The All Progressive Grand Alliance is poised to upstage Uche Nwosu of All progressives Congress, who is Governor Okorocha’s annointed successor or whoever emerges as the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party as the battle for the soul of Imo State rages in the forthcoming 2019 general election, EMEKA EJERE, reports
With the nullification of the impeachment of Eze Madumere and his subsequent reinstatement, by a High Court sitting in Owerri, the governorship ambition of the embattled deputy governor of Imo State has once again received a boost.
What it means is that with the direct primary approved for the state by the All Progressives Congress ,APC, he can still give Uche Nwosu, the anointed candidate of Governor Rochas Okorocha, a fight for his money in the battle for the party’s governorship ticket.
Until the latest court ruling, Nwosu was going to emerge almost unopposed as the outcome of the recent local government polls in the state in which APC recorded almost a 100 percent victory had created an atmosphere for a near automatic ticket for him.
It was more so with the defection early this month to the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, of a frontline contender, Ifeanyi Ararume and former APC National Organising Secretary, Osita Izunaso.
According to a statement Thursday night by the APC spokesman, Yekini Nabena, which was endorsed by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, APC governorship aspirants that have been successfully cleared include: Hope Uzodimma, Uche Nwosu, Eze Madumere, Jude Ejiogu, Chima Anozie, Chris Emenike Nlemoha, Eche George Ezenna, Chukwudi Celestine Ololo and Peter Gbujie.
Madumere was sacked by 19 out of the 27 members of the legislature in what is seen as part of the battle for the governorship seat of the state next year. He had been embroiled in a supremacy battle with his principal Okorocha, who is backing his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, as his successor, against his deputy, who is also in the race.
In the battle for the APC governorship ticket, Okorocha had told his deputy to forget his ambition and go for the senatorial seat of Imo East (Owerri zone).
But the deputy governor rejected the offer, insisting that he had made up his mind to contest for the office of governor, a plan he said was not just about him but the entire Owerri zone that had been sidelined and marginalised. The zone is yet to produce the state governor since the return of democracy in 1999.
The deputy governor described Okorocha’s offer as an act of betrayal, stating “If Jesus Christ could be ill-treated by those he called his friends and was later betrayed by Judas, how much more a mere mortal like me.”
He had been Okorocha’s close confidant ever before the latter became governor. Both men have been friends and associates for more than two decades.
In 1998, upon his return from the United States where he bagged degrees in business management, Madumere served in Rochas Okorocha Campaign team as director for women and youth mobilisation in Imo State under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
He later became the chief strategist on media and logistics in Okorocha Presidential Campaign under the defunct ANPP in 2002/2003.
When Okorocha became governor in 2011, he appointed Madumere as chief of staff, and later elevated him to the position of deputy governor in March 2013 following the removal of Jude Agabaso, former deputy governor.
Little wonder the governor’s claim that Madumere is paying him back with ingratitude after he had taken him from the gutters to the exalted position of deputy governor.
Let there be peace
However, ahead of the forthcoming APC primaries in Imo State, Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the party, has appealed to the Governor Rochas Okorocha led faction of the party to take 55 per cent of the party structure in the state while the other group led by Senator Hope Uzodinma takes 45 per cent so as to achieve lasting peace in the Imo APC.
He also said the party may adopt direct primaries in the state to avoid litigations that may affect the candidates of the party. “Besides, all of you have agreed you are popular, so we may have to adopt the direct primaries mode so that all the aspirants will go and test their popularities”, he said.
Oshiomhole, who was speaking at a peace meeting held on Thursday, recognized that Governor Okorocha is the leader of the party in the state.
“Therefore, I will not allow any body to take him for granted or rubbish his personality,” Oshiomhole added.
Acho Ihim, speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, led the governor’s group while Senator Uzodinma led the other group at the peace meeting.
The choice of Nwosu to fly the APC Guber ticket in Imo had led to a division within the party. The APC in the state is divided into three. While Izunaso, Ararume and a serving senator, Benjamin Uwajumogu, make up the first camp, Okorocha’s appointees constitute the second camp.
