The challenger of Governor Rochas Okorocha in the April 11 governorship election in Imo State, Chief Emeka Ihedioha has described as falsehood the Governor’s recent statement that Ihedioha, who is a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, could have become the Senate President if he had heeded his advice to join the All Progressives Congress, APC, ahead of the general elections.
Ihedioha, who spoke on Thursday through his media aide, Mr. Chibuike Onyeukwu, described the Governor’s claim as “a blatant lie, diversionary and indeed could only have come from a man, very well known for his penchant for falsehood.”
It would be recalled that Okorocha was quoted at a recent press conference as claiming that he personally visited Ihedioha and advised him to use the APC platform to vie for the Owerri Senatorial seat of the party in the last general election, but “Despite my candid advice to Emeka Ihedioha, he refused to accept the offer. If he accepted the offer, he could have been the Senate President in the present dispensation.”
In the Governor’s view, Chief Ihedioha’s refusal to join the APC equally rubbed off negatively on the collective interest of Ndigbo.
In his reaction, the former Deputy Speaker’s spokesman was categorical that Governor Okorocha did not visit Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha before the elections to plead with him to jettison his gubernatorial ambition.
According to him, “Although, we find the Governor’s acknowledgement of Rt. Hon. Ihedioha’s capacity to chair the National Assembly as a well known fact, we however wish to state that the statement is in its entirety false, diversionary and indeed could only have come from a man, very well known for his penchant for falsehood.
“The only time Governor Okorocha visited Chief Ihedioha was in 2013, in company of Senator Osita Izunaso, to condole with him on the death of his younger sister and there is no way they could have discussed politics during the condolence visit,” he stated.
Onyeukwu pointed out that the, “massive fraud and massive rigging” that skewed the election in favour of the APC, would have been unearthed if the election tribunal had considered the petition filed against the declaration of Okorocha as winner of the governorship election.
“Rather than fruitlessly engage in diversionary antics, Governor Okorocha should concentrate on how to address the mounting issues of hunger, over nine months of unpaid workers salary and 20 months pension arrears, industrial actions, collapsed economy and comatose state of infrastructure under his watch.”
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