IMO BREAKING NEWS BLOG

The winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary for Imo State, Uche Nwosu, has described the decision by the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomole to substitute his name with that of Senator Hope Uzodinma as the governorship candidate as a violation of subsisting Court Order and unacceptable.

Nwosu insisted that he remains the authentic candidate of the party, irrespective of Oshiomole’s announcement that he has forwarded Uzodinma’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the party’s candidate.

According to Nwosu, his candidacy is secured and cannot be truncated by the National Chairman or any other person, vowing that he will never abandon the mandate given to him by the party members to be their governorship candidate for the 2019 election.

He expressed disappointment over Oshiomole’s action, adding that his statements and antics did not give hope to young people who hitherto had always looked up to him.

In his words, “My mandate is still intact, I still remain the candidate of the APC, I am very much shocked with the National Chairman who is speaking from the both sides of his mouth as a man of that age I thought he would have been upright.

“I am shocked that a man who has attained that age and who we should look up to as our role model has become somebody who many of us can no longer see as a role model again. I am shocked at the attitude of  the National Chairman which does not give hope to young people that mostly look up to him for years”.

Nwosu however dismissed insinuations that he is defecting from the APC to pursue his ambition in another party, noting that he cannot abandon his mandate for any other party.

He said, “I will not leave APC, I still remain the authentic candidate of that party, I still have a valid Court Oder restraining the party from submitting any other name and also restraining INEC from accepting any other name other than my name and the matter is in Court, so if they go anywhere and got another Court Order without knowing that there is a subsisting Court Order  that must have been done that in error, so the fact remains that I am the candidate of APC, it is just for a while and I will take up my mandate, I don’t have in mind to leave the mandate I  already have for another party”.

Nwosu clarified further that, “the insinuation by the National Chairman that my ambition suffered setback because of the ambition of the Governor Rochas Okorocha is not true, my name is Ugwumba Uche Nwosu and not Rochas Okorocha, I am from Nkwerre Local Government Area, while he is from Ideato South LGA, there are two different things, if he has ambition to run for Senate and I have ambition to run for Governor, so it doesn’t tally at all.

“After all Oshiomole’s son is a member of the Edo State House of Assembly, who he nominated and he is the Chairman of the party and he is saying that Okorocha’s Senatorial ambition scuttled my governorship, he is a man that is supposed to  speak rightly and not deceive the people on air. I saw him on the Television when he was talking from both sides of his mouth, it is a pity that APC could have such a man as its National Chairman, I condemn his action and it is not acceptable”.

He submitted further that, “the same Ibrahim Agbabiaka Committee that conducted the governorship primary that Oshiomole is referring to as purported, is still the same Committee that conducted the National and State Assembly primaries, so how can you jettison the report of that same Committee”.

He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the National Chairman of the party to order, stressing that his actions, especially as it bothers on the party’s primaries, may affect the victory of the party in 2019.

Meanwhile Nwosu urged his supporters to remain steadfast, adding that, “we are not deterred, I am still in the race, if  Oshiomole thinks that he is a tin god at the secretariat that he can truncate people’s ambition, then my answer to him is that he is not God, he cannot stop my ambition, he cannot stop a divine mandate, he cannot stop the mandate of the people.

I want to assure my teeming supporters that we are on the right course, not even Oshiomole can stop us, we are the right candidate and we will emerge victorious at the end of the day. I am very confident that I will be the next Governor of the state in 2019”.

Culled from Nation Newspaper. 

The Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has said that the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Adams Oshiomhole is on his own and does not enjoy the full support of President Muhammadu Buhari. He revealed this to journalists after a meeting with the President at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Imo State which is one of the states suffering from the primaries disputes, Okorocha said the national chairman, does not enjoy the support of the President in the actions he has taken especially in his state (Imo).

He accused Oshiomhole of not giving some candidates who won the primaries ticket in the state but rather gives those who did not win the ticket.

“Oshiomhole is on his own in this whole thing, there is no presidency’s support for him to refuse candidates who won an election and give wrong candidates who didn’t win the election.

“It is not with the consent of the presidency, so he is on his own”.

Okorocha called on Oshiomhole to respect the rule of law and court orders.

“I also request that Oshiomhole should respect the rule of law and obey court orders where applied”. 

He said the party has lost 5 million voters who are angry with Oshiomhole’s handling of the party’s affairs.

According to Rochas, Oshiomhole the national chairman must be brought to order.

He also denied that he is set to move over to the SDP saying he cannot leave a house he built and gave the name APC.