The third camp is backing Jude Ejiogu, secretary to the State Government sacked by Okorocha in March 2016 who also wants to be governor.
The Ejiogu group is made of President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointees, who are indigenes of the state, except the minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwuka, who is the governor’s in-law.
Madumere’s faction had worked hard to wrest control of the party from Okorocha during the local government and ward congresses of the party in May. But Okorocha’s faction headed to court arguing that there was no congress in the state.
The Federal High Court in Owerri agreed with the arguments of the faction and quashed the congress, citing the report of INEC which said that elections did not take place in the state for its decision and ordering for fresh congresses.
Madumere’s faction was still pondering the next step to take when the state assembly commenced impeachment process against him on allegations of gross misconduct and dereliction of duty.
However, Madumere went to court and obtained an injunction stopping the impeachment. The state government also went to another court to obtain a ruling vacating the injunction.
Madumere approached another court in Imo State and obtained another injunction stopping the House from removing him. But the House of Assembly ignored the court case and proceeded with the removal process against the deputy governor.
The embattled deputy governor headed to court seeking the annulment of his sack and possibly to reclaim his mandate, in a suit which kept the swearing in of his replacement, Callistus Ekenze, on hold.
However, many still believe that even with his reinstatement by the court, Madumere’s chances of emerging APC candidate are very slim as Okorocha now controls the approved party structure in the state.
Two other parties considered strong enough to win elections in the state are the PDP and the APGA. The PDP is led by Emeka Ihedioha, former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, who is also in the race for the governorship ticket of the party.
Ihedioha contested for the governorship in 2015 against Okorocha under the PDP but lost. There are many other candidates in the party who are battling for control of the party and they may not be favourably disposed to working with Madumere.
APGA appears to be a no-go area. Jude Agbaso, who Madumere replaced as deputy governor in 2013, and his brother Martin Agbaso, may not be disposed to work with him. The two brothers and their supporters feel that Madumere was partly instrumental to Jude’s removal in 2013.
The dust about Nwosu
Governor Okorocha strode to power seven years ago with the mission of rescuing the state. Less than one year to the end of his tenure, whether or not he has lived up to the rescue agenda remains a subject of serious debate.
The governor and his factional APC members in the state claim that he has delivered. To buttress their claim they cite projects such as free education at all levels, the Heroes’ Square, Heroes’ Luxury Apartments, Ojukwu Centre, building of 27 General Hospitals in the 27 Local Government Areas of the state, the 5,000 capacity International Conference Centre, IICC.
They also cite the Ahiajoku Centre now the Imo State Trade and Investment Centre, Freedom Square, the new Governor’s Lodge, Orji Road flyover and tunnels, renovation of Concorde Hotel, and a number of roads across the three senatorial districts among others.
But the oppositions have contrary views. According to them, Okorocha’s free education programme is not free because students were made to pay more than what they were given as cheques, the governor has paid scant attention to the industrialisation of the state and youth empowerment he promised.
He dissolved the 10,000 jobs created by his predecessor, Ikedi Ohakim, and could not sustain his N20,000 per month ”youth must work programme.”
After dissolving the elected local council administration he inherited, he had until last month ruled the state without elected administrations at the third tier of government.
Indeed, the governor has been criticised over his inability to pay workers’ salaries and pension arrears and instead he resolved to pay them 80 percent of their salaries and asked pensioners to forfeit 60 percent of their pensions.
A host of Imo State indigenes are also criticizing the governor for not obeying the Equity Charter in his appointments, award of contracts and endorsement of successor as many of the people seen around him are allegedly his in-laws, brothers, friends, and praise singers among others.
The situation has prompted many describing the governors administration as government of “Familiocracy” that is “Government of My Family, by My Family and for My Family.”
A peep into the governor’s nepotism diary makes shocking revelations. Uche Nwosu, his son-in-law is his Chief of Staff. Anthony Anwuka, minister from Imo State, is father-in-law to his second daughter Uju Okorocha. His youngest sister, Ogechi Ololo, was his deputy chief of staff as well as his former special adviser, SA, Domestic Affairs, but now Commissioner for Happiness and Purpose Fulfillment.
