Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Former Imo governor, Rochas Okorocha, has accused the incumbent, Hope Uzodimma, of being a puppet in the hands of some external forces working against him.
Okorocha, in a statement by his media aide, Sam Onwuemeodo, said the same forces that were behind the crisis in the All Progressives Congress (APC) were after him.
“Those who used him to fight Okorocha and put a deep cut in APC in Imo have not relented. Those people are not from Imo. They think they have annexed the state through the governor. But time will tell,” he said.
On Governor Uzodimma’s claims that he turned down his request to retain Dan Nwafor as state APC chairman because of his presidential ambition, as well as asking him to stop the probe panels against him, Okorocha said it all justified his claim that the governor was acting the script of external forces.
“Claiming that Okorocha wanted him to retain Nwafor as the APC chairman because of his presidential ambition has explained all that Governor Uzodimma wanted to achieve.
“What would the state chairman of a party do for a presidential aspirant, which Okorocha has not even talked about? Governor Uzodimma has only officially unveiled why those who recruited him against Okorocha did so. And he has continued to act that script, but without caution,” Okorocha said.
Okorocha also denied he begged Uzodimma to stop the panel probing his administration. Rather, he said he only objected to being probed by a panel instituted by a PDP government led by former governor Emeka Ihedioha.
He described Uzodimma’s APC membership as a two-edged sword, saying he was still having allegiance for the PDP while in APC.
“The governor has not done anything to show he is of APC and that his government, is that of APC. The man he appointed Secretary to the Government, Cosmos Iwu, younger brother of the former Independent National Electoral Commission chairman, Maurice Iwu, is a PDP member and also in the same position during the previous PDP government in the state.
“His Chief of Staff, Nnamdi Anyaehie, was the state chairman of his PDP faction in the state. The man he gave Adams Oshiomhole to be made APC Caretaker Committee Chairman, Marcillinus Nlemigbo, was one time PDP chairman in the state, we can go on and on, to name them.
