    Okorocha yesterday expressed optimism that “the future generation will do better than the current generation”.

    The governor stressed that “when the time comes, Imo State won’t be found wanting”.

    Okorocha spoke while addressing thousands of children who worshipped with him at the Victory Chapel Government House  as part of the activities to mark the 2018 Children’s Day.

    He prayed that the stories of drug addiction, including smoking Indian hemp and drinking of tramadol “shall not come near them”.

    The governor admonished the parents that “the best way to bring up a child is to be the child’s friend”.

     

    Ahmed: spend more time with your children

     

    Ahmed urged parents to spend more time with their children and wards to enthrone a better society and an assured future for the children.

    In a message to commemorate this year’s Children’s Day, Ahmed said the celebration must remind leaders on the need to prioritise the welfare of  every child and the need for parents to spend more valuable time with children.

    According to him, “no nation can grow beyond the quality of its children who are potential leaders and experts in various fields of human endeavours”.

     

    Wike’s wife counsels Rivers’ children on education

     

    Rivers State Governor’s wife Justice Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike called on Rivers Children to take  their education seriously.

    Addressing the children during the 2018  Children’s Day Celebration at Isaac Boro Park in Port Harcourt yesterday, Justice Nyesom-Wike told the children that education is key to their progress in the society.

    The governor’s wife prayed for God’s blessing on Rivers Children as they make progress in life.

     

     

  • OKOROCHA: A governor’s many controversies

    IMO State governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, has cuddled controversy since he assumed power about seven years ago. This is in spite of the efforts he has made to develop the state. He was one of the few politicians who came into office with a lot of goodwill because of the impact he had made on education in the state through his Rochas Foundation Schools. A lot of people believed that becoming the governor of Imo State was a fitting reward for his efforts. But it is not certain how much of the goodwill he can boast of now in the face of the controversies that have dogged his administration. For instance, when he travelled to the United States as part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s delegation some years ago, he took a picture with the then President Barack Obama and came back to put up a billboard advertising himself with Obama.

    The move attracted a lot of criticism from people who accused the governor of spending public funds on an issue that had nothing to do with the welfare of Imo people. But Okorocha was quick to react to the cricisms, saying: “When the picture went viral, our supporters, they thought it was something good and they wanted to welcome me with it, to let me know that the social media is working for them.” The governor is currently embroiled in a spirited political battle with a faction of his party over congresses. The political contest over who control the party’s structure is fierce; his opponents are unyielding, while the governor is determined. And the battle has shifted to the courts. Lately, he is also at loggerheads with other political stakeholders in the state over his bid to anoint his sonin- law as his successor. On several occasions before now, he had said that he would consider himself a failure politically if he was unable to install a candidate of his choice as his successor.

    This, he said, was necessary because he did not want to repeat the mistakes of his predecessors who were unable to groom a successor and thus created political ghosts that haunted them after their tenures. Seeing that it was becoming increasingly difficult to realise his dream of getting his son-in-law, Mr. Uche Nwosu, to pick the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he was believed to have hit on the idea of reviving the moribund Action Alliance (AA) as a possible platform for Nwosu to contest the governorship election next year. Okorocha’s leadership style is believed to have been responsible for the decision of some APC stalwarts in the state to quit the party. For instance, the APC senatorial candidate for Owerri Zone in 2015, Chief Uche Onyeaguocha, accused Okorocha of running the state and the party like a “demi god”.

    The party chieftain said he had to quit APC because he could no longer bear the governors’ excesses in the handling of APC in the state. One of the excesses, he said, was his plan to prepare Nwosu, who hails from the same Orlu zone as the governor to take over governance in the state in 2019. But Okorocha, who is currently the chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, defended his support for his son-in-law, saying that there is nothing wrong with it; he said it is not an offence that Nwosu is his son-in-law. “Assuming that he is qualified to run for the presidency, will you say he should not run because he is Rochas’ son-in-law?” he queried. “Another thing I hate is this issue of zoning. You take power and you zone it as if it is a cake. Let him that has something upstairs, that is qualified, lead,” he added.

