Rochas calls those opposed him and Uche Nwosu as sell-outs who have turned Igboland into a shopping centre

GOVERNOR Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has described Igbo leaders opposed to his senatorial ambition and plans by his son-in-law to succeed him as sell-outs who have turned Igboland into a shopping centre where everyone else can come and buy people.

Last week, an Owerri high court presided over by Justice Kemakolam Ojiako, upheld the prayers of Imo State deputy governor Prince Eze Madumere, annulling the election of Uche Nwosu as the All progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate in Imo State. Mr Nwosu was purportedly elected at the convention but the APC submitted the name of his rival Senator Hope Uzodinma to the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) as its official candidate.

Since then, Mr Nwosu has been seeking to get the decision reversed but his opponents, including Prince Madumere, who Governor Okorocha tried to get impeached, have been fighting back. Governor Okorocha and Mr Nwosu have accused the APC chairman Adams Oshiomhole of compromising the process to favour Senator Hope Uzodinma.

Speaking in Government House Owerri yesterday, Governor Okorocha said that Chief Uzodinma, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, Prince Madumere and few others are not in actual fact fighting him but are only tools in the hands of some big shots in the country over their 2023 ambition. He said he regretted that politicians outside Igboland who want to fight any particular Igbo politician must use fellow Igbos as tools.

Governor Okorocha said: “Hope Uzodinma is not fighting Rochas Okorocha, neither is Ifeanyi Araraume or Eze Madumere or Emeka Ihedioha. However, they are been used as instruments to fight Rochas because of the 2023 ambition of some big shots in the country and that tells the story of the Igbos.

We don’t support our own, rather we destroy our own and what is happening in Igboland today cannot happen in any other place in Nigeria because Igbos have made themselves shopping centres where people can come and shop and buy people to destroy their own. It is not a good omen.”

He added that he is also supporting President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term because he has done well. According to the governor, he is supporting Uche Nwosu too because he believes in the state and Imo needs someone with vision and passion to carry on with the development plans he initiated.

“The people of the state joined the APC, in 2015 in spite of the blackmail that trailed the party in this part of the country because of the confidence they have in me, not only as their governor but as their son. Imo people never joined APC because of any other person in Nigeria but they joined because of me and nothing has changed in the relationship because they are still all with me.

“Our party that is known for uprightness, justice, fairness and equity which show the image of President Buhari as a man of integrity has been dented by the actions of the national chairman Adams Oshiomhole. What we saw recently in Imo was a clear case of injustice which does not reflect the image of our party," Governor Okorocha added.