Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo, on Tuesday, advised the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC in the state, Hope Uzodinma, to drop his ambition of becoming governor for now.
DAILY NIGERIAN report that Mr Uzodinma, who is a serving Senator, had been enmeshed in a power tussle with Governor Rochas Okorocha over who becomes the next governor of Imo come 2019.
Mr Okorocha had anointed his In-law Uche Nwoso for the top job while the national leadership of the APC gave the ticket to Mr Uzodinma.
However, following recent permutations in the party, neither of the two candidates’ names had appeared in the list of candidates released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Mr Okorocha, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, advised Mr Uzodinma to quit politics to enable him to attend to the criminal charges against him.
According to him, Mr Uzodinma was only desperate to become governor in order to evade criminal trials.
“Chief Uzodinma should be advised to withdraw from the race and also quit politics to enable him to face these trials, and he can come back to politics if at the end of the trials he is not found guilty.
“Chief Uzodinma is desperate to govern Imo State through the assistance of men like Adams Oshiomhole to evade the criminal trials he is already facing.
“His idea is that once he becomes governor, he would be leveraging the immunity provision to evade these trials.
“This is the man Oshiomhole wants to govern Imo people. If Oshiomhole had asked questions, and if he was keen on APC’s victory in Imo, he would not have gone into any deal with Chief Uzodinma,” he stressed.