    Not a few people have also accused Okorocha of turning governance into a family affair; in this wise, the appointment of his younger sister, Ogechi Ololo, as Commissioner for Happiness and Purpose Fulfilment stirred serious controversy. But Okorocha defended the appointment, saying there was nothing wrong with it. He said: “This young lady has been with me for the past seven years as my Deputy Chief of Staff. She does not take salary as a commissioner; she takes salary as Deputy Chief of Staff (Domestic), which is even higher than a commissioner.

    The young lady is qualified. “Because she is the governor’s sister, she should not play a role? So, if my son wants to run for governor, he cannot run because he has committed the offence of being the governor’s son? What is important is delivering the goods.” Only recently, the governor dominated the news with his decision to erect the statue of the immediate past president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, in Owerri, the state capital. The question everyone asked was what Imo State stood to benefit from the gesture, particularly at a time that Zuma had become unpopular in his country and calls were being made for his resignation because of his involvement in corrupt practices.

    But Okorocha said his action was impelled by the fact that many Imo State indigenes were business men and women based in South Africa, and the gesture towards the country’s president could open business doors for them. Okorocha, a businessman and philanthropist, joined politics in 1999. He won the governorship election in May, 2011 and was re-elected for second term in 2015. In his first attempt, he ran on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for his second shot. On both occasions, Okorocha defeated a sitting governor Ikedi Ohakim and serving Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Iheodioha, by close margin. He is the founder of Rochas Foundation, a charity organisation that runs a number of special schools spread around the country, giving scholarships to indigent children within and outside the country.

  • Imo APC crisis: Okorocha meets Buhari again

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday met behind closed doors with Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo and former Edo governor, Adams Oshiomhole, in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Reports have it that Okorocha’s meeting with the president, which lasted for about an hour, came few days after he met the president in his country home, Daura, Katsina State.

    The governor had complaint about the conduct of the ward congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in his Imo state.

    Okorocha, who was again accompanied by Oshiomhole, declined comment on the outcome of his meeting with the president.

    NAN, however, gathered that Okorocha might have again lodged a fresh complaint about the way and manner the ward and local government APC congresses were conducted in Imo.

    Read Also: Alleged N4b fraud: Court grants bail to Jang

    It would be recalled that Okorocha had on May 7 in Daura told newsmen after a closed door meeting with Buhari that there was no ward congress in Imo.

    He said: “We expect internal democracy and internal democracy is the way to go. Those kind of funny politics that were played must stop, where people went to carry ballot boxes, steal results looks so primitive.

    “I intimated Mr President and we will make sure that such things must stop.’’

    Okorocha and his supporters also boycotted the local government APC congress and insisted that a fresh date for ward congress should be fixed before the local government congress.

    The governor, while addressing his loyalists, announced that there would be no local government congress in the state until the crisis of the ward congress was rectified.

    The state APC Chairman, Mr Hillari Eke, however, told our reporter in Owerri on May 14, that the ward and local government congresses were concluded successfully in the state.

    Recalls that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had last two weeks attempted to reconcile the governor with the rival faction of the APC in Imo. 

  • You have no reason to criticise me, Okorocha tells Anyanwu

    •Governor taunts ex-lawmaker for ‘wasting eight years in Senate’

    Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha yesterday berated two-time Senator Chris Anyanwu for her recent “uncomplimentary remarks” about his administration.

    The governor noted that Anyanwu lacked the moral justification to criticise his administration after she “wasted eight years in the Senate with nothing to show for it”.

    A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, the governor noted that Anyanwu lacked the “moral justification to run down Governor Okorocha, whose achievements in less than eight years have surpassed the achievements of all those who had governed the state before him put together”.

    The statement said: “Senator Anyanwu had taken up on Governor Okorocha in the media, talking about how Imo people are set to take back their state from the governor. And one may be forced to ask Senator Anyanwu: which state and which Imo people?

    “She was in the Senate for eight years for Owerri Zone; let her mention one achievement her eight years in the Senate brought to Owerri zone or to the state, either as entities or as individuals.”

