The All Progressives Congress
(APC) says it will not tolerate the “constant assault” of Rochas Okorocha,
governor of Imo, on the party.
On different occasions, the
governor has made uncomplimentary remarks about John Oyegun, national chairman
of the party, over the internal crisis in the state chapter of APC.
Shortly after Oyegun inaugurated
Hillary Eke as chairman of the APC in Imo, Okorocha said the chairman ought to
be in prison.
Eke is in a faction not loyal to
the governor.
In a statement on Wednesday,
Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesman of the APC, said Okorocha is “desperate.”
“In recent weeks, the Imo state
governor, H.E. Rochas Okorocha, has made libellous attacks on our party and its
leaders a daily occurrence,” the statement read.
“Hardly a day passes by without
Governor Okorocha verbally assaulting our national chairman, chief John
Odigie-Oyegun and other party leaders over the recently concluded congresses in
Imo state.
“In an advertorial published in
the Daily Trust Newspaper of June 11, 2018 and titled in part: ‘Let The Truth
Speak For Itself’ which was signed by a known associate of governor Okorocha,
one Hon. Ireagwu Obioma, who styles himself as ‘acting secretary, Imo APC’, a
number of false claims were made against the party.
“The import of the allegations
was that the Party was aware of a court order preventing it from conducting the
Imo xtate Congress following receipt of a copy of the so-called court
injunction which directed it to maintain status quo. But nothing can be further
from the truth. Even the published documents in the advertorial do not support
this position and in fact gave a lie to the governor’s version of events, that
the party was duly served and prevented from going ahead with the congress in
Imo state.
“A cursory look at the published
court papers revealed that the party was served the so-called court rulings on
May 18, 2018, while the ward and local government congresses which produced the
recently inaugurated party executives from the state was held on May 5th and
14th, 2018 respectively, four days before the court ruling was issued.
“In fact, we strongly believe
that the court ruling being paraded as injunction does not serve governor
Okorocha’s interest. At the time of the ruling a new set of party executives
had been validly elected, consequently the court ruling directing that the
status quo is maintained, actually means that no one should interfere with the
newly elected APC party executives in the state.
“Also in the advertorial, a
so-called internal party memo was published, which purportedly showed that we
were aware of the pendency of the legal issues involving the congresses in Imo
and Abia states. The published ‘memo’ by the agents of the Imo state governor
is fake. No such memo was generated by our party. A casual look will reveal the
inconsistency of the published document.
“The memo, according to the
published advertorial, was generated by the chief of staff to the APC national
chairman, Edwin Ikhinmwin but was signed by the party’s legal adviser, Dr. Muiz
Banire (SAN). It is impossible for such an incoherent document to have emerged
from our party, or any sane organisation – for one person to generate a memo
and another person to sign it!
“Indeed Banire, our party’s legal
adviser and the chief of staff, have denounced the document as fake, stating
clearly that they neither originated nor signed such memo. This is therefore, a
clear case of forgery borne out of desperation.
“The sensible thing to do when
you find yourself in a ditch is to stop digging. We therefore, once again urge
governor Okorocha to tread the path of caution and reconciliation and to work
with the duly elected party executives in the state for the good of the party.
We shall however not tolerate his constant assault on the party, either
directly or through proxies.”
The APC spokesman said the party
is seeking legal advice on how to respond to the matter.
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