Fresh facts have emerged lately why the Imo State chapter of the All Progressive Congress, APC have become a theater of the absurd where stakeholders now engage in war of attrition in a bid to outwit the other.
The forthcoming Congresses said to come up in February 2017 is really stoking up some sort of tension and frenzy in the party as contending forces battle for control of the soul of the party. Though the National Working Committee of the APC is yet to officially confirm the dates for the congresses that will lead to the national convention, this website learnt that serious alignments and realignments is taking place within the party.
Two groups exist in the Imo APC fold, those labeled as “Abuja faction” made up of Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, Senator Benjamin Uwajumuogu, Senator Osita Izunaso on one side and Governor Rochas Okorocha and his Rescue mission team on the other side.
Recently, the collision between the political two forces came to a head when Governor Okorocha accused some party stalwarts of taking an oath in exchange of loyalty for Senator Araraume. The oath taking politicians turned out to be some Local Government Chairmen in the party. 10 of them switched their allegiance to the senator whose governorship ambition seem to be tearing the party apart. It also offered a “window of opportunity” for thousands of disillusioned party members.
17 of the Chairmen later issued a communiqué stating their loyalty to the governor and the State party Chairman, Hilary Eke. This internal imbroglio has set the stage for a fierce scramble for the soul of the party which has forced stakeholders to lean towards the two camps. While other organic structures within Imo APC remain with the governor, some party members especially those at the Local Government and Ward levels are showing some level of disinterest in its affairs as they lament over the Governor’s lack of concern for their plight.
“We have been abandoned and ignored. I have never seen a thing like this and it is really pathetic” said an aggrieved party member who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Majority of them are heading towards Araraume’s camp, lamenting that the party has been poorly run by the governor who has refused to oil the party machinery. This was the grouse of some of the aggrieved 10 LGA party chairmen who stated in their resolutions that they have been impoverished because nothing is forthcoming from the governor for them and party members.
Investigations conducted by this online news platform showed that most of the LGA party secretariats are in debt over rents while the State party head-quarters is not befitting of the status of a ruling party. A party official who does not his name mentioned disclosed that the APC in Imo State has degenerated to a point where even those in the opposition are better off than them.
He said “It is a pathetic situation. For two years, nothing serious has taken place in the party. Meetings are seldom called and we have been totally ignored. Attention is rather given to the Governor’s structures such as the Ugwumba movement, the Nneoma Women Group and other, while party members are abandoned to their fate and relegated to the background”
Further findings indicate that because of the paucity of funds in the party, most members are now heading to Senator Araraume’s Destiny Organization because they are given a sense of belonging. Some of them have been appointed into key positions of the group which is a move to energize the resolve of the senator to grab the party’s Governorship Primary next year.
It was observed that because of the absence of political activities in the party and the neglect members have suffered, most of them have found succour in the senator’s camp where they are handed goodies and assured of better things ahead. This has enabled the senator to make far reaching incursions into the party which may pose a threat to the governor by the time Congress holds in February next year.