Ahead of the 2019 general elections in the country, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and a former member of the House of Representatives (Owerri Federal Constituency), Mr. Uche Onyeagocha, has raised the alarm that Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha, is plotting to make his son-in-law who also doubles as his Chief of Staff, Uche Nwosu, his successor.
Onyeagocha, who is also a human rights lawyer, said it was the reason Okorocha had floated the Ugwumba Movement and appointed Uche Nwosu to run it.
Onyeagocha dismissed Okorocha’s arguments that “at no time in the history of the state did any party abdicate its governorship ticket to any zone without a contest from other zones,” recalling that in 2015, the APC zoned its governorship ticket to Orlu zone, with nobody from Okigwe or Owerri zone contesting for it.
“In fact, the ticket was preserved precisely for Okorocha family; when he went out to contest for the presidency, his son-in-law held the governorship ticket in waiting for him, not because there was no credible person from other zones but it was done in good faith,” Onyeagocha said.
Insisting on the “principle of Imo charter of equity” which rotates the governorship seat among the three zones of Owerri, Orlu and Okigwe, Onyeagocha said the people of Imo State, comprising Orlu, Okigwe and Owerri, were united and irrevocably resolved that Uche Nwosu will not succeed his father-in-law.
“We therefore respectfully urge His Excellency Owelle Rochas Anayo Okorocha to discountenance any advice in this direction as nothing but the handiwork of undertakers, enemies and mischief makers who have set out to rubbish his political career.
“We also urge him to focus on his presidential ambition in the interest of Nd’Igbo,” Onyeagocha counselled.