Okorocha says only God can help APC win Imo governorship election

Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, believes it would take divine intervention for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to win the 2019 Imo State governorship election.

Okorocha said it'll be hard for the party to market its candidate, Senator Hope Uzodinma, to the state because of his problematic political history.

In a statement signed by his spokesperson, Sam Onwuemeodo, on Wednesday, December 19, 2018, Okorocha said God himself would have to talk to the Imo people for Uzodinma to win.

He said, "It would require God talking from heaven and telling Imo people, 'Chief Hope Uzodinma is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased' before Imo people could consider changing their minds. If not, Imo people know those who cannot be their governor. Chief Uzodinma knows this fact and he should stop using the governor to deceive his sponsors."

The governor has long been a vocal opposition to Uzodinma's candidacy, preferring instead that his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, succeeds him as he approaches the end of his second term in 2019.

Despite the open hostility between both parties, Okorocha said he's not the lawmaker's problem. He pointed to the candidate's alleged $12.5 million contract fraud being probed by the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property.

He said, "Chief Uzodinma's problem is self-inflicted. Imo people who are going to vote on election day know him and he has the choking problem of how to convince them to vote for him to become their governor.

"The latest story on the APC candidate is that he has been banned from travelling out over allegation of treasury looting. It was not Okorocha who slammed the travel ban on him.

"The case is in court over $12.5 million contract. That does not concern Rochas. He is in court for asset declaration issue. That has also nothing to do with Rochas."

The governor further noted that there are stronger candidates in other parties who can easily defeat Uzodinma at the polls in 2019. Okorocha's preferred candidate, Nwosu, recently dumped the APC for the Action Alliance (AA) and will be contesting next year.

Okorocha concluded that despite the trouble with Uzodinma's candidacy, it'll be easy to sell President Muhammadu Buhari to the Imo people as the 76-year-old contests for re-election next year.

"It is going to be easy to market Muhammadu Buhari and some other Candidates of the party," he said.