    It added: “The only thing she did for the eight years was to build a radio station for herself, which is called Hot FM in Owerri, with the workers not being paid salaries for years. Also, the only major appointment she got was in the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and she gave it to her husband, Dr. Casmir Anyanwu.

    “The truth is that there is a class war going on in the state at the moment. And the crux of the matter is 2019. The elite and godfathers who felt displaced by Governor Okorocha since 2011 are fighting to stage a come-back, targeting 2019. These elements should stop deceiving the public with their pretences…”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Anyanwu wasted eight years in Senate, says Okorocha

    Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha has slammed former Senator Chris Anyanwu over her recent  remarks about his administration.

    The Governor said Anyanwu does not have the moral justification to criticize his administration after she “wasted eight years in the Senate with nothing to show for it”.

    A statement signed by the  Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, noted that ” Senator Anyanwu has no moral justification to run down Governor Rochas Okorocha, whose achievements in less than eight years have surpassed the achievements of all those who had governed the State before him put together”.

    According to the statement, “Senator Anyanwu had taken up on Governor Okorocha in the media, talking about how Imo people are set to take back their State from the governor. And one may be forced to ask Senator Anyanwu, which State and which Imo people?

    “She was in the Senate for eight solid years for Owerri zone, let her mention one achievement her eight years in the Senate brought to Owerri zone or to the State, either as entities or as individuals”.

    It continued that, ” the only thing she did for the eight years, was to build a radio station for herself which is called Hot FM in Owerri, with the staff not being paid salaries for years. Also, the only major appointment she got was in the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and she gave it to her husband, Dr. Casmir Anyanwu.

    “The truth is that there is a class war going on in the State at the moment. And the crux of the matter is 2019. The elite and godfathers who felt displaced by Governor Rochas Okorocha since 2011 are fighting to stage a come-back, targeting 2019. These elements should stop deceiving the public with their pretences”.

    It added further that, “for instance, those who call themselves stakeholders sneaked into an uncompleted building Friday night and came out to say they had conducted APC State Congress. Look at the photographs they have sent out. Do you conduct Congress at night and in an uncompleted building?

    “Again, the first question you ask about a government is the extent that government has served the people who own the mandate abinitio. They have been honest to themselves not to accuse Rochas of non-performance. On our own, we have claimed that Okorocha has more than one thousand verifiable projects to his credit and has achieved more than all those before him. And nobody has said it is not true.

    “If Rochas has more than one thousand projects and has achieved more than those before him put together, what is then the issue? The issue is that the elite and the godfathers have run dry since Rochas came and they want to come and recover all they have lost since 2011.

    “And Rochas Okorocha never endorsed Uche Nwosu for the fun of it. He only wants to ensure that someone who would continue to work for Imo people and continue to keep these elite and godfathers in check, takes over from him. Don’t forget that when the PDP was in power, the usual story was that there was no money.

    “But today, aside the functional free education, Imo people have seen total transformation of the State at all levels. And they are there for people to see. And for those who do not know, Imo people will never never allow these elite and godfathers to come and hold them to ransom again.

    “Therefore in 2019, Owelle will talk to Imo people and tell them the route to follow. And you wonder what these folks will tell Imo people. Once Imo people hear that these people are coming to start their Share-The-Money slogan again, at the expense of free education and so on, they are finished”.

  • 2019: Okorocha battles ‘allied forces’ in Imo

    Following the dramatic changes in the political fortunes of the various gladiators in the ongoing power tussle within the Imo State chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor, examines the immediate and future consequences of the outcomes of the elective ward and local government congresses held across the state recently.

    BEFORE now, Governor Rochas Okorocha bestrode the political firmament of his homes state of Imo like a colossus. To many within and outside the Southeastern state, he was not just like any other governor in the country, he was more of an Emperor-governor who has his people where he wants them politically. According to Erastus Mike-Merah, an Owerri-based pro-democracy rights campaigner, it was a common parlance in the state to say ‘Imo is Okorocha and Okorocha is Imo.”

