By Valentine Amanze
The office of the Deputy President of the Senate has advised Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and other All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders in the South East to “preoccupy themselves with ending the invasions and killings by purported herdsmen, gross marginalization of Ndigbo in the distribution of opportunities and the blessings of democracy as well as the worrisome trend of inconclusive elections”.
Mr. Uche Anichukwu, the Special Adviser (Media) to Deputy President of the Senate was reacting to the statement by Okorocha that the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, relocated to Imo State during the inconclusive Imo North Senatorial District re-run election to influence the outcome in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He stated that Okorocha’s statement also showed poor understanding of the workings of the legislature, noting that Ekweremadu was not perturbed by the wishful prospects of an APC Senator of South East extraction.
“The Senate has a ranking rule, and if Okorocha was not able to secure a principal office, even Deputy Majority Whip for the two House of Representatives members from Imo State, it is left to imagination how he would appoint a Deputy President for the Senate. He is on a wild goose chase”.
He further statd that the office of the Deputy Senate President would have “allowed the governor to continue to wallow in his delusions and wild claims, but, considering the fact that this is the second consecutive statement by the governor in one week wherein he attempted to impugn the integrity and democratic credentials of the Office and person of the Deputy President of the Senate, we are being compelled to set the record straight.
“The Deputy President of the Senate visited Imo State for the last time in 2015. It is also instructive that the governor’s claim comes on the heels of another statement by some All Progressives Congress (APC) elements in Ezeagu Local Government Area on Sunday where they whined bitterly over the huge solidarity shown by the good people, stakeholders, and traditional rulers of Enugu State to Senator Ekweremadu during his annual Ikeoha Scholarship and Bursary Awards /Adult Literacy Day at the council headquarters on the same Saturday.
“For the same party to also claim that the same Ekweremadu who was empowering his people at Ezeagu in a well reported event on the same Saturday was also in in Imo State at the same time to influence election is just another showcase of the buffet of lies, deceit, and confusion that has become the order of the day in the ruling party”.