* Owelle Rochas Okorocha*
*Governor, Imo State
On Wednesday, February 7, 2018, hundreds of supporters loyal to the Imo State Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere took to the streets of Owerri, calling on Governor Rochas Okorocha to choose his Deputy as his successor.
Last week, Chief of Staff, Government House, Owerri, Uche Nwosu was endorsed by more than 1,000 youths who had called on him to contest for Imo governorship. Before now, more than eight local Government chapters of the All Progressive Congress, APC in the State had also endorsed Nwosu for Imo Governorship race.
These recent political activities show that the scramble for endorsement for the governorship race by the two major contenders in Okorocha’s Rescue Mission camp has taken a new dimension. It is now very clear that there is a rat race going on between his Deputy, Prince Eze Madumere and his Chief of Staff and son- in law, Uche Nwosu.
The duo have visibly shown that they are ready to go the extra mile just to get the approval of Okorocha as his worthy successors regardless of the huge electoral challenge that awaits whoever he chooses at the 2019 elections.
*Eze Madumere
Deputy Governor, Imo State
With the ongoing development, it is clear that a cold war is now raging in the
Rescue Mission camp over the issue of succession. It is strange how Eze Madumere and Uche Nwosu have gone overboard by engaging in political stunts just to earn the backing of their boss. The danger of such open political fisticuffs is that it may spill over to serious unpalatable events and incidents in the Rescue team if Okorocha does not wade in immediately and select whom he feels he should support from his camp for the 2019 governorship election.
This was the ordeal of former Governor of Imo State, Achike Udenwa. Because he was “dilly- dallying” on the issue of succession, tossing and tumbling on who takes over from him from his Redemption camp,he ended up consumed by those political fireworks that came from the opposition which led him to a compromise in adopting Ikedi Ohakim as Governor.
*Ugwumba Uche Nwosu
Chief Of Staff,
Government House, Owerri,
A repeat scenario is on the offing. The ongoing political altercations between Eze Madumere and Uche Nwosu has clearly shown that if Okorocha fails to intervene and “anoint” his successor in his camp, then things may get politically messier for his Rescue Mission crew. With divided alignments on the ambition of the duo by officials of the State government including members of the Imo State House of Assembly, it is visible that the walls of division are expanding in the Rescue Mission and may even collapse if there is no quick intervention by the Governor.
When discordant tunes begin to emanate from a church choir, then the choir instructor is not good enough or the choir members have refused learn. If youth summits and protests are stage managed by these contenders from the same camp just to get the attention of their boss on their guber ambitions, then it is evident that there is rancour in the House and if left to soar may lead to the dismemberment of the camp even before the polls.
Aside the issue of who gets Okorocha’s pat on the back which has become the pastime of Madumere and Nwosu, what should be of paramount concern to them is not who Okorocha chooses as his successor but how does such a “chosen one” confront the mounting opposition that will rear its head at the polls. Only the sophisticated Imo electorate have an answer to this mind boggling question.
OPARA LIVES IN OWERRI
