Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, said on Friday the claim that he has been politically caged or rendered irrelevant by the “so called Imo stakeholders only exists in the media and offices of the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and the party’s Organizing Secretary, Osita Izunaso respectively.
The governor said the stakeholders are emboldened by Oyegun and Izunaso who are on vendetta mission over his “innocent and patriotic stand on tenure elongation.”
Okorocha, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, noted that “in any case only ingrates can claim to cage the man God used to uplift them politically. All those in the insolvent group called coalition are all beneficiaries of Okorocha’s political successes in Imo.
“If they have the capacity why are they dodging going to the field for the congresses? They preferred making away with the sensitive materials for the congresses and going into hotels to write results.
“Mind you, Governor Okorocha has never played politics with the elite in the state. And that is part of their anger. The governor’s greatest political base and asset is the grassroot, that is still intact for him. These stakeholders are deceiving themselves. They know they cannot fly.
“Okorocha is the biggest asset of APC in the South East and in Imo in particular. Even today, the only person the party needs to sustain Imo as APC state and make enroute into other states in the zone is Rochas Okorocha. Take it or leave it when the chips are down, the truth will become clearer.
“A group led by a man who contested governorship election in 2007 and failed, and in 2011 and failed and also in 2015 and failed cannot cage a man who won the governorship election in 2011 without the elite and got re-elected in 2015, also without the elite.
“One would have thought that the outcome of the Anambra State governorship election would have made some of the National Working Committee members of the party to be in a position to detach noise making from reality. In Imo, the reality is that Governor Okroocha holds the ace. Ditto, in the South East.
“For 2019, with God on his side and with Imo people, Okorocha holds the key. They know it. They are only keen in the structures of the party in the state and not in the election victory of the party. And only a party that wants to reduce its fortunes would toy with a man that had submerged all the big names in the state and won the guber election in the state for two times, because of the rantings of some selfish politicians.”