Imo State Government on Thursday declared that the spokesman of the Conference of United Political Parties (CUPP), Ikenga Ugochinyere, once more shot himself in the foot, during a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, “by exposing his own lies and confirming that he is unfit to occupy an electable public office, particularly that of representing Ideato federal constituency in the National Assembly.”

It said Ugochinyere was “a perennial attention seeker who is destroying himself politically by constantly and baselessly attacking the Imo State Governor, Sen Hope Uzodimma, just to draw attention to himself in a desperate bid to help his sagging political misadventure, and consequently urged Nigerians to discountenance his rantings.”

The State Commissioner for Information, Hon Declan Emelumba, in a statement in Owerri said Ugochinyere shot himself in the foot because “he failed all through the over one hour of his rambling to either acknowledge the brutal murder and butchering of his own local government sole administrator or to commiserate with his family, or even to include him among those he observed one minute silence for.”

The statement explained: “Ideato North where the late Sole Administrator came from, is one of the two local governments that Ugochinyere is seeking to represent in the Federal House. It is also his local government area. By this callous act of condoning the brutal murder of his own local government chairman, whilst shouting at the rooftops about the murder of his uncle and associates, has Ugochinyere presented himself as a man capable of representing Ideato people without prejudice? No. He has rather presented himself as highly unfit for the political office he seeks.”

The commissioner further recalled that the same Ugochinyere had earlier announced that there were at least 14 APC states he found involved in his allegations of voter registration fraud and added: “Now he claims that it is those he exposed in that regard that were after his life. Assuming without conceding that to be correct, the big question then is why single out Governor Hope Uzodimma? This shows that he is a liar who is irredeemably enmeshed in self contradictions.”

The commissioner wondered why a man who calls himself a lawyer can probate and reprobate at the same time all in a futile effort to rubbish Governor Uzodimma.

He disclosed that most of the allegations levelled against the government and its officials during the press conference by Ugochinyere on Wednesday were defamatory and actionable and therefore being studied by the Ministry of Justice for appropriate response.

The commissioner said since it was obvious that Ugochinyere has taken over the job of the police and DSS by claiming to have evidence from his investigation and intelligence on those after him, he should now approach the courts with his evidence. “That is the civilised thing to do and not to continue to address press conferences bankrolled by his sponsors,” he said.

On the allegation that the Governor’s SA threatened his life on phone, the statement said it was clear from even the audio he played at the press conference that the said Chinasa Nwaneri, never threatened him. “Rather what he said was that he will imprison him (Ugochinyere) for maligning his person and that was what Nwaneri tried to do by going to court.”

“On the whole there was nothing new in what he said apart from the rehash of the past meant to attract attention. It is the same old tactics; attack Uzodimma and attract attention to yourself even if it means using a bogus CUPP which no one knows the other members of the executive, including the chairman or even which political parties are members.”

The commissioner described as pathetic the constant needling of the state government by Ugochinyere just to attract cheap popularity, saying there must be a limit to his mischief.

He restated the stand of the Government that it was innocent of allegations of burning down Ugochinyere’s house.

“Our position is clear that Government has no hands in the ordeals of the man. Let him look inwards. As far as we are concerned Ugochinyere neither poses a threat to the Government nor does he worth anything politically,” he declared.

Emelumba noted that Ugochinyere knows he is an electoral liability, hence his resort to castigation of the Government to maintain a modicum of relevance.

“He is completely unelectable in Ideato, that’s why he is dragging everyone down, that's why he is seeking the disqualification of the APC candidate, that's why he is insulting the governor and even the National chairman of his own party, to acquire relevance,” Emelumba said.

He told Ugochinyere “to leave the media showmanship alone and face his campaign at the grassroots because elections are not won by press conferences.”

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