Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Senator Ifeanyi Araraume has said he will not quit the All Progressives Congress (APC) for another party.
Reacting to speculation that he has dumped the APC, Araraume told newsmen in Abuja, yesterday, that “there is no iota of truth in the report that I have left the APC. Those afraid and worried that they have lost control of the party have resorted to propaganda to discredit me. Of course, APC is my party and I am very much rooted in it. They are afraid that I am very strong in the party at the grassroots, state and national levels.
“We currently have a government that does not respect the manifesto of the party and the rule of law, so, this government must go. The proper APC government must come on board in Imo State in 2019.
“We have to fight this bad government to a standstill. That is why some of them are worried and have already started talking to Social Democratic Party (SDP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and other parties, while some are trying to revive the Action Alliance (AA).
“But, we will defeat them wherever they go. If I may ask, where am I leaving the party to? We have come to stay, and we will rather drive them out of the party because they are the impostors in the party. Don’t also forget that I was the pioneer state chairman of APP in Imo in 1998.
“Therefore, I am part of the legacy party that became the APC. Some of them, such as Governor Rochas Okorocha came into the APC alone from APGA, because APGA is still a party. They are already worried and jittery…”
The senator equally debunked a report that he walked out of the APC stakeholders’ meeting in Owerri, last Sunday.
“It is not true that we walked out of the meeting. What happened was that the National Organising Secretary, Senator Osita Izunaso, was to catch a flight to Abuja because he was going to Ekiti State to kick off the revalidation and registration of membership with the national chairman and the entire National Working Committee (NWC).
“That flight was to leave very early in the morning to Ekiti from Abuja and there was no way he would have met the flight. Bearing in mind that there is no night landing and taking off facility at the Imo Airport, he had to leave early. In fact, the representative of the governor, the deputy governor, Eze Madumere, left the same time, alongside every other person who participated in the stakeholders meeting because the meeting was over….”