The All Progressives Congress (APC) has been inundated with plethora of internal crisis following its primaries. In this write up, MBACHU GODWIN dissects the worsening crisis in the Imo State chapter of the ruling party.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo State before now was a strong party that grew in leaps and bounds to the delight of many political juggernauts in the state. This development, political observers say, was because of the political sagacity the incumbent governor, Rochas Okorocha brought to bear on the party.
Imo state remains the only state in the entire Southeast geo-political zone that is controlled by the party at the centre, the APC, and was a launching pad for the party in the zone ahead of the 2019 elections as it made inroad to the zone that used to be predominantly under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Political pundits believe that the APC ran into murky waters when the governor insisted that his son in-law and former chief of staff, Uche Nwosu must be his successor.
To many analysts, this unilateral decision to impose the son in-law as the next governor pitched the governor against many of his trusted loyalists, as well as leaders and elders of the state. It also did not receive the blessing of the party’s national leadership and the presidency which advised him to drop the idea.
Okorocha’s insistence on paving the way for his preferred candidate to pick the ticket for the gubernatorial election led to the factionalization of the party as well as combined forces against him as they plotted how to pull the rug off his feet.
Having lost the party structure and the gubernatorial ticket to a new entrant to the party from the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a serving senator, Hope Uzodimma, the governor in his frustration pitched his tent with a party he founded and abandoned, the Action Alliance (AA). Okorocha, in a face saving move and in a secret plot to undermine and destabilise the APC, asked his supporters to move to the Action Alliance as a new platform to actualise their political aspiration.
His romance with the other political parties in a bid to install his son in-law has fueled speculation of his defecting to another party.
But the governor, in a press conference at the Government House, Owerri, explained that he would not leave the APC in the height of provocation by his acclaimed detractors, but his supporters which he argued that he has no right to stop from defecting to other parties of their choice especially the Action Alliance to pursue their political interest.
The embattled governor has done everything possible including meeting President Muhammadu Buhari at his home town, Daura, Kastina state and the presidential villa, as well as allying with his fellow governors to make the National Working Committee of his party reverse the decision on its candidate but failed.
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The APC crisis in the state got to a worsening dimension penultimate Saturday when the party leadership in a show of might announced the suspension of Okorocha from the party. The party has However, set up an investigation committee led by one Mathew Omegara to investigate allegations of anti-party activities against the governor. The committee will have to rely on article 21 (b) of the APC in arriving at its decision which many say will worsen the crisis.
Marcilnious Nlemigbo, chairman caretaker committee of the party had listed Okorocha’s offences to include, sponsoring of rivalry political party in the forthcoming election, openly canvasing of votes for the Action Alliance gubernatorial candidate, Uche Nwosu, as well as denunciation and undermining the APC gubernatorial candidate, Uzodimma .
Okorocha had last Saturday in the full glare of the media in a rally organised by the APC women wing in Dan Ayiam stadium, Owerri, to mobilise support for the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC candidate asked the electorates who gathered to shore up support for the APC in the state, to vote for the Action Alliance.
Before now, Okorocha, who is aggrieved over losing the party’s gubernatorial ticket to whom he described as an intruder who came to the party through the back door was said to have vowed to undermine the chances of the party in the state.
But Okorocha and his supporters in a swift reaction to his purported suspension by the state party leadership described the suspension as invalid and laughable, vowing to challenge it in a court of law.
Speaking on the suspension, the Imo state factional chairman of the APC, Chief Dan Nwafor, described it as null and void and of no effect, adding that it was illegality upon illegality. He described the Mathew Omeogara-led disciplinary committee as a kangaroo committee that has no legal backing. Nwafor claimed that prior to Okorocha’s suspension, the caretaker committee chairman, Nlemigbo, had been suspended from the party by his executive, thereby querying the authority of the caretaker committee to suspend the executive governor.
He said “I was duly authorised and inaugurated by the National Working Committee of the party headed by the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole. The photographs and video clips to that effect are there in the public domain, what authority does Nlemigbo have to suspend our amiable governor? As far as Imo APC is concerned that suspension is null and void”.
He claimed that he filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Owerri, challenging Nlemigbo-led caretaker committee which according to him is still subsisting at the court.
There are fears that the suspension of Okorocha, who is at the same time the APC senatorial candidate for Imo west in the Febuaury 16h election if confirmed by higher authorities may affect his chances at the poll.
It is not clear if the national leadership of the party, led by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who has been at daggers drawn with Okorocha over the role he (Oshiomhole) played in taking the ticket away from him, will reverse the suspension.
