The Office of the Deputy President of the Senate has reacted to the statement by the Governor of Imo State, Mr. Rochas Okorocha, wherein he claimed that the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, relocated to Imo State during the inconclusive Imo North Senatorial District re-run election, in a bid to influence the outcome in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Loading ...In a statement issued by the Special Adviser (Media) to the Deputy President of the Senate, the Office said it would have “allowed the governor to continue to wallow in his delusions and wild claims, but, considering the fact that this is the second consecutive statement by the governor in one week wherein he attempted to impugn the integrity and democratic credentials of the Office and person of the Deputy President of the Senate, we are being compelled to set the record straight”.
Continuing, Mr. Anichukwu said: “The Deputy President of the Senate visited Imo State for the last time in 2015. It is also instructive that the governor’s claim comes on the heels of another statement by some All Progressives Congress (APC) elements in Ezeagu Local Government Area on Sunday where they whined bitterly over the huge solidarity shown by the good people, stakeholders, and traditional rulers of Enugu State to Senator Ekweremadu during his annual Ikeoha Scholarship and Bursary Awards/Adult Literacy Day at the Council headquarters on the same Saturday, June 23, 2016.
“For the same party to also claim that the same Ekweremadu who was empowering his people at Ezeagu in a well reported event on the same Saturday was also in in Imo State at the same time to influence election is just another showcase of the buffet of lies, deceit, and confusion that has become the order of the day in the ruling party”.
He advised Governor Okorocha and other APC leaders in the South East zone to “preoccupy themselves with ending the invasions and killings by purported herdsmen, gross marginalization of Ndigbo in the distribution of opportunities and the blessings of democracy as well as the worrisome trend of inconclusive elections”.
Mr. Anichukwu said Governor Okorocha’s statement also showed poor understanding of the workings of the legislature, noting that Ekweremadu was not perturbed in any way by the wishful prospects of an APC Senator of South East extraction.
“The Senate has a ranking rule, and if Okorocha was not able to secure a principal office, even Deputy Majority Whip for the two House of Representatives Members from Imo State, it is left to imagination how he would be able to appoint a Deputy President for the Senate. He is on a wild goose chase”.
