Rochas Okorocha declares himself the landlord of the APC in the southeast and Imo State

GOVERNOR Rochas Okorocha has boasted that he is the landlord of the All Progressives Congress (APC)  in Imo State and southeast as a whole so as such would never consider leaving the party to join another one.

 

Speaking yesterday while discrediting the rumour of him wanting to the leave the APC for the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Governor Okorocha added  that the rumour was just being peddled by his detractors. It had been rumoured that the governor planned to quit the APC after the party's national working committee (NWC) dropped his son-in-law Uche Nwosu as its gubernatorial candidate and replaced him with Senator Hope Uzodinma.

 

Mr Nwosu had been Governor Okorocha's anointed successor but over the last month, the Imo State chapter of the APC had been torn apart over who to select as its gubernatorial candidate out of him and Senator Uzodinma. After the cancellation of two rounds of primaries, the APC's NWC finally submitted Senator Uzodinma's name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec).

 

Political parties still have until the end of work tomorrow to submit the final list of candidates names to Inec and Governor Okorocha is said to be lobbying to get the decision reversed. However, standing as a senatorial candidate himself, Governor Okorocha has dismissed any talk of him joining another party as out of the question.

 

Sam Onwuemeodo, Governor Okorocha's chief press secretary, said: “The known fraudsters in Imo politics who have sneaked into Imo APC have come up with the cheap and unfounded rumour of Governor Rochas Okorocha and Ugwumba Uche Nwosu leaving APC for SDP. Their first claim was ADC but like we had intoned, this baseless rumour was manufactured by these fraudsters and been marketed by their agents on the social media.

 

“Nobody builds a befitting house and abandons it for those who are facing criminal charges for issuance of dud cheques and failure to declare their assets. Rochas Okorocha is the landlord of Imo APC in particular and that of the southeast in general and he has the onerous task of ensuring that those recruited to destroy the party in the state and indeed in the southeast do not have their way.”

 

Meanwhile, the federal government has dragged Senator Uzodinma and four other candidates to court for failing to declare his assets. Among those who will face similar criminal charges filed by the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, as Senator Uzodinma, are former aviation minister Senator Stella Oduah from Anambra State.

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