Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, yesterday, disclosed that two governors in the South-East would join the All Progressives Congress, APC, without providing names of the governors.

Speaking to journalists, during a media interaction in Owerri, the governor said: “It will be good news for us and our political future that two South-East governors will soon jump the ship and move into APC before the elections. We won’t accept the idea of a PDP governor working for Buhari presidency, while expecting us to return him as a PDP governor. It will be unfair to the party. It is either you are with us or not with us.”

Okorocha also claimed that the defections from his party, APC, by some chieftains of the party, took place two years ago but is only manifesting now, adding that political interests were responsible for the defections.

He, therefore, told Nigerians not to see the defections as a spite on APC but as alternatives to those defectors to pursue their political interests.

His words: “APC is not in crisis because those leaving the party are those who should leave. APC is still a sound and united party. We hold the president in the highest esteem because of our conviction in his leadership. Muhammadu Buhari is still the best at this point. Look at the candidates, Buhari remains the best for 2019.”

He also said that the Igbos should rewrite their political history and change the narratives with the 2019 election, stating that he was happy that the Igbos, for the first time have returned to who they are and are willing to play the right politics by making sure that President Buhari receives the right votes from the South-East.

He continued, “In the last election, the PDP in the South-East brought those sentiments of religion and tribe and sold the dummy to our people who bought it without thinking twice. We had all our eggs in one basket. And the bad politics the Igbos played reflected today in our position in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

On the issue of Prince Eze Madumere’s impeachment as Deputy Governor, Governor Okorocha said “the swearing-in of the Deputy-Governor designate was stopped by a court order. The former deputy governor was duly impeached according to the laid down rules of the constitution. He went to court praying that the new deputy governor should not be sworn-in. The court granted him the order on the claim that due process was not followed. Being a law-abiding government, we obeyed the order. So, as it stands now, the deputy governor has been impeached.”

Declares public holiday for PVC

The governor also declared Wednesday, August 15 and Thursday, August 16, 2018, as public holidays to enable indigenes to go and register or collect their Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, adding that markets and shops would also remain closed on the two days till 4 pm. He regretted that Imo has about 480,000 uncollected PVCs.

He also informed that all things being equal, President Buhari would be in the state on a three-day working visit to commission projects, stating that the problem with his administration was not commissioning projects as they came up.

The governor challenged Imo politicians like Senator Hope Uzodinma, Ifeanyi Araraume, Osita Izunaso and others to float a party if they have what it takes or do what he did in 2011 and in 2015, explaining that they are too unpopular.

•Sourced from a Vanguard report

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