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Tag: Okorocha

  • Okorocha fires back at Ararume, Izunaso, says no one can cage me

    Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State yesterday lashed out at the National Organizing Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Osita Izunazo, Senator Hope Uzodinma and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume,for saying they had caged him politically and wanted him expelled from the party. Okorocha branded the stakeholders ingrates and an insolvent group. The governor ,in a statement through his Chief Press Secretary,Sam Onwuemeodo, said: “these stakeholders are deceiving themselves. They know they cannot fly.” He spoke on a day hundreds of APC women supporters stormed the Government House,Owerri, accusing Izunazo and Araraume of engineering the disruption of APC congresses in the state.

    Onwuemeodo,in the statement, said said the Imo APC stakeholders were emboldened by the party’s national chairman,Chief John Odigie- Oyegun and Izunaso because of his “innocent and patriotic stand on tenure elongation.” He added: “all those in the insolvent group called coalition are all beneficiaries of Okorocha’s political successes in Imo. “If they have the capacity why are they dodging going to the field for the congresses? They preferred making away with the sensitive materials for the congresses and going into hotels to write results. “Mind you, Governor Okorocha has never played politics with the elite in the state. And that is part of their anger. The governor’s greatest political base and asset is the grassroot, that is still intact for him. These stakeholders are deceiving themselves.

    They know they cannot fly. “Okorocha is the biggest asset of APC in the South East and in Imo in particular. Even today, the only person the party needs to sustain Imo as APC state and make enroute into other states in the zone is Rochas Okorocha. Take it or leave it when the chips are down, the truth will become clearer. “A group led by a man who contested governorship election in 2007 and failed, and in 2011 and failed and also in 2015 and failed cannot cage a man who won the governorship election in 2011 without the elite and got reelected in 2015, also without the elite.’’ Protesters demand prosecution of Izunaso, Araraume The protesters who were drawn from the 305 wards in the state said Izunazo, Araraume and other members of the coalition should be made to account for the alleged disappearance of the election materials for the APC Ward Congress in the State. Their spokesperson, Lady Ugochi Nnana Okoro, APC woman leader in Owerri West Council, said: “Imo women will no longer tolerate hijacking of electoral materials and violence in the coming elections .

  • Okorocha fires back at Ararume, Izunaso, says no one can cage me

    Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State yesterday lashed out at the National Organizing Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Osita Izunazo, Senator Hope Uzodinma and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume,for saying they had caged him politically and wanted him expelled from the party. Okorocha branded the stakeholders ingrates and an insolvent group. The governor ,in a statement through his Chief Press Secretary,Sam Onwuemeodo, said: “these stakeholders are deceiving themselves. They know they cannot fly.” He spoke on a day hundreds of APC women supporters stormed the Government House,Owerri, accusing Izunazo and Araraume of engineering the disruption of APC congresses in the state.

    Onwuemeodo,in the statement, said said the Imo APC stakeholders were emboldened by the party’s national chairman,Chief John Odigie- Oyegun and Izunaso because of his “innocent and patriotic stand on tenure elongation.” He added: “all those in the insolvent group called coalition are all beneficiaries of Okorocha’s political successes in Imo. “If they have the capacity why are they dodging going to the field for the congresses? They preferred making away with the sensitive materials for the congresses and going into hotels to write results.

    “Mind you, Governor Okorocha has never played politics with the elite in the state. And that is part of their anger. The governor’s greatest political base and asset is the grassroot, that is still intact for him. These stakeholders are deceiving themselves. They know they cannot fly. “Okorocha is the biggest asset of APC in the South East and in Imo in particular. Even today, the only person the party needs to sustain Imo as APC state and make enroute into other states in the zone is Rochas Okorocha.

    Take it or leave it when the chips are down, the truth will become clearer. “A group led by a man who contested governorship election in 2007 and failed, and in 2011 and failed and also in 2015 and failed cannot cage a man who won the governorship election in 2011 without the elite and got reelected in 2015, also without the elite.’’ Protesters demand prosecution of Izunaso, Araraume The protesters who were drawn from the 305 wards in the state said Izunazo, Araraume and other members of the coalition should be made to account for the alleged disappearance of the election materials for the APC Ward Congress in the State. Their spokesperson, Lady Ugochi Nnana Okoro, APC woman leader in Owerri West Council, said: “Imo women will no longer tolerate hijacking of electoral materials and violence in the coming elections .