    But all that was before the commencement of the just concluded congresses of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. It started like a rude joke when news started filtering in that the ‘Allied Forces’, the new coalition of individuals and groups opposed to the governor’s administration in the state, may have found a way to floor Okorocha’s Rescue Mission camp finally.

    The news generated heated debate as supporters of the governor swore he was unbeatable and that the membership of the much talked about Allied Forces in the state is not strong enough politically to grab the structure of the ruling party from the firm hold of the governor. This was just as those with sympathy for the opposition vowed that Okorocha will have no answer to the political gimmick to be employed against him by those seeking his political retirement in 2019.

    The argument raged back and forth. “It was actually a moment of serious apprehension for the people of Imo State. Even people with little or no interest in politics got interested in what was going on. Talks about a possible demystification of Okorocha wasn’t something anybody within the state will ignore. That was how larger than life he was among his people,” Mike-Merah said.

    However, by the time the dust raised by the ward and local government congresses of the party in Owelle Okorocha’s state cleared, there was little or no doubt left that he has been politically curtailed by the Allied Forces group given the outcome of the two congresses and the unexpected inability of the governor to get help from neither the national leadership of his party nor the presidency during what many pundits have come to term as the political battle of his life.

    “Governor Okorocha today is fighting for his political future. Those opposed to his politicos and style are doing everything possible to frustrate his plans for 2019. That is actually what is playing out. It is not really a crisis within the ruling party here in Imo State. It is a power tussle between two prominent groups within the party namely the Governor’s Rescue Mission camp and the opposition Allied Forces. Largely, members of the party are mere onlookers and will align with the winners as usual.

    “The struggle is about who governs Imo from 2019. The struggle is about whether Okorocha should go from Government House to the senate in 2019. The struggle is about who should call the shots within the ruling APC henceforth. It is a battle that has pitched Okorocha against some of the leading lights of politics in the state including the National Organising Secretary of the APC, Senator Osita Izunaso.

    “The governor, in his bid to retain what many observers within and outside the ruling APC have described as ‘absolute control’ of the party, has also, by his own submissions on many occasions, declared that he is at war with serving Senators Hope Uzodimma and Ben Uwajumogu, APC governorship aspirant, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, as well as former Governors Ikedi Ohakim and Achike Udenwa. That is the true state of things in Imo State,” Mike-Merah explained.

    Going into oblivion?

    So humbling were the outcome of the APC congresses in the state for the Rescue Mission camp that leaders of the ruling party on Thursday warned that Okorocha risks being suspended or expelled from the party if he continues with what they described as “activities capable of destabilizing the party ahead of the 2019 general elections.”

    But his supporters say some ‘mischievous’ politicians are merely exaggerating the events of the past two weeks in the state to gain political mileage. According to Okey Apugo, a former state official of the Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA) in Imo, “the coalition of Okorocha haters calling themselves Allied Forces in Imo today are not capable of subduing the political influence of the governor in the nearest future.

    “Imo politics is not just about what some people rush to the television or newspaper to tell the public. We know our leaders and these jesters calling themselves Allied Forces are not among them. The only reason for their coming together is to take over Imo state again and rip us off as they’ve done in the past. We know them and we will always reject them. Okorocha will come out of this current blackmail and backstabbing stronger,” he added.

    On the contrary, prominent leaders of the party insist that they have made Okorocha politically irrelevant in the state following his inability to manipulate the party congresses in his favour this time. They said they are not after the governor but are determined to rescue the party from imminent collapse in the state. Okorocha, according to them, was leading the APC to electoral defeat in the state and something needed to be done.

    Dr. Theo Ekechi, former Information Commissioner in the state and one of the leading lights of the Allied Forces, while speaking after a close-door meeting with the APC national leadership on Thursday in Abuja, said the stakeholders had overwhelming evidences against Okorocha. This, he said, had made it impossible for the governor to get attention from any quarter in the state and in the South-East region.

