•Okorocha
Imo State All Progressives Congress (APC) Stakeholders Forum has said it will not relent in its efforts to ensure that governor Rochas Okorocha does not succeed in his grand plan to remain in office after his constitutional term by imposing a member of his family, Uche Nwosu, on the State as the next governor.
A press statement signed by Barrister Kingsley Ononuju, Secretary of the Forum, said that while a court of competent jurisdiction has halted the planned impeachment of the deputy governor, Prince Eze Madumere pending the outcome of a motion on notice by a concerned citizen of the state and the hearing fixed for November 28, 2018, the Forum said it had it on good authority that governor Okorocha has directed the leadership of the Imo State House of Assembly to ignore the court order and proceed with the impeachment process even when the court, an Abuja federal high court, also gave an order that the status quo remains pending the determination of the case.
“According to information from government circles, the governor assured the legislators that he is in a position to shield them from getting punished for disobeying the court order,” the statement said.
“Feelers further have it that as reprehensible as the plot to impeach the deputy governor is, governor Okorocha’s is nursing a most bizarre plan of appointing Mr. Nwosu as a replacement for Prince Madumere if he succeeds in removing the latter from office. The governor’s ultimate plan, according to impeccable sources, is to resign after a few weeks so that Mr. Nwosu will take over as governor; the main objective being that the new position as a full-fledged governor will put him, Nwosu, in a better steed to contest and win the 2019 governorship election.
“Another major reason, according to a source close to the government and the family, is to provide Mr. Nwosu the immunity that would protect him from possible prosecution by the country’s anti-graft agencies that are currently investigating him.
“While the Forum does not harbour any iota of fear that the governor can succeed in these sinister plans, we are worried that it further puts the entire Imo collective to ridicule before the rest of the country.
“It was further gathered that the governor has concluded arrangements to pump in money into an ensuing propaganda which major theme would be that it is not in the Nigerian (1999) constitution that a governor and his deputy must not come from the same zone,” the statement revealed.
The Forum also noted:“We are not unmindful of the fact that some skeptics might argue that it will be ‘impossible’ for the governor to think of such a plan but the truth of the matter is that Imolites have witnessed worse things.
“Thus, apart from that this latest development should spur these few elements to come out from their naivety, it further shows that the governor has become so desperate in his self-succession agenda that he could tell the entire Nigerian political establishment to go to hell. But his desperation is no longer news to the generality to Nigerians especially after he dragged the collective image of Imolites to the mud in the well-celebrated show of same at the June 23, 2018 national convention of our party.
“Ndi Imo have since expressed their displeasure over the governor’s conduct at that convention and has demonstrated their support to all efforts at stopping him from causing further physical, fiscal, psychological and emotional damage to the state and its people. The Imo APC Stakeholders Forum wishes to assure the people that it will not relent in providing them the needed leadership in this collective quest.
“We are aware that governor Okorocha does not give a damn in emptying the state’s treasury to buy the conscience of a few greedy elements within and outside the state but it no longer needs an exaggeration to state that he has completely disconnected with the people. His resort to bizarre and strange game plans, such as has been seen above, is not only a clear indication that he has run out of ideas but also that he may no longer be in the right frame of mind to govern the state in accordance with laid down rules and principles.
“However, we urge the people to remain calm but steadfast in their rejection of governor Okorocha’s third term agenda,” it declared.
The Forum thanked “the good people of Imo state for their resilience and steadfastness in standing up to the latest of Governor Okorocha’s perfidy against our collective integrity.”
“The Forum salutes every well-meaning citizen of the state who, through one medium or the other, has stood behind it in the fight against the governor’s plan to turn the state into a jungle of irrationality and brigandage, the latest of which is the planned impeachment of the deputy governor of the state, His Excellency, Prince Eze Madumere.”