- As APC reconciliation collapses in Imo
- Okorocha, Uzodinma fail to shift ground
Indications have emerged that Governor Rochas Okorocha’s son in law, Uche Nwosu and other members denied tickets in All Progressives Congress might have suffered a serious setback in the Action Alliance where they planned to defect to this week after negotiations broke down in the United Peoples Party and Democratic Peoples’ Party.
In AA, some exco members of the party are currently threatening to drag the former chief of staff to Okorocha to court for trying to hijack the governorship ticket of the party without following due process.
It was gathered that the governor’s son in law had to move to AA when negotiation failed in UPP, where the flag bearer of the party, Hon. Tony Nwolu, presented N500 million bill to Nwosu to relinquish his governorship ticket.
It was learnt that Hon. Nwolu, who is representing member, Oshodi/Isolo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, used the bill to scare them away.
A reliable source disclosed that Hon. Nwolu has threatened to drag Nwosu to court if they cornered the ticket through the National Chairman of UPP, Chekwas Okorie, who Nwosu had earlier approached for the ticket.
However, when the negotiation failed in UPP, the governor’s son-in law went to DPP, a source said, but discovered that the logo of the party was at the bottom of the ballot paper which they said might be difficult for voters to locate.
It was gathered that they had to abandon DPP to AA where it was learnt the governor’s close ally is the chairman to approach him for the governorship ticket of the party.
I woke up this morning (Friday) to observe that our party has been hijacked and sold to Governor Rochas Okorocha’s former chief of staff, Uche Nwosu, without the consent of the other state exco members
Now, the exco members of AA are at each other’s jugular as they accused the state chairman, Anthony Uchendu, of hijacking and selling the ticket of the party to Nwosu without consulting some of the exco members.. Speaking to our correspondent in Owerri, the party state Secretary, Chinedu Egbim, said he just woke up to observe that the party has been hijacked and sold to Nwosu.
“I woke up this morning (Friday) to observe that our party has been hijacked and sold to Governor Rochas Okorocha’s former chief of staff, Uche Nwosu, without the consent of the other state exco members,” he alleged.
He described what is happening in the party as an aberration and absurd.
“When you look at this, it is an aberration quite absurd for such a thing to happen. A tree cannot make a forest. If you want to hijack a party, you carry everybody along and we now decide what to do with the party, who to give the party ticket to. You don’t just come from nowhere to pick up the party ticket and fly out,” he said.
He threatened to go to court to challenge the action.
“I will keep on fighting until justice is achieved,” he maintained.
Meanwhile, the APC reconciliation move appears to have broken down as all warring factions have decided to go their separate ways to pursue their ambitions.
The state governor told the reconciliation committee led by Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje who visited the state along with Senator Godswill Akpabio, and Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, over the weekend that the committee came a little late as the current situation in the state chapter of the APC had gone beyond reconciliation.
He said that his people were short changed in their choice of who to govern them in 2019, adding that it is too late in the day for the party to correct the wrong doing.
It was gathered that when the committee met the members of the coalition group of party, the governorship candidate of the party, Senator Hope Uzodinma, was absent at the meeting held at their secretariat along Okigwe road,
Owerri.
It was learnt that the group refused to shift ground, saying each group should go their separate ways. A source told our correspondent that the committee did not actually come to resolve the governorship ticket since Senator Uzodinma had emerged the flag bearer rather that they came to ascertain the loyalty of the two factions to President Muhammadu Buhari.
