APC reveals where it has placed Governor Okorocha

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has warned the Imo State Governor,
Rochas Okorocha, against attacking the leadership of the party.


The party also accused the governor of forgery, while advising him to
seek the path of caution and reconciliation.

The ruling party warned that it would no longer tolerate constant
assault on the party either directly or indirectly.
In a strongly worded statement yesterday, the party through its
National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said it was
reacting to an advertorial in a national daily in which the governor
made some wild and libellous claims against the leadership of the
party.


"The sensible thing to do when you find yourself in a ditch is to stop
digging. We therefore, once again urge Gov. Okorocha to tread the path
of caution and reconciliation and to work with the duly elected Party
executives in the state for the good of the Party," APC told Okorocha.

"We shall, however, not tolerate his constant assault on the Party,
either directly or through proxies.

According to the party, in recent weeks, "Okorocha, has made libellous
attacks on our Party and its leaders a daily occurrence. Hardly a day
passes by without Gov. Okorocha verbally assaulting our National
Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and other Party leaders over the
recently concluded Congresses in Imo State."


The statemet read thus, "Governor Rochas Okorocha's Libellous Attacks
on our Party and its Leaders In recent weeks, the Imo State Governor,
H.E. Rochas Okorocha, has made libellous attacks on our Party and its
leaders a daily occurrence. Hardly a day passes by without Governor
Okorocha verbally assaulting our National Chairman, Chief John
Odigie-Oyegun and other Party leaders over the recently concluded
Congresses in Imo State.

"In an advertorial published in the Daily Trust Newspaper of June 11,
2018 and titled in part: 'Let The Truth Speak For Itself' which was
signed by a known associate of Governor Okorocha, one Hon. Ireagwu
Obioma, who styles himself as 'Acting Secretary, Imo APC', a number of
false claims were made against the Party.

"The import of the allegations was that the Party was aware of a court
order preventing it from conducting the Imo State Congress following
receipt of a copy of the so-called court injunction which directed it
to maintain status quo.

"But nothing can be further from the truth. Even the published
documents in the advertorial do not support this position and in fact
gave a lie to the governor's version of events, that the Party was
duly served and prevented from going ahead with the Congress in Imo
state.

"A cursory look at the published court papers revealed that the Party
was served the so-called court rulings on May 18, 2018, while the Ward
and Local Government Congresses which produced the recently
inaugurated Party executives from the state was held on May 5th and
14th, 2018 respectively, four days before the court ruling was issued.
In fact, we strongly believe that the court ruling being paraded as
injunction does not serve Governor Okorocha's interest.

"At the time of the ruling a new set of Party executives had been
validly elected, consequently the court ruling directing that the
status quo is maintained, actually means that no one should interfere
with the newly elected APC party executives in the state.

"Also in the advertorial, a so-called internal Party memo was
published, which purportedly showed that we were aware of the pendency
of the legal issues involving the congresses in Imo and Abia States.
The published 'memo' by the agents of the Imo State Governor is fake.

"No such memo was generated by our Party. A casual look will reveal
the inconsistency of the published document. The memo, according to
the published advertorial, was generated by the Chief of Staff to the
APC National Chairman, Edwin Ikhinmwin but was signed by the Party's
Legal Adviser, Dr. Muiz Banire (SAN).

"It is impossible for such an incoherent document to have emerged from
our Party, or any sane organisation – for one person to generate a
memo and another person to sign it! Indeed Banire, our Party's Legal
Adviser and the Chief of Staff, have denounced the document as fake,
stating clearly that they neither originated nor signed such memo.

"This is therefore, a clear case of forgery borne out of desperation.
We are currently seeking legal advice on how to proceed with the
matter to ensure that those culpable are identified and duly punished.
The sensible thing to do when you find yourself in a ditch is to stop
digging.

"We therefore, once again urge Governor Okorocha to tread the path of
caution and reconciliation and to work with the duly elected Party
executives in the state for the good of the Party. We shall however
not tolerate his constant assault on the Party, either directly or
through proxies. SIGNED: Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi National Publicity
Secretary All Progressives Congress (APC)."