As uncertainty continues to pervade the political hemisphere of Imo State, the Chief of Staff to the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, Chief Uche Nwosu, has given an indication that his father in-law will dictate his ambition to be the next governor of the state.
In a widely circulated recent interview Nwosu granted a National newspaper, Punch, the Chief of Staff said that he will drop his ambition to run for governor in 2019 if Okorocha directs so.
Asked by the interviewer if he will drop the governorship ambition if the governor directs so, Nwosu responds, “Yes, I will because he is my leader” adding that the governor will not do that.
While not ruling out that his father has capacity to stop his ambition, Nwosu further added “My governorship project is a divine project. The man Rochas is a man who believes in the efficacy of prayers. For the governor to have openly endorsed my candidature, it means that he has consulted his God very well”
Reports have been rife in government circles that consultations are on to see if the governor drops Nwosu for another candidate considering the quantum of opposition trailing his support for the son in-law.
Further reports also have it that a group within the governor’s political family has intensified pressure for a change of Nwosu with a House of Reps Member, Hon Chike Okafor, as the adopted candidate of Okorocha’s Rescue Mission government.
Whether he is under any pressure to drop your governorship ambition because of the power play which characterized the All Progressives Congress’ congresses, Nwosu said that, “I am not under any kind of pressure to drop my governorship ambition. My aspiration is divine and God has approved that I will be the next governor of Imo State in 2019. The persons who gathered together under the auspices of Imo APC allied force are a group of people that we have been defeating since 2011. We will defeat them again in 2019. Their action only makes me become stronger and ready for the battle ahead. Their action has made me more determined, psychologically and otherwise to get sworn in as the next governor of Imo State. For me, there is no viable opposition against my ambition. It is about transferring power to the younger generation. What they are telling me, by their emergency alliance, is that my governorship ambition has been signed, sealed and delivered to me. Nothing good comes easy. In politics, you don’t just get the power, you battle for it. Ifeanyi Araraume, Benjamin Uwajumogu, Jude Ejiogu, Osita Izunaso and Eze Madumere are fighting us as part of the political game which will come to an end when I, Uche Nwosu, am sworn in as the next governor of Imo State in 2019.
On the rumour mills making the rounds that Okorocha is at the verge of dumping APC because of the noticeable cracks in the party, Nwosu said “There is nothing like that. Speculations are part of the game. The group of people fighting my governorship ambition will soon leave the APC, quote me. The truth is that you can’t talk about APC in Imo State and the entire South-East zone without talking about Governor Rochas Okorocha, who is the face of the APC in the South-East. The group of people making the empty noise today, mocked the governor in 2015 when he embraced the formation of the APC and threw his weight behind Muhammadu Buhari to become president. Many people, including Araraume, nicknamed the governor OkoroHausa in the Government House and went about the state lying that the governor was working towards Islamising Imo State by supporting the APC presidential candidate, a Fulani who is also a Muslim. Okorocha can’t go to another party, rather, those fighting us should go to another party or humble themselves if they want to remain in the party. Okorocha is one of the founding fathers of the APC in Nigeria. The party belongs to all of us because we are members of the party. We are ready for the battle ahead”
Asked to comment on speculations that the allied force requested the governor to drop him as his preferred successor if there must be harmony in the party, Nwosu offered “The allied force members should drop their governorship ambitions. They do not enjoy grass-roots support. It is about saying that you want be the next governor of Imo State. The key issue is, what do you have to offer our people? If my ambition to become the next governor is giving them a headache, they will have more headaches. My governorship ambition was ordained by God and there is nothing anybody can do about it because you can’t stop what God has approved. It is God that makes a king. Fighting my ambition is like fighting God and fire. Even the governor knows that the hand of God is in my governorship project.
“It is not true. The governor’s only crime in the APC is that he opposed the tenure elongation for the National Working Committee of the party. There are just two persons fighting the governor — the National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, and the National Organizing Secretary, Osita Izunaso. It is not because of me or my governorship ambition but because the governor spoke in favour of the APC constitution and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There is no tenure elongation in the constitution of the APC. The governor saw the future ahead and prevented the party from unnecessary legal battles and political accident after the candidates of the party would have emerged. For some members of the national working committee, who want to remain in power, the governor’s position was a bad omen for them. That is how and from where the conspiracy started. Okorocha, from the outset, did not have any issue with the national chairman. The cold war started after his position on tenure elongation. Izunaso should be grateful to Rochas Okorocha for making him the national organizing secretary of the APC. We came from a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance to form the APC and we were asked to produce the national organizing secretary of the party and that was how the governor nominated Izunaso who is today fighting him” Nwosu offered on the issue of reported humiliation of the governor because of the endorsement he granted him as sucessor
Asked if he is not threatened by the kind of political gladiators who are opposing your governorship ambition, Nwosu said
“Why should I be threatened? In 2011 and 2015, these people were not with us and the governor won convincingly. In every 12, there must be a Judas. We are not worried by the persons who think they have betrayed the governor by joining the opposition”.
