Aggrieved camps in the All Progressive Congress, APC, in Imo State, may have to nurture their grudges for a longer time, as the Caretaker/Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), may have shunned their grievances.
The CECPC led by Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, announced in Abuja, Tuesday that it has carried out reconciliation of aggrieved camps in nine states chapters of the party. The states are: Bauchi, Cross River, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Zamfara, Ondo, and Oyo States.
It was observed that the states the CECPC carried out reconciliation are majorly PDP controlled states except Ekiti and Ondo States, controlled by APC governors, Kayode Fayemi and Rotimi Akeredolu respectively.
This entails that the CECPC is working in cahoots with State governors who are backing State Executives of the party in their various states.
Governor Hope Uzodinma is backing the Nlemigbo Caretaker State Executive Committee. He is aided by Minister of State, Education, Emeka Nwajiuba.
Political analysts argue that since attention was not given to concerns raised by some aggrieved members loyal to former Governor of the State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, it means that Okorocha and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, may have been shut out from the battle to control the party structure in the State, on the grounds that the CECPC may have abandoned its reconciliation efforts in Imo APC.
INNONEWS gathered that the Buni led CECPC had constituted a reconciliation committee for Imo and Ogun States headed by Jigawa State Governor, Mohammed Badaru, with Governors of Ekiti, Kayode Fayemi, Plateau; Simon Lalong, Nassarawa, Abdullahi Sule, and Gombe; Mohammed Yahaya, as members.
The Committee set up in August, three months after its inauguration, have not visited Owerri, Imo State capital to parley or reconcile factions and aggrieved camps in the party loyal to Senator Okorocha and Senator Araraume.
“This means there is no basis for reconciliation in Imo APC. The party is one and led by the governor. This is why no committee came from Abuja to reconcile anyone. There is peace” said a member of the state caretaker committee who spoke on condition of anonymity
There has been political skirmishes in Imo APC with a faction headed by Daniel Nwafor loyal to former Governor of the State, Rochas Okorocha claiming leadership of the party.
Senator Rochas Okorocha and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume are in strategic alliance, and the duo are known to be vertically opposed to Uzodinma’s hold of the party in the State.
The Okigwe senate election, which has been rescheduled for a latter day, confirmed the division in Imo APC, when parallel primaries were held to elect a candidate for the party.
Senator Araraume, sponsored by the Okorocha backed Nwafor faction, had claimed to be winner of the party primary, but the APC CECPC forwarded the name of Frank Ibezim,nominated by the Nlemigbo caretaker and backed by the Governor, to INEC as candidate of the APC for Okigwe senate.
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