By Emma Ogbuehi
Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, on Wednesday insisted that his predecessor, Senator Rochas Okorocha, has blackmailed himself out of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a political party he helped to found.
There has been a running battle between the duo over leadership of the party in the state.
But though Okorocha continues to deny insinuations that he plans to quit the party, Uzodimma is insisting that he has concluded plans to quit “going by a statement by his media aide on Tuesday.”
By the statement, the governor said his predecessor had simply reconfirmed his intention to call it quits with the APC.
Uzodimma who spoke through his media aide, Oguwike Nwachukwu, claimed in a statement that “Sam Onwuemeodo, Okorocha’s aide had insinuated in his statement that Governor Hope Uzodimma was blackmailing Okorocha out of the APC,” and concluded that “Okorocha had long left the APC without some of his aides like Onwuemeodo knowing.
Mr. Nwachukwu’s statement read:
“Few months ago when Okorocha was invited by one of the Governors in the South South to commission a project, the Senator representing Orlu zone on the platform of the APC told his audience he was part of a camp of political like minds midwifing a party.
“Former Governor Okorocha loathes team work and still carries on with the mentality of Lord of the Manor not ready to humble himself in the face of changing times.
“For a man with history of junketing from one political party to another, discerning minds know that Okorocha’s days in APC were numbered the moment he was not able to foist his political son, Uche Nwosu, on the hapless Imo people in a bid to sustain his political hegemonic hallucination.
“If there is any politician in Imo APC who does not want Governor Uzodimma to be in the same party with him that politician is Okorocha, and he has not hidden such disdain for the sitting governor.
“Governor Uzodimma is a slave to team work, due process, respect for rule of law and a respected party man any time any day. These qualities are completely lacking in Okorocha and he can do anything to subvert the system.
“For example, how can one who claims to be a founding member of the APC refuse to revalidate his membership the way all others across the country had done? How can he disregard the decision of the National Secretariat of the party he claims to be a founding member as regards headship of the Imo APC?
“Are the above the mind set of one who still wants to be part of the efforts to build a strong and virile APC, whether in Imo or the country at large?
“If anything, Okorocha has succeeded in blackmailing himself out of the APC only to look for where to point fingers.
“Governor Uzodimma has always said he does not have any problems with Okorocha and he means every bit of that.
“He has said repeatedly it is his desire to work with the Senator in the interest of Imo people, but the problem is that Okorocha is not wired to work in the interest of Imo people and anything that would make him do so would be sternly resisted by him and that is where the problem lies.
“Whether Okorocha leaves APC for the PDP as his aide insinuates or another political camp for that matter, the truth is that he will still find fault in the arrangement when he is not having his way.”