The governor’s wife Nkechi Okorocha is in charge of “Amnesty” in Imo State with a N5 billion budget. His eldest sister, Geraldine Obinali, collects all market fees and fines in Imo State. His eldest brother Gerald receives the account for all Motor Park tolls in Imo State.
His younger brother Okey is in charge at Imo Transport Company, while his brother, Jude is in charge of revenue from sand dredging, and any laterite excavation pit in Imo State.
It is in this light that Okorocha’s endorsement of Nwosu as his successor is raising questions in Imo.
Nwosu, who is from Umuokwe, Eziama- Obaire in Nkwerre Local Government Area in Orlu zone, is married to Okorocha’s first daughter, Uloma. Okorocha, who is also from Orlu zone, said he is supporting Nwosu as his successor because as he said his son-in-law will perform better than him and take Imo to the next level.
However, this view has been dismissed by observers, who insist that Imo has better qualified and more credible people, who can save the state from the rot the Okorocha administration has flung it into.
According to them, Nwosu, 43, who read Urban and Regional Planning at Imo State University, has no other major credentials apart from working as personal assistant and later chief of staff to the president of Rochas Foundation which belongs to Okorocha; deputy chief of staff to Governor Okorocha; commissioner for Land, Survey, and Urban Planning and presently chief of staff to the governor.
The traffic goes to APGA
Checks by Alabingo.com show that the prospects of APGA in the 2019 governorship election in Imo State keeps looking brighter as more and more citizens of the state bet on the party as the only one that has the unity and stability needed to win a keenly contested election.
This is as the party in the state has also continued to attract many more heavyweights vying for its governorship ticket, the latest entrants being Ararume and his close ally, Izunaso.
With the PDP in the state still gasping for breath, unable to fully recover from its self-inflicted injuries over the years, and with the crisis rocking the APC over the governorship ticket, many now look up to APGA as best positioned to take the lead.
Formed in 2002, APGA has been the dominant party in Anambra State in the past 13 years after Peter Obi rode to the government house on the its platform. Obi was succeeded by Willie Obiano, and last November, riding again on the party’s platform, Obiano secured a 100 percent victory in the governorship election in the state to clinch what many political analysts described as a well-deserved second term in office.
In January this year, Victor Umeh, a former national chairman of APGA, also won a place in the Nigerian Senate in the Anambra Central senatorial zone.
Although the party has always claimed to have won governorship elections in Imo State since 2003, it was only in 2011 that the APGA for the first time won an undisputed victory at the governorship poll in the state.
When Okorocha came to power on the APGA platform, he called on Imolites and Ndigbo in general to join the party which he said was a distinct political party that the Igbo passionately believed in and followed like a religion.
“All Igbo should join APGA for us to be identified, it is our culture. Every Igbo man is in APGA before any other party,” he said.
However, barely two years into his tenure, Okorocha not only joined the then newly-formed APC but also condemned APGA and declared it dead in the state. Okorocha’s exit to APC, carrying with him more than half of APGA members in the state, spelt doom for the party.
Nevertheless, within two years, and by dint of hard work, APGA was able to regroup, reorganise and field a candidate in the 2015 governorship election, even though internal wrangling over the party ticket cost it dearly.
Now a wave of optimism is sweeping across the party ahead of the 2019 elections. Bolstered by its recent victories in Anambra, the party is pushing seriously to consolidate its position in other states in the South-East, including Imo.
Last December, Governor Obiano advised his fellow South-East governors to join APGA if they wanted to be re-elected in 2019. Obiano, whose thoughts were made known via a report on the Facebook wall of Ifeanyi Aniagoh, his senior special assistant on social media, described APGA as hurricane that can never be stopped in the South-East by anybody.
“What happened here on November 18, when APGA swept the entire poll in Anambra State will be replicated in Imo, Abia, Enugu, and Ebonyi States in 2019. APGA is a hurricane that nobody can stop in the South-east,” Obiano said.
“What I am telling my brother governors in the South-East is for them to join APGA now if they wish to be re-elected; otherwise, sorry for them, they must lose their seats to APGA in 2019,” he said.
