• Says he won’t leave party for Okoroacha
Iyobosa Uwugiaren in Abuja
A strong contender in the 2019 Imo State governorship election, Senator Godwin Ifeanyi Araraume, has urged his supporters to continue to support President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the president means well for Nigeria, especially the South-east geo-political zone
Reaffirming his total loyalty to the party and President Buhari, Araraume, who is a national commissioner in the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), in a statement in Abuja yesterday, also advised leaders of the APC and supporters to ignore the speculations about his plan to leave the party, saying he was rather working seriously with his “brothers and sisters’’ to deliver the South-east geo-political zone to his party and President Buhari.
Araraume said he would not quit the APC for Governor Rochas Okorocha, saying those spreading the “falsehood’’ were afraid and worried that they had lost control of the party’s structures and now resorting to ‘’falsehood and dirty propaganda’’ to discredit him.
He added that his current assignment in Imo State is to reorganise APC, rekindle the hope of members that the party and President Buhari means well for the country, saying that in spite of the anti-people policy and programmes of the present Imo State government, the party would win future elections at all levels of government.
According to him, “I am one of the founders of APC; it is my party and I am very much rooted in it, both at the national, zonal and state levels. They are afraid that I am very strong in the party at the grassroots, state and national levels.
“We currently have a state government that does not respect the manifesto of the party and the rule of law; that does not believe that the party matters, and that those who worked for the success for the party should be carried along. So this government must go. The proper APC government must come on board in Imo State in 2019. As a matter of fact, our people are already looking beyond the current government in the state.
“We have to fight this bad and ineffectual Imo State government to a standstill. That is why some of them are worried and have already started talking to Social Democratic Party (SDP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and other parties, while some are trying to revive the Action Alliance (AA). But, we will defeat them wherever they go.’’
Senator Araraume asked: “Where am I leaving the party to? We have come to stay, and we will rather drive these people who are working against our party out because they are the impostors in the party. Don’t also forget that I was the pioneer state chairman of APP in Imo in 1998.
“Therefore, I am part of the legacy party that became the APC. Some of them, such as Governor Rochas Okorocha came into the APC alone from APGA, because APGA is still a party. They are already worried and jittery.â€
The senator equally debunked a report that he walked out of the recent APC stakeholders’ meeting in Owerri.
“It is not true that we walked out of the meeting. What happened was that the National Organising Secretary of APC, Senator Osita Izunaso, was to catch a flight to Abuja because he was going to Ekiti State to kick off the revalidation and registration of membership with the national chairman and the entire National Working Committee (NWC),’’ he stated.
“The meeting had been concluded before we left; even the deputy governor who represented Governor Okoroacha left the venue of the meeting almost the same time with us. Unlike Governor Roacha Okoroacha, I strongly believe in the party; that is why we will do everything to build the party and we are do so.’’
He advised members of party in the state not to lose hope, saying they would be carried along in the next government.
