"APC ROBS IMO TO PAY ROCHAS"

While Nigerians who hunger for change have been hoping that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan would effect that change and in event of his hesitation in rapid activation of the much desired change had hoped that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would actually effect the much desired change owing to their heavily publicized gospel of change the All Progressives Congress may have dimmed these hopes by their recent machinations. Thus, these hopes seem to be truncated by recent developments in the APC following the sudden giving of the party's governorship ticket to Governor Owelle Rochas after losing woefully to General Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential primaries. The preponderance of speculations before now has been that Gen. Buhari in fear of losing to Alh. Atiku Abubarkar had in concert with Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu arranged for Gov. Rochas, Gov. Kwankwaso and Mr sam nda isaiah to join the race in other to foil Atiku's chances of gathering votes from their respective constituencies especially where delegates from those constituencies would ordinarily choose Atiku over Gen. Buhari. And this may not be too far from the truth as it has been revealed that the APC has collected its governorship ticket in Imo state which it initially issued to Gov Owelle Rochas' son in law and former Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development - Chief Uche Nwosu to hold in trust for his father in law. This was done in order to deny other eligible and neutral aspirants from getting it while Gov. Rochas ran Buhari's errand. Now, while the presidential primaries was going on Gov. Rochas arranged for the Governorship form to be filled in his name (that is if it was not filled long before now) and barely hours after Gen. Buhari was declared winner of the APC's presidential primaries the Imo state chapter of the party declared Gov. Owelle Rochas Okorocha the new flag bearer of the party for the gubernatorial election stating that it has the powers to exchange names and/or persons who they want to bear the party's ticket. As a result of this, many Nigerians are beginning to lose interest in the much acclaimed change and transparent democracy of the All Progressives Congress. It would be recalled that as much as the APC vilifies and criticizes the ruling Peoples' Democratic Party for not being democratic and transparent in its activities and leadership the APC itself has been faulted on this same grounds regarding its state primaries this year and those conducted under the auspices of ACN, CPC and ANPP in the past. Even the statements by APC members today commending the just concluded third convention of the party as the first and only free and fair primaries ever in Nigeria seem to discredit their previous primaries and convention in the same breath.
However, it appears that the most alarming of all is the shenanigans surrounding the sudden "seize and award" pattern used in collecting the ticket from the first candidate to give to Gov Rochas at his behest and capriciously so thereby raising questions as to whether there was no closing date for sales and return of forms as well as screening which the governor did not attend because the fact that he attended the screening for presidential primaries does not automatically qualify him for governorship being that the panels are ordinarily two different panels. This is indeed a travesty of the very democratic ideals that the APC claim to promote. As a result of this many Imo state voters are beginning to see their governor as a desperate if not confused politician who would do anything to remain in the corridors of power and have on that note resolved not to vote him into power again for abandoning the state to seek personal interest. To some it is a shame that APC had reduced the Governorship of the state to a family property which a father in law would give to his son in law to hold in trust for him while he goes hunting only to return to collect it back after the hunt. This of course does not go without ripples as some of them have equally resolved not to vote APC in the 2015 polls because they fear the party may just be hypocritical all this while and that if it could pull such ruse with Imo state who knows what I could do with Nigeria as a whole?
OKPO EWA EDMUND ESQ.
HUMANITY CHAMBERS
260 IDORO ROAD, UYO AKS HQR
ABUJA OFFICE:SUITE 4. BRICKCITY KUBWA. FCT.
@okpoewa