Earlier today, the 645 elected councillors in Imo State embarked on what they tagged a solidarity and victory match for the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Imo State, Ugwumba Uche Nwosu.

According to one of the councillors, Hon. Abakwam Chika who represents Umuokwara Akokwa in the Ideato legislative Council; "We have come out as the leaders who are closest to the grassroots to convey our unwavering support to the governorship candidate of our great Party, Ugwumba Uche Nwosu. We shall do everything to mobilize effectively for his victory during the general elections."

Another Councillor, Hon. Chinagorom Christopher says he joined the solidarity match for the Party's governorship candidate because he believes in the Party and is also confident that Ugwumba Uche Nwosu's candidature is the best assurance the Party has to retain Imo State in the coming election. The young legislator also thanked the leadership of the APC in the State for standing firm in its defence of the mandate freely given to Ugwumba Uche Nwosu by members of the Party in the State.

"We are happy with the APC and we thank in a special way, the leadership of the Party in the State, who has remained steadfast in protecting the mandate given to our candidates at various levels. We are also grateful to our dear governor, leader and father, His Excellency Owelle Rochas Okorocha for his constant support, especially to the empowerment of youths in politics."

The solidarity match saw the 645 elected councillors from across the State match round some streets in Owerri, the State capital, singing solidarity songs for Ugwumba Uche Nwosu and the All Progressives Congress.

The Federal Government has filed criminal charges against two serving senators, Hope Uzodinma and Stella Oduah, accusing them of failing to declare their assets.

The charge, which bothers on two counts each, were filed before the Federal High Court, Abuja by the Special Presidential Investigation Panel, SPIP, for the recovery of public property.

In the charge, both Oduah and Uzodinma were alleged to have refused to declare their assets in March, 2018 without reasonable excuse before the SPIP for the recovery of public property, Abuja, an offence contrary to section 3, subsection 3 and 1a of the Recovery of Public Property (special provision) act 2004.

The suit against Oduah has been assigned to Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, while the one filed against Uzodinma is assigned to Justice Babatunde Quadri.

A plane carrying 188 people crashed into the sea north of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, shortly after take-off on Monday morning.

Lion Air's flight JT-610 was heading to Pangkal Pinang, an island north of Indonesia's capital when it lost contact with air control about 6.33am local time (10.33am AEDT, 11.33pm BST) -  just 13 minutes after take-off.

Before the tragic accident, the plane's pilots had asked to return to the airport, Sindu Rahayu, head of Cooperation and Public Relations at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, said.

Traffic control allowed the return, but the aircraft vanished from the radar shortly after. Authorities are not sure why the plane crashed, as the weather was sunny, the aircraft was new and the pilots experienced.

Pictures and video shared online by the head of Indonesia's disaster relief agency show debris and oil floating on the water following the crash, of which there are, so far, no known survivors.

Relatives were pictured crying at the Pangpal Pinang airport as they awaited news on their loved ones and family members were also pictured arriving at the agency's headquarters in Jakarta.

Feni, who uses a single name, said her soon to be married sister was on the flight, planning to meet relatives in Pangkal Pinang.

'We are here to find any information about my younger sister, her fiance, her in-law to be and a friend of them,' said Feni.

The crisis rocking the ruling All Progressives Congress on Thursday took a new twist as the Imo State chapter on the party rejected Lanre Issa-Onilu as the National Publicity Secretary.

A statement issued by APC publicity secretary in Imo State, Onwuasoanya, said that Issa-Onilu of the party did not meet the criteria to occupy the position.

The statement said that going by the constitution of the party, the only person who is legally qualified to speak for the party as the national publicity secretary is Yekini Nabena.

The statement read, “It is important to inform the general public that a certain Lanre Issa-Onilu, who parades himself as the National Publicity Secretary of our great party, is not and will not be recognised as such.

“This position is drawn from the provisions of the All Progressives Congress Constitution (October 2014 as amended),which clearly stated how officers of the party may emerge in Article 20(a) thus:

“All party posts prescribed or implied by this Constitution shall be filled by Democratically conducted elections at the respective National Convention or Congress subject, where possible, to consensus, provided that where a candidate has emerged by consensus for an elective position, a vote of “Yes” or “No” by ballot or voice shall be called, to ensure that it was not an imposition which could breed discontent and crisis.

“Going by the provision of our constitution as quoted above, the only person who has the constitutional right to speak for our party at the national level is Mr. Yekini Nabena, who is the duly elected Assistant National Publicity Secretary and who has to, in line with the provisions of our constitution, act as the National Publicity Secretary, following the resignation of the duly elected National Publicity Secretary.”