    “There have been wide jubilation in Imo because we have rescued the party from Okorocha, we have made it impossible for him to get help from anywhere. He cannot run to any political figure in the state because none is with him, he cannot approach any clergyman in the state. In his desperation, he ran to Sokoto, Daura and even to the Vice President, but help has refused to come,” he said.

    Asked by The Nation to explain where himself and other prominent stakeholders in the party are determined to hijack the APC from Okorocha ahead f the 2019 elections, Ekechi, while saying nobody except the governor, is interested in hijacking or pocketing the party in the state, said Rochas’ actions and inaction was responsible for the problems facing the party in the state and the South-East generally.

    Beyond intra-party politics, Ekechi alleged that the state was being mismanaged under Okorocha, adding that the governor was running the state like a personal estate. He said it was for these reasons and many more that concerned Imo elders rose up to help the APC before things get out of hand. “And everybody who cares to tell the governor to check himself automatically become and enemy of his administration,” he added.

    More trouble from Abuja

    And rather than offer the embattled Governor some respite from its national headquarter, the APC, through its National Working Committee (NWC) added to Okorocha’s headache when it warned the governor against transferring the frustration emanating from his mismanaged relationship with his people on the party’s national leadership. It was so bad that the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, accused the Imo helmsman of being malicious.

    “With due respect, Governor Okorocha is being malicious and unfair to the NWC. If he has mismanaged his relationship with his own people, in a way that they now constitute an encumbrance to him, he should not transfer his frustration to the NWC. It is certainly not right to set fire to the village because you want to kill a rat. If Okorocha has any specific grievances, he should come forward with them rather than making this generalised accusations,” Abdullahi said.

    The NWC was reacting to an earlier threat by Okorocha to expose some NWC members. The governor had accused the APC national chairman of lying, adding that “this means the party lied that they have gotten the result. Everything there looks funny, it looks like some kind of mischievous connivance of people trying to make up things, cook up stories and tell people that this is how I lie.” He further accused the NWC of conducting the congresses for themselves rather than ensuring the promotion of the party.

    Okorocha alleged that as a result of the vested interest of the NWC in the congresses, the whole process have been messed up. “The secretary of the appeal panel came to the national secretariat and she was interviewed where she said there was no congress in Imo State, adding that there was even no material not to talk about congress being held. She stated that those who submitted the result sheet should tell the security agencies how they conducted the congress and got the result sheet.

    “I see the chairman as a man of integrity, and he must be very careful not to allow this Imo State matter remove his integrity in this country, because as he’s aging, he should not to allow this to dent his political image as history would not write well about him. For him to come out publicly to tell the world that there was congress when there was no congress and that he has received result sheet when they have not seen result sheet, that is not good for our party.”

    But Abuja based lawyer, Anthony Chyma, says the NWC was unfair in its treatment of Okorocha’s complaints and called on the party to retrace its steps. He said Abdullahi’s statement was most uncharitable considering the contribution of Okorocha to the APC. “As a publicity secretary of the party, he should have come by way of amenable statement and not aggravating the situation. Okorocha, is the current governor and has all the information on issues bedevilling the party.”

    According to him, Okorocha’s claim that no ward congress held in the state was vindicated by the Police which recently paraded four suspects arrested in an Abuja hotel for allegedly stealing APC congress materials meant for the state. He said investigation also revealed a link to a serving Senator from Imo State being part of the plot to cart away ward congress results sheets, LGA results sheets and delegates nomination forms from Imo State.

    “It amounts to bias to castigate the governor in such a manner and leave the party open to unnecessary bashing. It does not speak well of the office of the national publicity secretary and generally the entire party. It’s shocking to hear the image maker of the APC resort to tarnishing the image which he should be protecting. His bias as a national officer is tantamount to hard sell,” he said.

    How Okorocha fell

    Just before the commencement of the congresses, Okorocha had boldly told those opposed to him to perish the thought of taking over the party from him. The governor, aside other issues, drew the ire of many of his party chieftains following indications that he plans to install his son in-law, Uche Nwosu, as his successor come 2019. Not a few APC chieftains in the state have publicly rejected the idea. But Okorocha has been boasting that he will have his way effortlessly.

