George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
Ex-Secretary to the State Government and gubernatorial aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, Chief George, Ezenna Eche, has reiterated that Imo people voted against All Progressives Congress because of the greed of former Governor Rochas Okorocha.
This is just as he called for immediate reconciliation of APC members for the party to survive as a major opposition to the ruling People’s Democratic Party in the state.
Chief Eche who made the plea on Monday when he played host to local government chairmen of the party at his country home in Ngor-Okpala council said that the party is in disarray and prostrate and because of the greed of one person, the Imo APC suffered a disastrous defeat, adding that for the party to provide a strong opposition to the PDP, it must put its house in order.
According to him, “the once-ruling party in the state is more like a walking dead because of the greed of one man who against all reasons, had insisted on his son-in-law as the only person who is qualified in the entire state to succeed him and we all know the outcome because the people of Imo voted against the party because of Okorocha not because they hated the APC as a party. It was the ex- Governor Okorocha who created a dubious alliance called AA/ APC but today where are they? Even the Rochas Okorocha has abandoned the party.
However, I am calling for a total reconciliation of all members regardless of whether they were members of the perfect alliance of the AA/APC or members of the coalition so that the party can provide a virile opposition to the People’s Democratic Party in the state; otherwise, the APC will be completely dead in the state. For us to move forward we have to forget what the immediate past governor did to some us during the elections.
“Okorocha had sent fake soldiers to barricade the entrance to my community with his thugs from Ohaji patrolling around my house everyday as a way of intimidating me and members of my family.”
Eche who was also a former Accountant-General of the state urged members of the party to be more accommodating if the party was to survive in the state
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of LG Chairmen of the Party, Chief Casmir Ohamara who spoke on behalf of the LG chairmen, vowed that they would abandon the party if any nominee of the immediate past Governor Rochas Okorocha was appointed a minister from the state.
According to him, “Governor Okorocha is solely responsible for the calamity that has befallen the party in the state. He created a faction in the party which is why the party is in disarray. It is only Sir George Eche who has been trying to reconcile members of the party after the election but the governor who claims to be the leader of the party has never called leaders of the party together to fashion a way forward. Rather we have had that he is lobbying for his son-in-law to be made a minister. We have already resolved to dump the party should the nominee of Okorocha be appointed a minister from Imo State.”