APC May Disappear With Buhari, Says Okorocha

APC May Disappear With Buhari, Says Okorocha

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

A former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, has expressed fears that his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), may not be a force to reckon with after President Muhammadu Buhari finishes his second term.

While commenting on his political battles during his tenure as governor, Okorocha said he suffered a lot of attacks and almost lost the election for sharing the same political platform with President Buhari.

Regarding the allegations that he misappropriated funds during his tenure as the governor of Imo State, Okorocha said that apart from leaving a whooping sum of N45.5 billion in state’s coffers, he can also challenge anyone who can beat his record of development projects.

Speaking in an interview with journalists in Abuja yesterday, Okorocha blamed his travails on some unnamed top leaders of the APC, whom he accused of conniving with opposition elements in his state to try to undermine him politically.

He said that despite all his contributions towards setting APC structures in the South-east, the party leadership repaid him with evil for his good deeds.

Okorocha who expressed bitterness over the ill-treatment allegedly meted out to him by his party, claimed he was instrumental to bringing in Adams Oshiomhole, as national chairman of the APC.

“If anything, the party repaid me evil for good. There was no challenge I did not face or bad name I was not called in my state. They brought in people who fought me when I was building the party at state level to fight me over the control of the party. I don’t want to talk about it but my party did not treat me well.

“I have never thought of leaving the party; but what happens next will be determined by time. My only worry is that the party may disappear with the exit of President Buhari, if the ongoing injustices are not addressed,” he said.

Speaking on his current travails in the hands of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), especially the various allegations of maladministration levelled against him by his successor, Governor Emeka Ihedioha, the senator, who is representing Orlu senatorial district, said he believed he had not done anything wrong to warrant such treatment.

He said that at present the anti-graft agency is investigating three of his organisations, including Eastern Palm University and Rochas Foundation Schools.

Okoroacha said that as far as he is concerned, the Imo State governor is only chasing shadows, adding that no one has been able to match his developmental strides in the state since the creation of the state

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