    At the initial stage, it appeared as if the Governor has the support of the state leadership of the party in his plot to install Nwosu. Of course, the House of Assembly was tacitly part of the move, and he flaunted their loyalty at will. But a face-off between Okorocha and APC state chairman, Hillary Eke, over the hosting of first Imo APC stakeholders’ meeting in Owerri, the state capital, last month, exposed the crack Okorocha’s political family.

    Consequently, the governor and most of his loyalists, including members of the state assembly and commissioners, boycotted the stakeholders’ meeting just as the state leadership of the party decided to discontinue all political alliances with the governor’s camp. Expectedly, tension rose and the ground was prepared for a political showdown between Okorocha’s Rescue Mission group and the then emerging Allied Forces group.

    “That Okorocha lost the support of Hillary Eke and most of the other state officials of the party was a costly error. That was the beginning of what we are seeing today. He mismanaged his relationship with them as many of them accused him of being rude and uncouth in his manners towards them. The state chairman, according to sources tried to avoid the rift, but Okorocha was overconfident in his handling of their complaints before the bubble burst,” Mike-Merah said.

    A governorship aspirant, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, added that “all well-meaning citizens” in Imo State are in agreement to stop Okorocha from further destroying the state. “From the political class to the academic, from professionals to the clergy, the traditional institutions and even artisans in Imo State are in agreement, beyond partisan, sectional, religious and cultural boundaries to stop Okorocha from further destroying the state economically, politically, amd culturally.

    “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. It is worth pointing out that by his statement, the governor has admitted that he is at war with the entire political class in the state. For instance, his inclusion of his two immediate predecessors, Governors Ikedi Ohakim and Achike Udenwa, as being members of a certain coalition that intends to distract him is a clear demonstration of this.

    “Added to this is the fact that he is at loggerheads with his deputy and the two senators in his party. It was perhaps for want of proper language that the governor resorted to the use of the word coalition.  But even a fresh man in a political science class knows that the word coalition is a clear misnomer in the present circumstances in Imo State.” Political observers say Okorocha, unknowingly or carelessly, bit more than he could chew by fighting too many political titans at the same time.

    “How on earth will one politician in Imo State, even if he is the governor, engage in political battles with Ararume, Ohakim, Udenwa, Izunaso, Eke, Madumere, Uzodinma, Uwajumogu, Ekechi, Church leaders, royal fathers, youth groups and many other groups and individuals, at the same time barely a year to the next general election and expect to win them all? Not forgetting that he has the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its chieftains to grapple with,’ a party leader told The Nation.

    The congresses

    The above was the political scenario within the ruling APC in Imo State as at May 5, 2018, when the party held its congress in all the wards across the country. And by the time the exercise ended in the state, with the state leadership of the party declaring the congress successful, Okorocha had no choice but to raise alarm, alleging that materials especially the result sheets meant for the exercise could not be found.

    The Governor alleged that the national organising secretary of the party, Osita Izunaso, and secretary of the convention committee, Senator Ben Uwajumogu, had connived with the chairman of the state congress committee, Ini Okorie, to hijack the congress materials, thus not allowing the exercise to hold as expected. But Eke and Uwajimogu stated that the Ward Congress in the state was conducted and concluded successfully and peacefully on Saturday, May 5, 2018, in the 305 wards of the state.

    Sensing danger, Okorocha ran all the way to Daura in Katsina State to seek help from President Muhammadu Buhari. While there, he alleged that his opposition to the tenure elongation of the APC National Working Committee (NWC), might have irked Oyegun, leading to his attempt to frustrate and truncate his political future using the ongoing congresses of the party.

    To further ensure that he got justice, the governor approached the appeal committee of the party, seeking the cancellation of the ward congress held in his state. But the committee, in its report dated May 10, said the governor lacked the locus standi to file any petition asking for a cancellation of the exercise because “the persons who would have the right to petition over the conduct of the ward congress elections are those qualified to contest the congress having purchased the forms.”

