The opposition mounted against the emergence of Chief Uche Nwosu, the Chief of Staff to the Governor of Imo State Owelle Rochas Okorocha as they would successor is growing daily with members of the APC raising further alarm that it amounts to tenure elongation for the number one citizen of the State.
In a renewed zeal to kick against Nwosu’s ambition, a chieftain of the party and one of the leaders of the Restoration Coalition of Imo APC, Dr TOE Ekechi has again come hard on the Governor and his son in-law, Nwosu by stating that it would be a slap on the faces of the people of the State if the Governor is allowed to impose his son- in-law on the State as his successor.
According to Ekechi, in a statement made public through his media adviser, Ori Martins, the issue of tenure elongation for APC party officials which was seriously contested by the governor, may be witnessed in Imo if Okorocha succeeds in planting Nwosu as successor.
In his own words, Ekechi said “Besides this (Uche Nwosu’s emergence) will amount to tenure elongation by proxy which would be a slap on the faces of Imo people. Imo people, particularly of the APC stock, irrespective of zonal origin, are together in this resolve”.
Ekechi, a top Chieftain of APC in State who served as a Director in the 2015 Buhari campaign organization informs that “there is an existing zoning arrangement in the State that allows the rotation of the governorship seat and that with Okorocha completing his eight years in office as governor in 2019, it would be against natural justice, equity and good conscience and indeed unconstitutional for another governor to emerge from Orlu at the time, having governed the State for 16 years with other zones not having a shot”.
The former commissioner who served under Okorocha and was incharge of information and strategy further stated that his present preoccupation with other like minds in APC Restoration Group who formulated the Imerienwe Declaration is to ensure that the tenets of the world press briefing be upheld and prosecuted passionately with all the zeal and resources at his disposal through the group.
On the trouble bedeviling APC in his Ngor Okpala locality, Ekechi said;
“Well aware of the imminent consequences, he, as a an independent minded and exemplary politician with integrity, has chosen the path of honour in order to save his name as well as contribute in the redemption of the state from unprecedented impunity and political charade.
The implication of that noble course includes his sacrifice of a bourgeoning, unfettered access relationship with a sitting executive governor. Nevertheless, history will vindicate the true patriot”, the statement reads.
He, however, expressed pity about some of his political kinsmen who he accused of having a shameless long history of mercantile politicking. “It is this ‘elite’ group that is laboriously but sorely using paid agents to distract Ekechi from the restoration project. Perhaps, unknown to them, the strategy of their bruised sponsor is to use them to provoke him into engaging them so as to trivialize a pan-Imo project that seeks to redeem the state from a conquering emperor who, with impunity is desperate to impose his errand-boy chief of staff son-in-law on our great party as the governorship candidate through clandestinely sponsored endorsement that has gone leprous.
“They are such a sorry site as they excitedly hustle and scramble to exploit Ekechi’s absence from the local arena to play cheap politics. This, they do by employing all sorts and manners of gutter approaches to lay mischievous claim on a local leadership they have hungered for long. It is a pity. Leadership – I mean true leadership – is neither announced nor made; it is earned and recognized by honest and dedicated following. Fortunately, Ngor Okpala people have become wiser and will soon be taking unequivocal stand on some of these elements without balls between their vertical stanchions”.
Ekechi used the opportunity to advise his kinsmen who were lured into endorsing Okorocha’s son-in-law because of pecuniary benefits and the desperation to be seen to belong, to feel the pulse of their people and the state before they are completely drowned in their disdainful outing.