  • I can’t be caged politically – Okorocha

    Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, said on Friday the claim that he has been politically caged or rendered irrelevant by the “so called Imo stakeholders only exists in the media and offices of the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and the party’s Organizing Secretary, Osita Izunaso respectively.

    The governor said the stakeholders are emboldened by Oyegun and Izunaso who are on vendetta mission over his “innocent and patriotic stand on tenure elongation.”

    Okorocha, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, noted that “in any case only ingrates can claim to cage the man God used to uplift them politically. All those in the insolvent group called coalition are all beneficiaries of Okorocha’s political successes in Imo.

    “If they have the capacity why are they dodging going to the field for the congresses? They preferred making away with the sensitive materials for the congresses and going into hotels to write results.

    “Mind you, Governor Okorocha has never played politics with the elite in the state.  And that is part of their anger.  The governor’s greatest political base and asset is the grassroot, that is still intact for him.  These stakeholders are deceiving themselves.  They know they cannot fly.

    “Okorocha is the biggest asset of APC in the South East and in Imo in particular.  Even today, the only person the party needs to sustain Imo as APC state and make enroute into other states in the zone is Rochas Okorocha.  Take it or leave it when the chips are down, the truth will become clearer.

    “A group led by a man who contested governorship election in 2007 and failed, and in 2011 and failed and also in 2015 and failed cannot cage a man who won the governorship election in 2011 without the elite and got re-elected in 2015, also without the elite.

    “One would have thought that the outcome of the Anambra State governorship election would have made some of the National Working Committee members of the party to be in a position to detach noise making from reality.  In Imo, the reality is that Governor Okroocha holds the ace.  Ditto, in the South East.

    “For 2019, with God on his side and with Imo people, Okorocha holds the key.  They know it. They are only keen in the structures of the party in the state and not in the election victory of the party.  And only a party that wants to reduce its fortunes would toy with a man that had submerged all the big names in the state and won the guber election in the state for two times, because of the rantings of some selfish politicians.”

     

     

  • We’ve made Gov. Okorocha politically irrelevant – Imo APC stakeholders

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), Imo  stakeholders have said that they have made Gov. Rochas Okorocha politically irrelevant in their determination to rescue the party from imminent collapse in the state.

    Dr Theo Ekechi, who spoke to newsmen 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 Gov. 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.

    Ekechi said Rochas’s inaction was responsible for the problems facing the party in the state and the South-East generally.

    In a petition submitted to the party’s national leadership, the stakeholders chronicled what they described as the governor’s sins and appealed for state of emergency in the state.

    He called on the party’s national chairman to bring to the notice of President Muhammadu Buhari the crisis in Imo before it completely gets out of hand.

    Ekechi alleged that the state was being mis- managed under Okorocha, adding that the governor was running the state like a personal estate.

    He also alleged that the governor was harassing and intimidating perceived opponents in the state.(NAN)

  • Youths protest against Okorocha

    A group of placard-carrying youths yesterday besieged the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja to protest against Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha.

    The protesters demanded an end to the governor’s style of governance.

    The youths urged the party to stop Okorocha from actualising his alleged plan to make his in-law as his successor.

    They vowed to resist the alleged plan.

    The protest took place as APC’s National Working Committee (NWC) expected a party delegation, led by the governor, from Imo State.

    Some of the placards read: “No more Rochas After Rochas”; “No Rochas in-law” and “We are tired of Rochas Okorocha”.

     

  • Missing materials: Okorocha hails police for arresting suspects

    •No date yet for LG congresses, say lawmakers

    IMO State Governor Rochas Okorocha has hailed the police for arresting and parading four suspects with the missing sensitive materials for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Ward Congresses.

    His Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, in a statement made available to reporters, said: “With the arrest and parading of some of those who got shares of the stolen sensitive materials meant for the conduct of the Ward Congresses of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo on Saturday, May 5 and their subsequent confessions, Governor Rochas Okorocha and APC members have been vindicated.

    “Note that Governor Okorocha and the genuine APC members have maintained that the sensitive materials meant for the ward congresses of APC were stolen, while the so-called coalition were deceiving Nigerians by claiming that the congresses held. The debate has now ended in favour of the governor.”

    The governor also stated that “some strange characters from the PDP have brought all the bad habits they acquired into the APC and the APC is now behaving like the PDP”.

    “With the names already mentioned by those arrested, the governor has also been vindicated in that regard.