Many party faithful in Imo agree, saying God has positioned APGA to play a central role in Imo’s redemption come 2019.
John Osuji, a political analyst, is of the opinion that the growing number of governorship aspirants vying for the APGA ticket is a positive sign that APGA is the party that God has positioned to rescue Imo from the doldrums.
“It is a fact that APGA in Imo State still retains enormous support from the Imo populace. It is the party that took Rochas Okorocha to Government House in 2011. APGA nearly made Martin Agbaso governor if not that powerful forces who had denied the party of victory in the past also frustrated his victory. That tells the strength of APGA in Imo,” Osuji said.
Writing in an article “Imo APGA: Between The Frontline And Backline Guber Aspirants”, Osuji said APGA has the colouration of a movement and has also been embraced by the Igbo because it is tailored towards championing the Igbo cause.
“With its victory in Anambra State governorship election last year, Imo State could be its next victory point if it harnesses the level of its followership. Because of its electoral appeal, it has become a new destination point for all manner of politicians who want to ride on the popularity of the party to become Imo State governor. It made the mistake in 2011 and it will be catastrophic if it happens again,” Osuji said.
He, therefore, advised the party to quickly separate the wheat from the chaff in order to save the party from implosion.
Chidi Okoro, a frontline aspirant for the APGA governorship ticket in the state who declared his interest at the party office in Owerri on April 3, is also very optimistic that the party is well positioned to wrest power from the APC next year.
Okoro, who said he possesses a superior, well-thought blueprint that would deliver sustainable, inclusive and diversified development in Imo State, insists that APGA’s strength lies in the majority of Imo people who want a better life for themselves and for their children and who trust that only the party can deliver the goods.
In February, Sam Amadi, a former chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission, NERC, while declaring his intention to vie for the APGA ticket at the party’s secretariat in Owerri, the state capital, said the party was positioned to salvage Imo and its people in 2019.
“Two things are involved in this 2019 election: one is integrity and the other one is governance. APC lacks integrity and true governance and that is what APGA has come to offer to Imo people,” he said.
Another aspirant, Uche Onyeagocha, had also boasted in March that Imo traditionally belonged to APGA and that the party has what it takes to reclaim the state in 2019.
Okechukwu Ikonne, an Imo State-born political analyst, “APGA is the the party of the moment in Imo and Amucie is the candidate to beat.”
However, for Don Okere, “PDP is taking Imo State from Okorocha. Imo people will not vote for his son-in-law.”
More aspirants join the fray
With APGA positioning itself as the party to beat in 2019, it has become the most beautiful bride to be courted by the Imo people, especially aspirants to different political offices.
As at the last count, over 20 aspirants are jostling for the APGA ticket in Imo State. Prominent among these aspirants are: Chidi Okoro, who has held senior management positions in Promasidor, MTN, Reckitt Benckiser and Emzor Pharmaceutical and has served as managing director and chief executive officer, CEO, GlaxoSmithKline Nigeria, and later, managing director/CEO, UAC Foods Limited; Frank Nneji, chief executive officer, ABC Transport; Stephen Nwoga, deputy national organising secretary of the party; Stanley Chiedoziem Amuchie, a top class accountant, administrator and technocrat and Sam Amadi, a former chairman of NERC.
Others are: Ikedi Ohakim, immediate past governor of the state who ruled for one term, Uche Onyeagocha, a former member of the House of Representatives; Okey Ezeh, who also contested for the ticket in 2015; Ike C. Ibeh, David Mbamara, Obi Njoku, Charles Onyeagbako, Humphrey Anumudu, Phillip Ibekwe, among others.
Indeed, this is the first time in the history of APGA in the state that such a huge number of aspirants have converged in the party at the same time.
There are mixed feelings about the large number of governorship aspirants in the party. Some political analysts fear there might be an implosion in the party if the primary election and its outcome are not properly managed.
Others, however, say it is actually positive as it signals the high level of acceptance of APGA in the state. If properly harnessed, they say, this acceptance could translate into a resounding electoral victory for the party in 2019.