FROM GEORGE ONYEJIUWA,OWERRI
Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has dismissed a statement credited to the leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, that he was instrumental to making him the governor of the state.
The governor described the claim of the MASSOB leader as a ploy to shore up his sagging image in the South East.
According to a statement signed by Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, Senior Special Assistant (Media) to Governor Okorocha, there was no iota of truth in Chief Uwazuruike’s claim because the MASSOB leader neither worked nor campaigned for Okorocha in the 2011 governorship elections.
“The truth of the matter is that Chief Uwazuruike did not work for Rochas Okorocha and APGA in the governorship election in the state in 2011 and therefore, could not have made Okorocha governor in the circumstance. He worked for PDP and his brother, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, who was the PDP candidate. That could also be understood and that was one of the reasons the PDP won in his Onuimo Local Government Area in the gubernatorial election. The PDP also won the governorship election in 2011 in his Okigwe zone,” Onwuemeodo said.
He pointed out that if indeed Chief Uwazuruike could not make Rochas Okorocha to win in his Onuimo Local Government and in his Okigwe zone, he could not have single-handedly made him the governor, when the PDP also won in his ward.
He said: “This is simple logic. You could not deliver a candidate in your ward, local government area and in your zone and you are claiming to have made him to win the governorship election single-handedly. How? I think time has come for these people to stop disturbing the Imo governor.
“Do not forget that before now, both the former governor of Anambra State, Chief Peter Obi and the factional National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh had also claimed individually that they delivered Okorocha in 2011 to become governor in Imo State. And you begin to ask, how?”
The governor’s media aide maintained that the latest claim by the MASSOB leader was simply to, “shore up his sagging image in the South East and use the name of the state governor as an anchor.
“The only impression one could create out of all these claims on Okorocha’s victory in 2011 is that the man has done very well as governor and everybody wants including Chief Uwazuruike who want to shore up his sagging image in the south east, by trying to share in the glory of his success in Imo. And we are not against that”.