The winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary for Imo State, Uche Nwosu, has described the decision by the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole to substitute his name with that of Senator Hope Uzodinma as the governorship candidate as a violation of subsisting Court Order and unacceptable.
Nwosu insisted that he remains the authentic candidate of the party, irrespective of Oshiomhole’s announcement that he has forwarded Uzodinma’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the party’s candidate.
According to Nwosu, his candidacy is secured and cannot be truncated by the National Chairman or any other person, vowing that he will never abandon the mandate given to him by the party members to be their governorship candidate for the 2019 election.
He expressed disappointment over Oshiomhole’s action, adding that his statements and antics did not give hope to young people who hitherto had always looked up to him.
“My mandate is still intact, I still remain the candidate of the APC, I am very much shocked with the National Chairman who is speaking from the both sides of his mouth as a man of that age I thought he would have been upright.
“I am shocked that a man who has attained that age and who we should look up to as our role model has become somebody who many of us can no longer see as a role model again. I am shocked at the attitude of the National Chairman which does not give hope to young people that mostly look up to him for years”.
Nwosu however dismissed insinuations that he is defecting from the APC to pursue his ambition in another party, noting that he cannot abandon his mandate for any other party.
He said, “I will not leave APC, I still remain the authentic candidate of that party, I still have a valid Court Oder restraining the party from submitting any other name and also restraining INEC from accepting any other name other than my name and the matter is in Court, so if they go anywhere and got another Court Order without knowing that there is a subsisting Court Order that must have been done that in error, so the fact remains that I am the candidate of APC, it is just for a while and I will take up my mandate, I don’t have in mind to leave the mandate I already have for another party”.
Nwosu clarified further that, “the insinuation by the National Chairman that my ambition suffered setback because of the ambition of the Governor Rochas Okorocha is not true, my name is Ugwumba Uche Nwosu and not Rochas Okorocha, I am from Nkwerre Local Government Area, while he is from Ideato South LGA, there are two different things, if he has ambition to run for Senate and I have ambition to run for governor, so it doesn’t tally at all.
“After all Oshiomole’s son is a member of the Edo State House of Assembly, who he nominated and he is the Chairman of the party and he is saying that Okorocha’s Senatorial ambition scuttled my governorship, he is a man that is supposed to speak rightly and not deceive the people on air. I saw him on the Television when he was talking from both sides of his mouth, it is a pity that APC could have such a man as its National Chairman, I condemn his action and it is not acceptable”.
He submitted further that, “the same Ibrahim Agbabiaka Committee that conducted the governorship primary that Oshiomole is referring to as purported, is still the same Committee that conducted the National and State Assembly primaries, so how can you jettison the report of that same Committee”.
He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the National Chairman of the party to order, stressing that his actions, especially as it bothers on the party’s primaries, may affect the victory of the party in 2019.
Meanwhile Nwosu urged his supporters to remain steadfast, adding that, “we are not deterred, I am still in the race, if Oshiomhole thinks that he is a tin god at the secretariat that he can truncate people’s ambition, then my answer to him is that he is not God, he cannot stop my ambition, he cannot stop a divine mandate, he cannot stop the mandate of the people.
“I want to assure my teeming supporters that we are on the right course, not even Oshiomole can stop us, we are the right candidate and we will emerge victorious at the end of the day. I am very confident that I will be the next governor of the state in 2019”.