■ I made you gov in 2015, Senator replies

Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri

Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha has vowed that he will not allow Senator Ifeanyi Araraume and  others in the newly formed Coalition of the All Progressives Congress(APC) in the State destroy the party just like they did with other parties.
He equally stated that he will not allow the coalition, including, former Governors Ikedi Ohakim and Achike Udenwa distract him from the scheduled elections in the state.

The governor who stated this in a statement he issued through his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo noted that in 1998, Araraume was the pioneer State Chairman of All Peoples Party (APP), in the state and before the 1999 election, he abandoned the APP after Chief Arthur Nzeribe demanded for accounts of the party. He claimed that the confusion that followed, created a big crack and caused the end of the party in the state.

His words “Chief Evan Enwerem took him to PDP and ensured that he was given the ticket for Okigwe Zone Senatorial seat and assisted him to win. That was in 1999 and then 2003. And since 2003 he has never won any other election and will never win.

“In 2007, he fought Chief Achike Udenwa in the PDP so much that, few days to the 2007 election the party could not have a governorship candidate. The Supreme Court later declared him (Araraume) candidate of the PDP, making Udenwa to file behind Ikedi Ohakim of the PPA and he won”

Explaining further, he said that “Chief Araraume pursued Ohakim from the tribunal to the Supreme Court and he made sure Ohakim never drank water and drop the cup. At the end, he created so much bad blood in the PDP that the party became a shadow of itself. In 2011, he moved to ACN and became the governorship candidate of the party. Chief Ohakim, the incumbent then, was the candidate of the PDP, while Rochas Okorocha was the candidate of APGA. At the end of the 2011 election, Owelle Okorocha won, while Araraume could not win even his Isiala Mbano Local Government.

“In 2015, he moved back to PDP. At the primary of the party, Chief Emeka Ihedioha won by defeating him. He went to court against Ihedioha and was in court till the elections were conducted and won. It was during the supplementary election that he began to come closer to APC, to achieve his aim of destroying PDP finally.

Few weeks after his entry into APC, he declared for governorship because that is the only weapon he uses to destroy parties. He never talked about how to assist the party but only his ambition. To achieve his aim of destroying APC, he recruited few other ambitious elements in the party and they call themselves coalition”

Governor Okorocha also alleged that Araraume “was among those who accused Rochas of giving money to some Igbo youths to be converted to Islam” He added that as at the time he joined the merger that gave birth to APC, nobody believed it was going to work out. Hope Uzodinma , he claimed “was among the PDP big men who invaded Imo with soldiers during the 2015 election”
Meanwhile, the  Director of Contact and Mobilisation for Araraume’s Campaign Council, Chief Vitalis Ajumbe has claimed that

Araraume has more structure in the party than Governor Okorocha.
Ajumbe also claimed that in 2015, Governor Okorocha’s victory was because Arararume collapsed his structure into APC to enable the governor win a second term.