‘You Intentionally Breached Law’ — APC Founding Member Blasts Uzodimma Over Edo Guber Primary

A foundation member of All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, has called on the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) to remove Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, as its chairman.

Okechukwu made the call while reacting to Uzodimma’s handling of the Edo State gubernatorial primary election which produced three aspirants as candidates.

The chieftain, who expressed his concerns in a statement released on Wednesday in Abuja, wondered why Uzodimma was entrusted with the assignment.

“For the mismanagement of Edo State Gubernatorial Primary election which regrettably produced three candidates, a sordid scenario not befitting of a progressive party.

“Uzodimma who bungled a similar assignment in Edo 2020 should be given a second assignment?” he asked, adding “How much more malfeasance do we still expect from my big brother before he is eased out of vital assignments?”

Okechukwu alleged breach of election laws and accused Uzodimma of announcing results against the established procedures. He questioned the appropriateness of the chairman focusing on political assignments while neglecting crucial national issues.

“How can a sane Chairman of APC Governors Forum deliberately breach the extant laws by announcing results with impunity, albeit consigned to the dustbin his elementary knowledge that it is the sole duty of the Returning Officer?

“Based on the foregoing, is it appropriate for the chairman of Progressive Governors Forum to abandon the more germane issue of advising Mr President alongside other progressive governors on how best to rescue Nigeria from the dire economic doldrums, thus chasing rat while the house is burning?

“For me, it is obvious that Uzodimma seems not to understand the demands of his office as chairman of Progressive Governors Forum, but chooses to meddle with political assignments, which amounts to chasing rat while the house is on fire.

“Moreover, our party should take serious steps to quickly repair the monumental damage that Governor Hope Uzodimma has done to the image of our national chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, whom he cajoled into endorsement of his cancelled shambolic primary election,” he said.

When reminded of his previous support for Uzodimma, he acknowledged the error and expressed concern about further damage to the party.

He further enumerated a series of misfortunes attributed to Uzodimma, he also pointed to incidents in Anambra State’s gubernatorial primary and the Southeast zone’s congressional elections in 2022.

He emphasized the need for the party to avoid more wreckage and criticized Uzodimma for generating hatred and rancor within the APC, while highlighting the dismal results of the 2023 presidential election in the Southeast, attributing the outcomes to Uzodimma’s leadership.

“Then, as if that ugly prelude to the 2023 general elections was not enough, Governor Uzodimma generated hatred, rancour, malcontents, and alienated APC membership long before Peter Obi’s factor.

“The summary of Uzodimma’s woeful leadership is the 2023 presidential election results in the Southeast, which posted dismal outcomes: Abia- 8,914 against 85,058 in 2019, Anambra- 5,111 against 33,298 in 2019, Ebonyi-42,402 against 90,726 in 2019, Enugu- 4,722 against 54,423 in 2019 and Imo- 66,406 against 140,463 in 2019,” Okechukwu stated.