14th July, 2021
Senator Rochas Okorocha has reacted to the false report of his suspension from the All Progressives Congress, blaming it all on his successor, Hope Uzodimma.
In a statement by his media adviser Sam Onwuemeodo, Okorocha pointedly accused Uzodimma for masterminding the fake story.
Okorocha, however, told Uzodimma that he could not push him out of APC, of which he was a founding member.
“Governor Uzodinma was never a member of APC. He joined APC after he had been announced governor by the Supreme Court.
“The Supreme Court had given judgement that the candidate of APC in the 2019 governorship election was Uche Nwosu. Showing that, Chief Uzodinma was a gatecrasher in APC.
“Yet, he does not want to be humble about that. He wants those who laboured and blackmailed over APC to leave the party for him. There would not have been APC in Imo today, if Okorocha didn’t take the political risk he took to make Imo APC”, the statement by Onwuemeodo read.
Hammering Uzodimma further, Onwuemeodo said:
“He had come up with the fake story of Okorocha leaving APC, because the National Secretariat of the Party had set up a reconciliation Committee.
“And also because of Okorocha’s visit to the National Office of the Party, with men and women who had sacrificed all they had, to make APC the Party to beat in Imo. And with National Assembly members who have the mandate of the people.
“Governor Uzodinma is reaping where he did not sow and one had expected him to be sober about that. But he has continued to use blackmail to see how the party could be abandoned for him. At what point did Chief Uzodinma join APC?
“He had destroyed APC in Imo with his style of governance, which is anti-people. The economy of the State has been grounded. Every sector in Imo is in coma. He is using intimidation and threats to govern Imo people. He has demarketed APC in Imo.
“Governor Uzodinma might be the one working to destroy APC before joining another party, because he is not doing anything to encourage the party and its members in the State.
“Governor Uzodinma should leave Okorocha alone and face governance”, Onwuemeodo added.
Meanwhile Uzodimma escalated the tension between him and Okorocha by shutting down his Rochas Foundation College in Oji Owerri.
An aide of Uzodimma said the college was taken over as part of efforts to recover looted funds in the state.