Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, has been called upon to soften his stance, be more accommodating, stop seeing and treating other members of the party who made tremendous sacrifices and contributed immensely to his controversial emergence as the duly elected Governor of the state, through the Supreme Court, as captives and prisoners of war, whose views and opinions are inconsequential.
The South East Youth Integrity Group, comprising youths and chieftains who are mostly grassroots mobilizers of the party, stated this in a letter they addressed to the Governor, signed by Chika John Uzondu and Comrade Martins Oputa, as Chairman and Secretary respectively.
The group that comprises of founding youth leaders of the party expressed reservation about how the Uzodinma led government has sidelined and dislodged the founding members of the party whose actions and inactions paved the way for the Governor to win the party’s primary election and eventual emergence as the duly elected Governor of the State.
They reminded the Governor that, even if he thinks that he emerged through his personal efforts and those of his friends and associates, “if some people had not sacrificed time and resources to build and sustain the party before and within the seven months of the Ihedioha administration, he would not have had anybody to celebrate his controversial victory through the Supreme Court with.
They also wondered why Governor Uzodinma is exhibiting such high level of ingratitude by not appreciating and recognizing the glaring inputs of members of the Imo APC Coalition led by the former Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere, Dr T.O.E Ekechi, George Eche and others who shunned their juicy positions and paraphernalia of office to reject and outrightly resist Governor Okorocha’s choice of Uche Nwosu as successor, stressing “that if not for their frontal battle with Okorocha, you would not have had our party’s ticket, what more becoming a Governor including procuring a court order that invalidated Uche Nwosu’s governorship ambition and cleared the coast for the National Working Committee of our great party to recognize you as the governorship candidate, against all odds, remember also that your candidacy was given legitimacy when six out of the Coalition aspirant endorsed the controversial Gulak report on the Imo APC governorship primaries”.
They expressed dismay that, “instead of showing gratitude to all these founding members and leaders of the party, they are scorned, isolated and treated with disdain by you aides, appointees and top government functionaries who are mainly members of Camp Hope and a splinter group of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who have hijacked the structures of governance in the state to the detriment of genuine members who stood in defence of the party’s interests even when it was most unpopular to do so”.
The youths also expressed unpleasant surprise that Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, who after spending huge sum of money in his governorship bid, quickly aligned with Governor Uzodinma’s victory at the Supreme Court along with his numerous supporters is also being subjected to the same derogatory treatment.
They urged the Governor to rethink some of his actions, stop humiliating and treating founding members of the party with disdain and desist forthwith from running a government of exclusion to avoid creating friction, disharmony and polarizing the party as these will affect it’s fortunes in the forthcoming Imo North Senatorial election and the general election in 2023.
Continuing, the letter said, “It is unfortunate that some people believe that you have the erroneous and misleading impression that all Imolites irrespective of status are now prisoners of war that you have conquered and made irrelevant, hence you act and operate the way you do. As the leader of the party in the state, you are expected to play a fatherly role by bringing all contending parties to the round-table for amicable settlement. It is a minus on your part that the crises in the state chapter of the party that may expose the party to risk of avoidable litigations as regards primaries and nomination processes has lingered months after your assumption office as Governor of the state”.
They urged the Governor “to take urgent steps to address the issues raised our members in Imo State and to revitalize our party’s formidable structures for optimal performance whenever the need arises”.
