Accuses military of aiding rigging in Imo
Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, on Thursday lamented that the Igbo might lose the chance of producing the next Senate President, except the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidates, regain their mandates that was stolen by the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The state governor blamed Igbo leaders in the South-east zone for the unfortunate situation, adding that their selfishness and lack of vision have kept Ndigbo in the back sit of the nation’s politics, despite their contributions to the overall development of the country.
Okorocha, who addressed South-east APC leaders and supporters at the Imo International Convention Centre, in Owerri, the state capital, stated: “It is very painful for the Igbo to lose the position of the Senate President after been denied any leading position in the country for a long time because our political leaders and office holders used their position to rig out APC candidates in the election.
“We saw it coming and we told the political leaders why Ndigbo should embrace the APC but they could not believe us but today the story has changed and the PDP they have been following all these years with nothing to show for it is now an opposition party.”
The governor however assured the APC supporters that the hope of Igbo man becoming the Senate President was not totally lost, as he vowed that the APC would reclaim the stolen mandate given to it by the people who were desirous for change.
According to him, “There was no election in the entire South-east on March 28. The PDP leaders with the aid of the military and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) intimidated and harassed our people and thereafter wrote the results in their homes but I assure you that all hope is not lost because we are going to recover our stolen mandate.”
He also accused the security agencies and the INEC of influencing the outcome of the just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections results in favour of the PDP in the state.
Insisting that the APC won the March 28 presidential and National Assembly polls in the state, Okorocha specifically accused the military of intimidating the voters, stating that the people of the state are battle ready to confront the security agencies if the alleged harassment is repeated again.
He commended President Goodluck Jonathan for conceding victory to the APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari and advised him not to succumb to the advice of some members of his party to contest the outcome of the elections in court.
Also addressing the people, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu observed that with the emergence of the APC in 2015, the way politics is played has changed considerably.
He noted that for the first time in the history of Nigeria, power would be transferred from one political party to another, adding that “Nigeria is moving forward and the South-east must not be left behind.”
Onu stressed further that “for too long in the past, the people of the South-east put all their political eggs in one basket. They were taken for granted. The things that were of great importance to them were left undone. They gave their very best to the PDP but got little or nothing to show for it. The people of the Southeast should embrace the APC and make it the number one party in the zone.”
Source: Thisday
