Uncertainty still trails the outcome of last Saturday’s APC ward congresses in Imo State as Governor Rochas Okorocha has ordered the arrest and arraignment of the committee members sent to monitor the exercise.
Okorocha’s reaction came despite the position of the state chairman of the party, Dr Hilary Eke and the state organising secretary, Dr Clement Chijioke Anozie, both of who rated the exercise as successful in all the 305 wards in the 27 LGAs of the state.
Speaking with newsmen at a press conference in Owerri, on Sunday, the chairman said contrary to claims in some quarters, the exercise was later held after the initial hiccups over the whereabouts of the election materials and the mysterious disappearance of a key figure in the exercise under whose custody the election materials were.
He said he could confirm without doubt as the chairman that he did not receive any complaints from any ward about anything untoward in the exercise.
Speaking in the same vein, the organising secretary said he was in good stead to report about the success of the congresses because all the wards reported to him. He said that by Monday (today), they will publish the unofficial results pending the ratification by the NWC of the party.
He said no other person could talk authoritatively on the exercise except the NWC.
Meanwhile, Governor Okorocha has ordered for the arraignment of the members sent to conduct the exercise in the state.
The governor also charged the police to set all machinery in motion for the arrest and prosecution of the man at the centre of the ugly incident, Mr Ini Okori, who allegedly escaped from the residence of the National Organizing Secretary of the APC, Chief Osita Izunaso.
In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, the governor equally expressed regret over the role of Senator Izunaso whom he said was not able to divorce his local and personal political interests from his official responsibilities as the national organizing secretary of the APC.
The governor said the way he managed the situation saved the state from “a very big crisis” it would have been thrown into.
