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Okorocha, Uzodimma trade words over APC revalidation exercise

By Charles Ogugbuaja, Owerri
23 May 2021   |   4:09 am
Former Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has described as laughable, the allegation by Governor Hope Uzodimma, that he and others refused to get registered and revalidated during the recent revalidation of membership exercise held in the state by the officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Rochas Okorocha

Former Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has described as laughable, the allegation by Governor Hope Uzodimma, that he and others refused to get registered and revalidated during the recent revalidation of membership exercise held in the state by the officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Okorocha dismissed the allegation at the weekend through a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo.

Uzodimma had told the Appeal Committee, led by Farouk Adamu Aliya, that Okorocha and others did not get to the venues of registration and revalidation.

In his complaint to the visiting committee, the governor said: “The management of self aggrandisement, self esteem, and inability to reason that yesterday is gone and today is a new vista, is the major problem of most past leaders who still think they can carry over the powers they held yesterday.”

But in his reply, the former Governor Okorocha, now Senator representing Imo West in the Senate, accused Uzodimma of taking the exercise to the Government House, Owerri, instead of the rightful public place.

The statement issued by Okorocha’s media aide said: “The media had reported what the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma told the APC’s appeal Committee, on the Party’s Registration and Revalidation exercise, that Senator Okorocha refused to be registered as APC member in Imo during the exercise. This claim is laughable to most Nigerians who still remember how APC came to Imo and indeed, to the Southeast. Okorocha needed to revalidate his membership of APC and not to register as APC member. Governor Uzodimma has always delighted in propaganda.”

The statement continued: “The registration and revalidation exercise didn’t take place anywhere in Imo. It was done at the Nick Banquet Hall in Government House, Owerri. The governor’s appointees were generating fictitious names at the Local Government level and taking them to the Government House, to be enrolled.

Hope Uzodimma. Photo; TWITTER/HOPEUZODINMA1

“We challenge the governor to tell the public how the exercise was carried out in Imo, whether it was on Polling unit by Polling unit basis, like Okorocha did when APC anchored, or Ward by Ward or Local Government by Local Government. If Okorocha had refused to be registered like our governor had claimed, what happened to Senator Ifeanyi Araraume and his Destiny Political family, who produced six House of Assembly members, that joined others to give Governor Uzodinma the majority in the House?

“What happened to Ugwumba Uche Nwosu, who owned the APC ticket with which he (Chief Uzodimma) is governor today? And who produced nine House of Assembly members. What happened to the House of Representatives’ members of the APC stock?”

Okorocha further asked: “What happened to top Imo politicians in APC and their supporters who could not go to the Government House to be part of the abracadabra, including Sir Jude Ejiogu, Lady Chidinma Uwajumogu, who was a senatorial aspirant and a mobiliser of note, High Chief Chidi Ibeh (MFR) and so on?”

“What Governor Uzodinma needs to do now is to tow the path of reconciliation, restitution, peace and tolerance. The governor cannot continue to exercise undue political muscle or glory in needless propaganda. Humility is a virtue. Sincerity is also a virtue, while truth is sacred. At times, it is not all about us, but all about God and posterity.”

Okorocha called on the Appeal Panel to take note of what the governor had told them, but ignore it in the overall interest of the party. He stressed that under Governor Uzodinma, there is no ward in Imo APC today that can be sure of winning in the event of an election.

“Those who made the party tick in the State have been side-lined. Nobody can talk about healthy APC in Imo without Okorocha’s Rescue Mission family and Araraume’s Destiny Organisation. Any other claim is pool betting nobody can vouch for.”

Okorocha, concluded: “All in all, Senator Okorocha, Senator Araraume, Ugwumba Uche Nwosu and thousands of APC members involved, are ready or ever prepared to register or revalidate their memberships of the APC, once the party’s leadership sends people for the exercise.”

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