Amby Uneze in Owerri
For zoning the vice presidency to the South-east in 2019, the Imo State governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of insulting the zone and wondered why the party did not consider it worthwhile to zone that of the presidency to the area.
The governor’s reaction to the PDP’s zoning formula for 2019 was like a mockery to the fact that the party could not zone such position when it was in power but only now that it had done on them that they would find it extremely difficult to win election in the South East considering the fact that they are no longer in power to determine what comes to the zone.
“For 16 years, the PDP was in power, the party never had any reason to remember that the South-east, as a major block in the country, could occupy the vice-president position or could hold any of the sensitive positions in the country, and they are just waking up from their slumber after being out of power,” the governor said.
According to him, the PDP never allowed the South-east to have the president, the vice-president, the Senate president, the Speaker of House of Representatives, and so on. The South-east totally lost out in the PDP government.
“Even in terms of projects, the South-east had a very rough experience in the PDP government. All the federal roads in the zone were all death traps until the party was voted out of power. The second Niger Bridge became endless pit for the PDP. Some oil locations belonging to some states in the zone were taken away and given to other states outside the zone. It was a hopeless situation for the zone in PDP.
“Now, they have begun to dangle or brandish the VP position before the zone because they desperately want power again. And they also know that what the zone could not get from the PDP government, they could now get from the Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government,” he said.
Okorocha maintained that the South-east would get its due from the APC administration because the party believes in fair play, justice and equity, adding that the PDP toyed with the fate of the South-east people which the APC could not do.
He said the interest to develop the South-east would be done by the APC administration, stressing further that anything due for the zone would be given to them “because the level of greed in the PDP cannot be found in APC. The APC won’t wait until it is out of power before remembering the South-east zone or any other zone. That cannot be our portion.”
Okorocha whose sentiment could be analyzed to mean so many things, however believed that his party was going to play visionary and group politics which the PDP never allowed the South-east to play, accusing few individuals in the zone of enriching themselves under PDP.
