Former governor of Imo state, Senator Rochas Okorocha has accused his successor, Senator Hope Uzodinma of playing pranks with the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state while allegedly nurturing his faction of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
Okorocha also blamed the governor for the problems in the Imo state chapter of the APC, alleging that Uzodinma appears comfortable with the party in crisis, which he said further makes his loyalty to the ruling party suspect.
The Senator for Imo West added that judging by the Governor’s utterances, that Uzodinma has been recruited by those who wants to stop his presidential ambition.
Okorocha who spoke yesterday through his Special Adviser (Media), Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo was reacting to recent assertions against him credited to Governor Hope Uzodinma and noted he had no personal problems against Uzodinma.
“The Governor is the one creating problems for himself and also inventing problems where they do not exist”, he said.
He continued: “The government in Imo as we speak is APC in name, but totally PDP faction in structure and in actions. The governor has not done anything to show that he is of APC and that his government, is that of APC. The government is ‘CampHope’ government made up of those who were with him in his own faction of the PDP.
“He was inaugurated in January 2020 as governor. The key stakeholders of APC in the state and their supporters were all at the inauguration, including Rochas Okorocha, Ifeanyi Araraume, Uche Nwosu and others. But few weeks after the inauguration, the governor made his appointments of about One Hundred and Six (106) people, including Commissioners. He never deemed it necessary to bring in at least one known APC member in the state to make the list.
“The man he appointed secretary to the state Government, Chief Cosmos Iwu, Junior brother of the former INEC Chairman, Prof. Maurice Iwu is a PDP member and was also in the same position during the previous PDP government in the State. His Chief of Staff, Chief Nnamdi Anyaehie was the State Chairman of his own faction of the PDP in the state. The man he gave Adams Oshiomhole to be made the Chairman of the caretaker committee of APC, Chief Marcillinus Nlemigbo, was one time Chairman of PDP in the state. We can go on and on, to name them.”
Okorocha recalled that he influenced the return of eight Action Alliance (AA) members of the House of Assembly to APC while Senator Ifeanyi Araraume influenced the return of six All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) members of the House of Assembly to APC, which made APC the majority party in the State Assembly bringing about the stability Uzodinma is enjoying today.
“But what has the governor done in appreciation of all these gestures?”, he queried.
The statement from Onwuemeodo stressed that Uzodinma has been recruited by those who wants to stop Okorocha’s presidential ambition and Uzodinma literally owned up as much with his utterances at the last Imo stakeholders meeting of the APC
