The Pacesetter Frontier Magazine

Tag: Uzodimma

  • Wike Rejects Uzodimma’s Reported Senate Presidency Ambition

    Wike Rejects Uzodimma’s Reported Senate Presidency Ambition

    Precious Nwonu, Enugu

    Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has said he will not support Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma’s reported ambition to become President of the Senate after the 2027 general elections.

    Wike made the declaration on Monday during an appearance on TVC’s Journalists’ Hangout, amid an escalating disagreement between him and some governors of the All Progressives Congress over political arrangements ahead of the 2027 elections.

    The FCT minister also alleged that Uzodimma was seeking to influence the emergence of senators and members of the House of Representatives who could support his reported bid to lead the Senate.

    According to Wike, some APC governors were attempting to determine which lawmakers would emerge from the 2027 elections, a move he linked to the reported Senate presidency ambition.

    “He wants to run for Senate president, and what he does is to say to his colleagues, let us be the ones, governors, to produce the senators and members of the House of Representatives,” Wike said.

    Wike further alleged that some politicians who were denied tickets during the APC nomination process had moved to other political platforms to contest the 2027 elections.

    He argued that lawmakers who emerged through alternative platforms would not necessarily be obliged to support Uzodimma’s reported ambition.

    The disagreement is unfolding amid tensions over Wike’s Rainbow Coalition, a cross-party political arrangement he has been promoting ahead of the 2027 elections.

    Uzodimma, who chairs the Progressive Governors Forum, has been among the APC governors opposing political arrangements that they believe could affect the party’s candidates or its electoral interests.

    The Progressive Governors Forum recently said it would not support alliances or political arrangements capable of undermining President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid or the APC’s candidates in the 2027 elections.

    Wike, however, has maintained that his Rainbow Coalition is not an APC structure and has argued that political parties should remain free to field candidates for legislative and governorship elections while the coalition works to support Tinubu’s presidential bid.

    His latest comments have brought the reported Senate presidency ambition of Uzodimma into the wider political dispute, although the eventual leadership of the Senate after the 2027 elections will depend on the composition of the National Assembly and the subsequent choice of senators.

    Uzodimma has not, in the reports reviewed, publicly confirmed that he will contest for the Senate or formally declared a bid to become Senate President.

  • Imo APC crisis: Okorocha and Uzodimma faction lay claim on chairmanship

    Crisis is brewing among the members of the Imo state chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, as Daniel Nwafor, led faction, loyal to former governor Rochas Okorocha said he would still conduct the activities of the APC in the state, as the chairman.

    Nwafor’s statement came through his Acting Publicity Secretary, Micheal Anyanwu, on Monday in Owerri, while reacting to the statement by Macdonald Ebere’s camp jubilating that Ebere “is now the authentic chairman of APC in Imo.”

    Nwafor boasted that “We implore the National leadership of our great party to respect and uphold the democratic ethos, norms and values of for which our party is renowned.

    “While we are not perturbed by the triviality jamboree and fanfare of February, 3, it is important to clarify that the authentic, duly elected legally recognised and competent chairman of our great party in Imo State remains Daniel Nwafor.”

    “Existing judgements delivered by courts of competent jurisdiction in favour authenticated the Nwafor- led State Working Committee as the properly constituted and lawful leadership and executives of our great party in the State.

    “The judgement unless upturned by the supreme court is still standing. And ruled that not even the NEC of our party can truncate our lawful tenure until completed,” Nwafor said.

     

    (Vanguard)

  • Clash Between Uzodimma and Okorocha, Imo statemen sue for peace

    Some Imo elder statesmen have expressed concern over the face-off between Governor Hope Uzodimma and Senator Rochas Okorocha, with a call on citizens not to allow the tension degenerate into breakdown of law and order.

    Okorocha, who is the Senator representing Imo West at the National Assembly, was arrested on the order of the state government for forcibly breaking into a property the government had sealed.

    Okorocha had reportedly led his group to the Royal Spring Palm Hotel and Apartments sealed last Friday by Imo Sate Government, cleared the security vehicles mounted in front of the entry to guard against trespassers, destroyed the padlock that sealed the property and moved in with his supporters.

    The multiple storey building, located in the Akachi axis was allegedly built by Nkechi, wife of the former governor.. It was gathered that last Friday, the state’s Commissioner for lands, Enyinnaya Onuegbu, had led some government officials to seal the premises in compliance with the recommendations of a judicial panel set up by Governor Hope Uzodimma that looked into lands illegally acquired between 2006 and May 2019.