    The Abubakar Tutare-led committee held that “the petitions were written by unqualified persons and therefore would be construed as lacking the locus standi/basis to bring in any petitions.” The report effectively put paid to all hopes of Okorocha’s camp getting its members elected as ward officials of the party in the state. Not to be deterred, the governor shifted his gaze to the local government congress held a week later.

    But at the end of the process, he again lamented that the process was hijacked and manipulated to keep his supporters out of contention. While the state executive committee of the party once again declared the successful completion of the congress across the state, Okorocha and his men were left wondering where the votes were cast. Again, he accused the national leadership of the party of aiding and abetting those who want to end his political career.

    “Let me intimate you of the happenings in my state. Only yesterday, I learnt of the party’s office gutted by fire. I think this is as a result of agitation or what has been happening in the state as a result of the purported congress which was meant to hold in the state last Saturday. I have informed the public that there was no congress whatsoever in Imo State, rather, the materials for the congress were missing and it was traced to the house of the APC National Organising Secretary of our party,” he lamented.

    And at the time of filing in this report, the party in the state was preparing to hold its state congress where a new leadership will be elected to run the affairs of the party. This is an election Okorocha, according to his close aides, has dreamt of for so long. “He badly wanted Eke and his co-executives out of the state secretariat of the APC and he looked forward to booting them out at this state congress,” a party source said.

    But it is obvious Okorocha will have no say when the decisions as to who will be elected into the new state executive committee of the APC in the state are taken. This is because not one of the elected delegates, who will decide the fates of the contestants, is from his embattled political family. The consequences of this political development, according to pundits, are huge and frightening, especially to the Rescue Mission group within Imo APC.

    Still hopeful?

    Meanwhile, Okorocha is still assuring his supporters that the NWC of the party will still look into the issues arising from the ward and local government congresses. In a recent statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, the governor said “with the unfolding scenario and incontrovertible evidences, Nigerians have seen that sensitive materials meant for ward congresses of the party in Imo were stolen, which stopped the exercise from taking place on Saturday, May 5, 2018.”

    The governor alleged that the National Chairman of APC, Chief John Oyegun, had told Nigerians that the local government congresses of the party would be on hold, pending the outcome of the report of the Appeal Panel on Imo ward congresses. “And since that public statement by the national chairman, he has not made any additional statement to that effect or any other statement in the contrary. So, all the rumours being posted on the social media on the conduct of local government congress in the state are neither here nor there,” the statement said.

    Similarly, lawmakers in the state have also assured the governor of their continued support for him in his current political travail. The Speaker, Acho Ihim, called on the national leadership of APC to reschedule ward and local government congress in the state. He said there was no election in the state as earlier reported, adding that the lawmakers were on the same page with Okorocha.

    “The shenanigans that we saw last Saturday can never be taken for congresses and we are taking this very seriously. We are here to reconfirm the fact that there was no ward congress in Imo and to demand that an announcement be made for a new date for the ward and local government congresses. As such, we demand that a constituted statement and announcement be made about the congresses that did not hold, the new date should be announced,” he said.

    The speaker, who led 23 other legislators from the state to a meeting with the national chairman of the party, said it was critical to revisit the congresses before talks on state congress could commence. He said that such talk would ensure peace and unity in the state. He, however, said that the governor had done so well, adding that there would not have been APC in the Southeast without him.

    On the allegation that Okorocha wanted his son in-law as his successor, the speaker said “the governor as a person has his preferences, I have mine too and we all do, and as such, whoever you want to endorse, you can endorse. For me and the governor, we have endorsed Nwosu, his son in-law, but when the primaries come, Imo people will decide if it will be another candidate. It doesn’t imply that at the moment, you can’t do your own. Endorsement is not a special thing.”

    As things stand currently, it is obvious that the last is yet to be heard about the political upheaval threatening the very essence of Okorocha’s life after office. And as pundits continue to ponder on the effects of the crisis on the electoral fortunes of the APC, not only in Imo State, but in the entire Southeast zone, the political gladiators, sadly, appear unwilling to sheath their swords just yet.