Party Crisis: Okorocha didn’t campaign for Buhari – APC

The South East Chapter of the All Progressives Congress on Sunday said Imo State
Governor, Rochas Okorocha, did not “truly” campaign for the party and President
Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 general elections.
The spokesman for the APC in the South East, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, said this in a
statement made available to journalists in Enugu.

The statement was a reaction to a recent interview in which Okorocha blamed Igbos for
their exclusion in recent appointments made by Buhari.
In the interview, Okorocha reportedly said, “Some of the appointments we lost were
caused by our people.”
Okorocha, also in the interview, claimed that Igbo leaders refused to listen to him when
he cried like “a lonely voice in the wilderness” while urging the Igbos to embrace Buhari
and the APC.
The Imo State governor accused Igbos of putting their eggs in one basket despite his
admonitions that such a decision was unwise.
But, reacting to the interview, the spokesman for the APC in the South East,
Okechukwu, stressed that “Okorocha should take responsibility for Igbo exclusion in the
appointments, rather than passing the buck to Ndigbo.”
In the statement titled ‘Governor Rochas Okorocha neither truly campaigned for
President Buhari nor APC,’ Okechukwu said, “All one can say is that to the best of
knowledge, he (Okorocha) neither truly campaigned for President Muhammadu Buhari
nor the All Progressives Congress.
“I thinks that while we blame Ndigbo for putting all our eggs in one basket, we should
blame our leaders who genuinely didn’t campaign for President Buhari nor APC
candidates in their domain.
“I challenge Governor Okorocha to tell the world how far he assisted Senator Osita
Izunaso for his bid for Orlu Senatorial District, his own constituency, and that of
Honourables Uche Onyeguocha and Uwajumogu of Owerri and Okigwe districts
respectively.”
Noting that a little assistance from Okorocha could have earned APC two senatorial
seats and other legislative positions in the South East, Okechukwu made it clear that the
governor should blame himself first before blaming Igbos.
He stressed that Okorocha undermined the APC zoning arrangement when he decided
to contest the party’s presidential election primaries.
“This is a man some of us advised not to run against the zoning convention, that it will
deny Ndigbo the chance of producing either the chairman or the vice presidential slot
and he refused.
“He thought we are in Nollywood,” the APC zonal spokesman said.
Okechukwu said Okorocha should henceforth “desist from the blame game and accept
responsibility for the fate of Ndigbo in Buhari’s appointments.”
Continuing, Okechukwu maintained that Okorocha lied when he claimed that he was
crying like a lonely voice in the wilderness for Ndigbo to vote for Buhari.
He insisted that if Okorocha really cried like a lonely voice in the wilderness, Buhari
would have gotten at least 30 per cent of the votes cast in Imo State, and not 18 per
cent.
“If Okorocha worked for APC in the South East, how come we did not even win a single
senatorial seat in Imo and the entire zone?
“He should stop this blame game and accept responsibility for the fate that has befallen
Ndigbo,” Okechukwu said.