Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha has replied his deputy, Eze Madumere over allegations of gross misconduct leveled against the latter by the State House of Assembly.
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Madumere had been in the eye of the storm this week as lawmakers in the State called for investigations into several allegations against him.
The House yesterday (Wednesday) directed the State Chief Judge, Justice Paschal Nnadi to constitute a seven man panel to investigate the allegations.
The Deputy Governor while denying the allegations recalled how he has suffered humiliation for Okorocha before he was elected Imo State Governor in 2011.
Madumere had in a statement signed by his Special Assistant, Uche Onwuchekwa said ““We are pained to state that two times the Deputy Governor had to go through the pains of losing his freedom in detention were all in the course of saving Owelle Rochas Okorocha from public disgrace. He rather had to carry Okorocha’s cross and bore his shame.
“It will be recalled that Prince Madumere shortly after Achike Udenwa’s victory at the polls in 1999 where he had to face contempt of Court for failure to make it to the court. He was in detention in the United States for about one month all because he was delayed by Governor Okorocha. To the glory of God, Prince Madumere was acquitted of all charges. We also challenge the members of the House of Assembly to produce the verdicts of the court that convicted Prince Madumere.
“The second time he had to stoop that Governor Okorocha may be spared of the humiliation of getting incarcerated, Prince Madumere again yielded and was detained for almost two months on phony charges, which he also been absolved of all charges” the Deputy Governor’s statement stated.
Okorocha has replied his deputy, telling Madumere, his ally for over 20 years, to leave him alone and face his challenges with the Imo State House of Assembly.
A statement by Sam Onwuemedo, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Okorocha described Madumere’s claims against him as jaundiced stories.
The statement reads in part “He (Madumere) told the jaundiced stories of how he saved Governor Okorocha from “public disgrace” and also “carried his cross and bore his shame”. He also talked about how he “stooped” so that Governor Okorocha may be “spared of the humiliation of getting incarcerated”.
“In all these, the Deputy Governor could only talk about the minor fallouts of the 1999 election and perhaps, the incident that was also part of the 2011 election when Governor Okorocha, who ran on the ticket of APGA defeated the incumbent, Chief Ikedi Ohakim of the PDP.
“All the same, it is the height of pettiness for the number two Citizen of the State to begin to talk about the imaginary inconveniences he claimed he experienced during the Political outings of his benefactor, but carefully skipped mentioning the avalanche or abundant favours, benefits, patronages and enviable upliftments he has enjoyed all these years.
“He had returned from America a long time ago, and has been in Nigeria all the while. And he should be Christian enough to state that he has remained under the mentorship or tutelage and employment of Governor Okorocha.
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“He also failed or refused to state in his publication that he has benefitted from the Political Successes of Governor Okorocha more than any other person. Without overstretching the debate, he was Chief of Staff Government House for two years. And from there he became the Deputy Governor of the State. And he has occupied that position for almost Six years now.
“It is therefore very difficult to explain any other way the governor could have expressed or demonstrated his unflinching love for Prince Madumere than making him Chief of Staff, when he first came on board in 2011 as governor and later made him the deputy governor of the State.
“Prince Madumere should have also told the world his Principal’s sin against him for which he formed a staggering Coalition against him even as a sitting Deputy Governor. He should have told his listeners that the only known sin the governor committed against him was not chosing him as his preferred Successor. Nothing else.
“And since that is the Case, it is left for the Deputy Governor and the motley group cheering him up against his boss to state whether the governor or governors are duty-bound or under any obligation to make their deputies their Compulsory Successors.
“Or whether all the governors that had governed in the past in this Country had made their Deputies their Successors. If the answer is truthfully in the negative, then, Prince Madumere should count his teeth with his tongue.
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“The issue is that if the Deputy Governor, with all due respect, has not murdered his Conscience, he should have by now realized that he has brought maggot infested firewoods and by doing so, has invited lizard to both lunch and dinner. It is a generational sin for one to bite the finger that has fed him or the finger that feeds him” the statement concluded