Governor has caused the APC more setbacks - VON DG

Mr Osita Okechukwu, Director-General, Voice of Nigeria (VON) and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that the actions and inactions of Gov Rochas Okorocha has caused the APC more setbacks in the last four years in Imo and the South-East in general.

Okechukwu also advised the Imo state Governor to leave the party if he desires.

while speaking with newsmen at the APC national secretariat in Abuja on Monday, he said that the APC would win the 2019 elections without Okorocha.

He said recent development that made the governor to loose at party´s just concluded congresses was a grand plan to reposition APC toward winning elections in the South-East.

“At least there are more than 60 political parties now, Okorocha is free to join any one of his choice, though, we are not forcing him to leave.

"What we are saying is that we have taken the leadership out of his hands because he is playing God; so, what I am saying is that he is at liberty to leave APC.

"But let nobody anywhere think that the APC will lose because we have retrieved the party from him, Mr president is going to get more votes, we are going to win more parliamentary seats, more governorship seats without him,” he said.

He noted that over 90 per cent of the leadership and membership of the APC in the South-East were against Okorocha and his style of governance.

However, Dr Toe Ekechi, Convener of APC Restoration Coalition in Imo, said they would rather prefer that Okorocha remains in the party than leave.

"Rochas Okorocha is the governor of Imo, I think there is joy in heaven when ones’ lost sheep is found.

“We will be most joyous to see our governor Rochas Owelle Okorocha come back to the fold and work with us as a family to ensure the success of APC in 2019.

"That is not taking away the fact that he has the right to make political decisions that suits him, but in terms of what we want we wish that we work with him.

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"I will not want it to degenerate to that extent, not necessarily in the interest of the party but in his own interest and I think he is a smart governor and won’t want to contemplate leaving APC," he said.

He expressed confidence that even if the governor decided to leave the party, the coalition was prepared to sustain the APC in Imo.