    “We commend the police for the good job.” We also know that others who took part in the stealing of the congresses materials will be unmasked as time goes on.

    “We also regret that while the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Oyegun, announced that the Local Government Congress in Imo would not hold, the materials for the same exercise had been released to the same characters in the state following the materials recovered from the culprits by the police. This is very unfortunate,” the statement said.

     

     

     

     

  • APC ward Congresses: Okorocha, Imo APC leaders meet Osinbajo

    Leaders of APC in Imo State on Thursday met with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential villa behind closed doors without Gov. Rochas Okorocha.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Okorocha was not in the meeting although he was at the VP’s wing of the Presidential villa at the time.

    The APC leaders at the meeting included State Party Chairman, National Organising Secretary, Deputy Governor, Senators Benjamin Uwajumogu and Ifeanyi Ararume and some commissioners.

    Okorocha and the APC leaders had been at loggerheads over the result of the May 2 ward congresses held in the state, with the governor claiming that the congresses did not hold.

    Okorocha had met with President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura and now the Vice President pushing for the cancellation of the congresses.

    After the meeting, the APC delegation had initially declined to speak with State House Correspondents, but changed their mind when they saw Okorocha telling the correspondents that a new date for the congresses would be announced by the party.

    “There will be new Congress; there was no Congress at all in Imo State, and it is very clear that even the supporting documents and videos show that there was no Congress.

    “INEC has confirmed no Congress, security agencies have confirmed no Congress, the party leadership has confirmed no Congress, and the party chairman has spoken no Congress.

    “Nobody came to the field, the result sheets was missing and it was traceable to the national organizing secretary’s house (Sen. Izunaso) and all of a sudden the chairman of the panel disappeared from his house at 6pm in the evening.

    “How could there have been Congress? The matter is being investigated by the security agencies”

    Continuing, the governor asked: “If all these have been established why did you (the APC chieftains) have to come with your delegates to see the VP?’’

    The governor stated that he was not part of the delegation but came for a different thing all together.

    “I didn’t come for this meeting,’’ he said.

    However, Mr Theodore Ekechi, the spokesman for the Imo APC delegation and a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy said the meeting with Osinbajo was very eventful.

    “We are grateful for the opportunity and privilege to tell the other side of the story.

    “I think by our presentations we have successfully deflated all the lies that have been peddled all over the country and within the state.

    “I think by our presentation today, we have been able to state clearly that Congresses clearly and really held.

    “What did not take place in Imo state last Saturday was simply that we resisted the temptation, the intimidation, the blackmail to write the results of the congresses in the Government House, Owerri.

    “What did not take place last week is that we said the old has passed away and things are going to be done anew in Imo State.

    “In other words, not one man determines the results of the congresses in the 305 wards of the state. It is very clear that APC has returned to the owners of the party, that is the people,’’ he stated.

    Ekechi continued: “You saw all those who came with the Governor, his son-in law and newly recruited commissioners.

    “But here you are, this is Imo State, here we have the deputy governor of the state, the only elected senator of the south east under APC, former speaker house of assembly, Imo state, another former speaker house of assembly.’’

    He also mentioned Ifeanyi Ararume, the immediate past Secretary to the State Government and immediate past chief of staff, and two former commissioners for information and strategy.

    Others were the State Party chairman and his deputy, the 25 local government chairmen of the party in the state.(NAN)

  • Ward Congress: I’m paying for opposing tenure elongation, says Okorocha

    THE denial of All Progressives Congress (APC) members in Imo State from participating in the ward congresses was meant to punish Imo  State Governor Rochas Okorocha for opposing tenure elongation for the party’s executives,  it was learnt yesterday.

    The state’s APC ward congresses were enmeshed in controversy following the disappearance of the Congress Committee Chairman,  Ini Okorie, with the sensitive materials meant for the exercise.

    According to a statement issued by  the governor’s Chief Press Secretary,  Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo,  “stealing of the sensitive materials meant for the ward congresses on Saturday, May 5 and thereby denying the teeming members of the party from participating, could only be adjudged the price Governor Rochas Okorocha has to pay over his stand on the elongation of tenure for the National Working Committee (NWC) members led by Chief John Oyegun, which failed.

    “The position of the governor on the tenure elongation was in the overall interest of the party and the members and it  was the most popular position all those who love the party had taken. But it appears some people are yet to purge themselves of the unnecessary anger that could have arisen from the botched tenure elongation stuff.”

