By CHARLES IWUOHA

A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has appealed to the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) to sack Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma as its chairman, before he sink the party.

The former Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), made the call while reacting to the crisis emanating from the Edo State Gubernatorial Primary, which Uzodinma chaired.

A statement he Issued on Wednesday to newsmen, Okechukwu urged the Progressive Governors Forum to as a matter of urgent national importance remove Uzodinma as chairman “for the mismanagement of Edo State gubernatorial primary election which regrettably produced three candidates, a sordid scenario not befitting of a progressive party.”

Okechukwu, a foundation member of APC wondered why “Uzodimma who bungled similar assignment in Edo 2020 should be given second assignment”, and asked: “How many more malfeasance do we still expect from my big brother, before he is eased out of vital assignments?”

He posed critical questions, among which are: “How can a sane Chairman of APC Governors Forum deliberately breach the extant laws by announcing result with impunity, albeit consigned to the dust bin his elementary knowledge that it is the sole duty of the Returning Officer?

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

Continuing, Okechukwu said: “For me, it is obvious that Uzodimma seems not to understand the demands of his office as chairman 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.”

When reminded that he was one of the key early supporters of Governor Uzodinma, he agreed and said he had apologised for the grievous error and was warning the Progressive Governors Forum to avoid more grave wreckage as chameleon never changed its antics.

Enumerating the serial misfortune harvested by the Imo State Governor, Okechukwu narrated how APC’s misfortunes started with Anambra State gubernatorial primary election which Uzodimma mangled and metastasised during the party’s Congressional elections in the Southeast zone in 2022, which he pocketed.

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

The party bigwig gave summary of Uzodimma’s “woeful leadership” as follows in 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.

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