    The face-off that ensued led to the arrest of the former governor and his 14 supporters by the police. By Monday, the police arraigned Okorocha’s supporters in court where they were granted bail in the sum of N70 million by Magistrate B.U Adike. Okorocha was not arraigned.

    But, in a statement on the incident, a group of elder statesmen under the auspices of Concerned Imo Elder Statesmen condemned what they referred to as “Senator Okorocha’s unlawful entry into the premises of Royal Spring Palm Estate already taken possession of by the Imo State government after due process, as outlined above.”

    The statement was endorsed by the Obi of Obinugwu, Eze C.I. Illomuanya, Chancellor, Federal University, Birinin Kebi, Kebbi State; Chief Ralph Obioha (Okpuruisi Zuruoha II); Rt. Hon Maxwell Duru (Omeudo Okigwe); Prince Lemmy Akakem (Okpata Ozuoha of Owerri) and Chief (Sir) Simon Udunka, a Commissioner under Governor Sam Mbakwe.

    The elders equally condemned Senator Okorocha’s action of personally leading unauthorized persons to break into the property, knowing full well that such an action is tantamount to challenging the authority of security agents that were lawfully deployed to guard the property; and that any possible clash arising there from may lead to a breach of public  peace.

     

     

    Source: sunnewsonline.com

  • I Sent Military to Prevent a Repeat of the End SARS Protest and not to Crush my People – Uzodimma

    Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma on Tuesday defended the airstrike in Orlu, saying it was not meant to “crush” his people but to prevent a repeat of last October’s #EndSARS protests in the state.

     

    Uzodimma explained that protests and the escalation of criminal activities that trailed the #EndSARS protests necessitated his invitation of the military.

     

    He particularly said the situation within Orlu axis had gone beyond what could be handled locally.

     

    The governor spoke with reporters after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.

     

    It was however unclear if the President summoned Uzodimma over his feud with the lawmaker representing Imo West Senatorial District, Owelle Rochas Okorocha as well as the military operation in Orlu or not.

     

    Read Also: Senator worried over hovering helicopters in Orlu

    Nigerian Air Force jets had last week raided parts of Orlu suspected to be hideouts of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the security arm of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

     

    Although IPOB denied the arrest of any of members in Orlu, The Nation gathered that nine ESN operatives were remanded last week at a correctional centre by Owerri Magistrate Court 16 for murder.

     

    Uzodimma, who fielded questions from the State House reporters said: “Well, the issue of bringing the military to Imo state is simple. You recall, during the #EndSARS protests that a lot of properties were damaged in Imo State; police stations were burnt down, soldiers were killed and their rifles removed from them.

     

    “And immediately after the #EndSARS, we thought it was over. Then, issues of kidnapping came. You know a Catholic bishop was kidnapped and killed. And these militants came out and began to shoot. We’ve lost lives, market women were killed, old women were raped in Orlu area and they visited this serious terror on the citizenry.

     

    “I came here (Presidential Villa), pleaded with Mr. President for his support and he sent additional police support. The military also came in.

     

    “It was on my invitation that the military came. And I did that because I know the situation was beyond the local arrangement. We needed help and it was given to us.

     

    “I speak to you, the situation has come down to normal. People are now going about their businesses. And those caught will soon be charged to court. And all those military riffles, AK 47 and so on were recovered by the people that came.

     

    “As a government, it is our responsibility to protect lives. We had security challenges and we invited the military.”

     

    The governor also rejected insinuations that he used the military to pound his people, unlike some of his colleagues negotiating with bandits to solve their security problem.

     

    According to him, he did not use the military to ‘crush’ people in Orlu, but to restore normalcy.

     

    He added: “It is not about crushing anybody and those that came didn’t do any crushing. Those that came through their intelligence identified where these people were and I can tell you, all the people arrested, all the rifles recovered are intact. The people are under interrogation, not even one, not even one soldier, or one of those militants died in the process.

     

    Let nobody politicise it. I have a responsibility to protect the lives of my people.”

     

    The governor said he informed “Mr. President that our government was already making progress.

     

    “Some people may be negotiating with Boko Haram but God knows if I have the opportunity to see any man who is taking lives, I will confront the person head-on. That is why we are government.”

     

     

     

    Source: www.thenationonline