    It added: “Taking the position he took on the elongation of tenure, Governor Okorocha never targetted any person, but was keen in the progress and future of the party, which could not have been sacrificed because of the personal interests of some people.

    “Otherwise, there could not have been any other reason the sensitive materials meant for the ward congresses in the state developed wings and fled, and the argument was between the National Organising Secretary of the party, who is from the state, Chief Osita Izunaso and the man originally sent as the chairman of the congress committee, Mr. Ini Okori, of who among themselves was in position of the sensitive materials.

    “The good thing about the whole story is that it has shown that those making all the noise in Imo APC using Abuja as their base are afraid of going to the field for a healthy competition, thereby proving us right in our repeated claim that these people are media creations. They do not go home and have never helped anybody. They are afraid of one man, one vote policy.

    “Interestingly, members of Imo APC are determined to pursue the case of the stolen sensitive materials to a logical conclusion so that Nigerians would further know the debilitating characters of some of these so called political leaders.”

  • We expect internal democracy not funny politics, says Okorocha

    IMO State Governor Rochas Okorocha has warned All Progressives Congress (APC) members against what he described as funny politics,  which played out during the ward congresses held at the weekend.

    He said he expected better internal democracy.

    The governor decried a scenario where people wanted to steal ballot boxes and results during the exercise.

    Okorocha spoke to reporters after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday in Daura, Katsina State.

    He  met behind closed doors with  Buhari and Zamfara State Governor Abdul Aziz Yari.

    He  said he updated the President on the outcome of the ward congresses conducted by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) across the country.

    He frowned at the way some members of the party in some states conducted themselves during the exercise, saying the party would check such incidents in future.

    Okorocha 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 want to carry ballot boxes, steal results look so primitive.

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

    On the President’s response, the governor said: “He spoke like the President and he will take the necessary steps to correct this in our party, APC, not just in Imo but across the whole nation, to make sure that there is respect for internal democracy.”

    However, Yari, who spoke on the outcome of the ward congresses, said the exercise went well in the North West region.

    He said: “You know in a democracy, you cannot expect everything to work 100 per cent.

    “But in our region from the information available to us, everything went well in Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kano, where people expected that there may be a problem, the exercise was successful.

    “But anybody that has complaint, there is a committee set up by the national executive of the party. They should take their complains there so that they will be attended to.”

    But Imo State APC leaders, comprising state, zonal, local government and ward executive members, have demanded for unbiased ward congresses committee and a new date for the congress.

    They called for thorough investigation into the role of the Ward Congress Committee, which they insisted was contrary to the spirit of the party.

    The APC chieftains maintained that the ward congress did not hold in any part of the state as the congress committee hijacked the sensitive materials for the congress.

    In a communique jointly signed by the party’s state secretary, Obioma Ireagwu, the local governments’ chairmen, party leaders including the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Acho Ihim, the Deputy Speaker, Ugonna Ozuruigbo, among others, stated that ‘there was no ward congress anywhere in Imo State on Saturday May 5 or any other date”.

    Similarly, the state commissioners have called for the reschedule of the botched ward congresses.

    This was contained in a six paragraph communique they issued after a careful deliberation on the matter in Owerri yesterday.

  • Okorocha gives automatic promotion to Imo workers

    IMO State Governor Rochas Okorocha yesterday announced automatic promotion for workers as part of activities to mark this year’s workers’ day celebration.

    The governor also assured that there will be another round of promotions before the end of his tenure next year.

    Okorocha, who made the announcement during the Workers’ Day celebration at the Heroes Square, added that “whatever new salary structure the Federal Government would settle for workers, the state government would not be found wanting”.

    He said: “This is your day and we’re gathered here to celebrate you. We’re gathered here for the admiration of exalted character of patriotic emotion. We’re here gathered for the demonstration of the love for your state and your country. Let me join therefore millions of Nigerians to congratulate you and the workers of Imo State.

    “You are the pivot upon which all the activities of government rotates. I want to inform you that without you, all activities of government would be shut down. So, you play a very key role unknown to you that you’re the livewire of every administration.

    “We, coming as politicians will spend four years or eight years, but you the workers stay put. That shows that you’re the very foundation upon which the activities of government are built.”

    The governor also urged  the workers to make sure they have their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs).

    Chairman of the State branch of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Austin Chilakpu urged Imo workers and people to obtain their PVCs “as the only instrument that would give them a voice in the choice of who leads the state in 2019”.