The Imo state Governor, Owelle Rochas Okoroch, has denied media reports that he is leaving the All Progressive Congress(APC) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
This was made known in a press statement signed by Sam Onwuemeodo, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media.
The statement said that as Chief T.A. Orji of Abia state and Gosdswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom state attended the wedding of Governor Okorocha’s daughter last weekend, it was part of the Imo governor’s negotiation to join the PDP, and they had followed the false claim up by asking President Goodluck Jonathan not to allow Governor Okorocha to join the PDP.
The statement read thus ”Nigerians, and indeed, the good people of Imo State in particular must have read some newspaper reports alluding that the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okoroch is at the moment negotiating to join the PDP, and which would mean his leaving his party APC.
The report was credited to an ultimately strange group, Imo Progressives and Consultative Assembly, and also with two vague names, Nze Benjamin Irohah, and Benjamin Ogoke, signing as coordinator and secretary of the group respectively.
To make the falsehood look real, they said for the fact that two PDP governors, Chief T.A. Orji of Abia state and Gosdswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom state attended the wedding of Governor Okorocha’s daughter last weekend, it was part of the Imo governor’s negotiation to join the PDP, and they had followed the false claim up by asking President Goodluck Jonathan not to allow Governor Okorocha to join the PDP.
As a busy government we won’t allow Nigerians especially Imo people to be deceived. The PDP in Imo state was responsible for the falsehood. They first planted the farce in an Owerri based tabloid, we ignored them, then they decided to hide under a motley group to push the belated lies to national newspapers. And it all shows the pitiable level the party has degenerated to in Imo state. And they do all these to deceive the president by giving him wrong picture of the status of the party in the state.
If truth is sacred, then we owe Nigerians the truth. And the truth on this matter is that Governor Okorocha has never contemplated, and to say the least, does not think about joining the PDP, because there is no reason for that either at the moment or in the nearest future especially when the PDP is now stagnant in Imo state, thinking about which leg to put forward first.
The reason they even gave for coming up with this latest gimmick could explain the whole drama. Governor Okorocha is not, in any way, in enemity with any PDP governor or member, and does not have any rift with Mr. President. Politics does not make people enemies. Governor Okorocha would not have failed to invite Nigerians from all walks of life including his fellow governors to the daughter’s wedding irrespective of their political affiliations and religious differences.
Both Governors Orji and Akpabio who attended the wedding among other governors came to honour the invitations extended to them by the Imo governor, not only as his fellow governors but also as brothers and fellow Nigerians. All these frivolous claims should show Nigerians the kind of politics those in Imo PDP play. And that is why they don’t see all the good works of the Rochas’ administration in the state. Nigerians should know when to play politics and when to live their normal lives, this devoid of politics.
And the Imo PDP came up with the cock and bull story, few days after the wedding, just to harm the excitement the people of Imo state in particular had about the ceremony that saw Nigerians of all shades storming Owerri. It should also be recalled that at the end of the NBA conference in Owerri last August, the Imo PDP came up with non-existent Ebola case in a hospital situated about few poles from the venue of the conference, just to eclipse the attendant success of the historic event.
We want Nigerians to take us by our words, Governor Okorocha has given APC befitting teeth in Imo state and the whole of South-East and has given the PDP in Imo state the face of a failure that Imo people now see the party as having the administrations that messed up the fortunes of the state for 12 years. Hence the party’s desperation for power and phobia for anything Okorocha.”
