Fred Itua, Romanus Ugwu, Abuja; Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri; Femi Folaranmi; Yenagoa, Raphael Ede; Enugu; Phillip Nwosu
Imo
State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, has accused the National
Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by
the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun of plotting to derail
the party.
Okorocha who said he played a key role in the
formation of the APC spoke against the backdrop of the party’s ward
congress in the state, two weeks ago, where materials meant for the
exercise were allegedly ‘stolen’ by some party officials.
Okorocha,
who doubles as chairman of the APC Governors’ Forum, said his
opposition to the tenure elongation of the current NWC was responsible
for his purported persecution by the Oyegun-led leadership.
In a
state by his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, the governor
maintained with the names already mentioned by those arrested, he has
been vindicated.
“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.
“APC members in the
state are in high spirits. They want to see those who let them down and
caused undue tension in the state and also created bad media reports for
the state, to pay dearly for their wickedness and insensitivity,” he
said.
The governor commended the Nigeria Police Force over the
arrest of four suspects who allegedly stole sensitive materials meant
for the ward and local government elections of the APC in Imo State. Okorocha said the arrests vindicated his earlier claim of stolen materials.
But
Senator Hope Uzodimma (Imo West) has disowned the result sheets of the
APC in the state purportedly recovered by the police from four suspects
in Abuja last Saturday.
The said documents, according to the police, were meant for the May 5 Ward Congresses. In
a statement in Abuja yesterday by the Director General of the Hope
Uzodimma Campaign Organisation (HUCO), Christopher Osuala, the Senator
also disowned Innocent Ikpamezie who claimed to be the Senator’s Senior
Special Assistant (SSA) on Electoral Matters.
Osuala
maintained that “there is no provision for the Senator to appoint a SSA
on Electoral Matters and he never did. All staff are employed and
seconded to Senators by the National Assembly Service Commission.” The
DG noted that the desperation of Governor Okorocha to discredit the
ward congresses obviously manifested in this apparent concoction.
“It
is clear that Governor Okorocha continues to oppose Senator Hope
Uzodimma’s entry into the All Progressives Congress (APC) and had vowed
openly on public media to stop the Senator’s participation in APC’s
activities, otherwise how can one justify the facts that it was Governor
Okorocha and his aides who reportedly arrested the so-called Senator’s
aide with the others in a hotel and hurriedly took them to the Federal
Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) where they were immediately
transferred to the Force
Headquarters Abuja and a press
conference and hurriedly organised without reaching the senator to find
out whether the alleged SSA on Electoral Maters was his staff?” He
noted that since Governor Okorocha started shouting about missing
documents, no organ of the APC at the national or Imo State had reported
that their electoral documents were missing.
Osuala appealed to
Chief Odigie-Oyegun to call Governor Okorocha to order as his continued
intransigence and orchestrations were capable of destroying the
credibility and unity of purpose of the party in the state.
Meanwhile,
in the South South, specifically in Bayelsa State, former governor
Timipre Sylva and the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development,
Senator Heineken Lokpobiri have appealed to party members to shun
political disagreements that could threaten the party’s unity.
Sylva
and Lokpobiri made the appeal during a stakeholders meeting to
reconcile party disagreements, on the eve of the local government
congress.
Chairman of the APC ward and local government
congresses in Bayelsa, Dr. Adebanjo Dawodu said the exercise in other
local government areas was also peaceful.
In Enugu, the Congress Committee described as baseless, claims of a parallel congress in the state. The
committee or the electoral materials were reportedly not seen during
the ward congress, which prompted Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey
Onyeama and his faction to conduct a parallel congress.
Failure
of the Appeal Panel, led by Charles Babagbale to resolve the grievances
and complaints of the aggrieved members, which upheld the result of the
congresses, as submitted by Emma Eneukwu and Director General of Voice
of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, triggered another parallel congress during
the local government congress.
In a related development, Chairman
of a six-member panel in Enugu, Dr. Ikechukwu Odigbo, disclosed that
his committee conducted a peaceful congress across the 17 local
government areas of the state. Odigbo dismissed the parallel congress
held by Onyeama, stressing that his committee adhered strictly to the
guidelines as laid down by the NWC.
No comments
Post a Comment