Flaks for Rochas Okorocha over Nnamani’s leadership of APC
Obiano advises him to pay workers salaries
The recent endorsement of a former Senate President, Ken Nnamani as the leader of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) in South East by the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has continued to draw flaks from stakeholders in the party.
Nnamani, who recently defected to the APC about a year after quitting his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was declared as the new leader of the ruling party in the South-East at a meeting hosted by the governor in Owerri, Imo state capital last month.
The action has generated criticism as stakeholders in the zone faulted the move, arguing that as a new entrant to the party, Nnamani was not qualified to assume the leadership of the party, particularly when there are more than enough individuals who have made sacrifices especially in the build up to the 2015 polls.
The national auditor of the APC, Chief George Muoghalu and leading member of the party in Anambra disagreed with Okorocha, insisting that the leadership succession in the region cannot be appropriated.
Fielding questions from journalists in Abuja, Muoghalu said that the leadership of the party in the zone evolves from amongst the people and cannot be attained through mere appointment.
He said there were political leaders from the zone who have earned their names on the political landscape of the party in the zone, such as the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonaya Onu; Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, among others including himself.
His words: “You don’t appoint a leader, you don’t elect a leader except in a case where you have the constitutional provision. But in a situation where you are talking about the South East as a people, leadership will always evolve from amongst the people and amongst those who are leaders in their own rights; the Dr. Ogbonnaya Onus, the Chris Ngiges. These are leaders that have earned their status and there was no day we conducted an election to say that we elected Dr. Onu as leader or Dr. Chris Ngige as leader, they evolved. I am also a leader by every structure of imagination but it has to evolve from amongst the people.
“You see one thing about leadership I have said it time and time over, a leader isn’t appointed. You can elect a chairman; you can elect a secretary, a governor or a president. A leader evolves from amongst the people. It is your activities; it is your relationship and the level of communication you have with the people that determines your leadership. It is not by appointment and I believe everyone understands that,” he said.
Moughalu, who is also a governorship aspirant in Anambra State in the forthcoming elections said he believed he had acquired enough experience to take the state to a higher notch, saying that, besides his well-articulated mission statement for the state which will be made public in due course, he would be banking on his years of loyalty to the party to clinch the ticket.
“I am going to release an official manifesto, an official program of what I am going to come with for the average Anambra man, my views and vision about security, agriculture, health, physical infrastructure development, power and water.
“Loyalty must have reward, commitment must have reward and dedication must have reward. So the party itself knows the people who took risk, people who were called names. I am convinced like most of us are convinced that the party will reward loyalty at the appropriate time,” he said.
Meanwhile governor Willie Obiano of Anambra state has advised Okorocha to as much as possible pay workers salaries and pensioners their entitlements instead of dissipating energy attacking people.
Besides, he accused the Imo state governor of being a rabble-rouser who wangled his way into politics through deceit.The advice is fallout to the claim that three governors in the South East would soon join the APC. Okorocha in response to criticisms over the claim, described Obiano as a ‘clueless’ governor and ‘aggressive’ person.
However in reaction, Obiano in a statement issued by his senior special assistant on Media, Strategic Communication and Legislative Matters, Prince Oliver Okpala, advised the Imo state governor to hide in shame having failed to pay workers’ salaries, as well as pension benefits to those who have spent their youth and strength to labour for the state.
“Nigerians truly know Okorocha as a rabble rouser, who claimed to be a politician and flew the tricky kite of contesting for the presidency … and the records are there for everyone to see.
“What was he before he became governor? What was his visible source of income? May be we should look a little bit at Okorocha’s antecedent. This is a man who managed to wangle his way into the corridors of power through intrigue and deceit,” he stated.
Obiano noted that if he that has constructed countless number of roads and bridges, embarked on several rural electrification programmes, constructed uncountable number of schools, and health facilities as well as rid the entire Anambra State of crime and criminalities, is being termed clueless by Okorocha then there must be another meaning for cluelessness.
His words: “And let it be clear that we are not against him as a person but we must differ on the ground of his inability to meet up with the challenges of governance.
Rather than cast aspersion on Governor Obiano, he should borrow a leaf from his success story in good governance … he should key into President Mohammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption fight and do so sincerely. His governance of Imo State has been a catastrophic and unmitigated disaster.”According to him, that Okorocha “is a governor today in Nigeria is indeed an insult on our collective psyche.”
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1 Comments
Are Chief George Muoghalu and Sen Ken Nnamani on the same level politically? Even if he just joined the party, is he just joining politics? Chief George Muoghalu should go and sit down. Why do people always feel threatened when they see someone who is better than them coming up. Would APC have achieved the success they got in 2015 without the eminent PDP members that decamped to their party.
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