Ahead of the 2019 governorship election in Imo State, the Orlu Council of Elders have said they will not support any candidate from the zone, including Chief Uche Nwosu, the son-in-law of Governor Rochas Okorocha.

The elders said there must be equity and social harmony in the state.

This was even as the council pointed out that by 2019, the zone would have ruled the state for 16 years through Chief Achike Udenwa and the incumbent governor, Rochas Okorocha. It said the charter of equity signed by the three zones must be respected.

Secretary of the organisation, Prof. Nathan Uzoma, who stated this during a press briefing yesterday, in Owerri, Imo State capital, disclosed that the elders council, headed by Prof. Francis Dike (SAN), had resolved, after its general meeting last month, that there must be equity and balance in the governance of the state.

He said while the council recognises that it is the constitutional right of every Imo indigene to contest the office of the governor of the state, it is morally wrong for a zone that would be concluding 16 years in governance of the state next year, to still be clamouring to occupy the same office beyond 2019.

“The Orlu Elders Council has made it abundantly clear that it will not support any governorship candidate from Orlu in 2019 because of equity and social harmony in the state. By 2019, they would have ruled the state for 16 years and it would be wrong for the zone to be talking of producing another governor in 2019.”

He pointed out that there is a charter of equity in the state on how power is shared and those who are saying zoning is dead in the state are the same people who want the office of the President zoned to the South East in 2023.

“There is a charter of equity in the state which was signed by the three zones on how political power is shared for there to be equity and social harmony in the state.

And they have been campaigning for the re-election of President Buhari, so that South East may have the opportunity of occupying the Presidency; yet, they don’t want the same in the state.

What we want is a good and credible candidate from either Owerri or Okigwe and they will have our support because this organisation is made up of opinion leaders, the academia, professionals, businessmen and politicians across the 12 council areas of the zone and our opinion carries weight.” (Daily Sun)

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