In the aftermath of tensions generated within the ranks of the Imo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the recent ward and state congresses of the party, Governor Rochas Okorocha has vowed never to abandon the party in the state for anyone.
He said he brought the APC into the South East geopolitical zone when it was unpopular there but some who called him names during that period are now seeking to hijack the party from him.
The governor therefore described as untrue insinuations that he had decamped from the APC to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Okorocha, who spoke in a press statement through his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, recalled how he led APGA to the coalition that led to the APC.
He added that he was not under any pressure during the period and indeed stood to lose his second term.
The statement read in part, “If Governor Okorocha did not take a good percentage of APGA members to APC, the party would not have had the kind of national spread it has today. For that reason, they called him all sorts of derogatory names which Nigerians know, including Alhaji in Government House, Okoro-Hausa and Rochas Buhari.
“When APC came for campaign in 2015, in Imo and all the states in the South East, he was the point man. Today, APC has become the party to envy. Nobody is talking about Okorocha and Buhari going to use APC to Islamise the Igbo.
“Today, the same people who called him names have begun to market falsehood against him, including the fake story of his leaving APC for APGA. All these show the level of frustration on the side of the 10-man coalition. They are being hunted by their inglorious actions.
“One may also wish to know that while the unfounded story of the governor leaving APC is yet to dry, they have also come up with another one, that the governor is in coma. These people do not know God and, of course, they are afraid of both the present and the future.”
Vowing not to leave the party for anyone, Okorocha said, “No landlord leaves his house for unfaithful tenants. The name Okorocha is the fibre of APC in Imo and the whole of South East. And anybody who says it is not true should tell Nigerians why it is only in Imo you have APC governor, 24 out of the 27 House of Assembly members, three House of Representatives members and one senator, in the whole of South East. Time will tell what happens in APC in Imo and the whole of South East.”