Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, has debunked a claim that he pestered Emeka Ojukwu to return to the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA while describing him as ‘a sad irony’ of his father, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
Son of the Biafran warlord had on November 15, dumped APGA, a political party believed to have been founded by his late father, for the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
In a recent interview, Ojukwu Jr. said that Obiano had been lobbying for him to return to the party, adding that the Anambra governor was playing “ infantile and local politics.”
But responding in a statement by his Media Aide, Olivier Okpala, Obiano said Ojukwu lied against him, stressing that he had never talked to the late Igbo leader’s son since he joined the APC.
Obiano said he had nothing to gain if Ojukwu returned to APGA.
The statement partly reads, “It is a matter of pure pathetic fallacy for the younger Ikemba to say that Governor Obiano is lobbying him to come back to APGA.
“The governor wondered on what grounds anybody would ever lobby Ojukwu to return to APGA while he never held any important position to warrant being described as a stakeholder or a leader of the party when he was a member of APGA.
“In fact, nobody knew that he was a member of the party.”
Obiano described Ojukwu’s son as “a sad irony of his father” who “In his lifetime, was the champion of the struggle for the rights and emancipation of his people, standing firm with his Igbo brothers and sisters and never betraying their cause.”
Adding, “I wonder what the Great Ikemba would be thinking when his son openly denied the only political entity which he left to unite the Igbo under a political umbrella.
“It is unfortunate that Ojukwu’s son described an elder and the governor of his state as one playing juvenile and local politics when the late Ojukwu respected constituted authorities.
“We urge Ojukwu Jnr to show respect to the governor and continue his sojourn with the APC rather than make untrue remarks about the governor.”