Beware of APC Stooges, Prof Aririguzo Warns Owerri Zone
By Austin Echefu
A Political Scientist, Prof Julius Aririguzo, who is the Coordinator of Global Good Governance Watch, a US/UNDP based election monitoring group, has advised Owerri Zone to be weary of stooges from the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He made the call while interacting with some journalists in Owerri recently.
According to him, It has become clear that one of the strategy the APC led administration in Imo State is using stooges in order to deny Owerri Zone the opportunity to govern the state.
Prof Aririguzo also revealed that another strategy APC is adopting is to sponsor many governorship aspirants from Owerri Zone extraction to make nonsense of their bid to clinch power come 2019.
He added that Owerri zone should as a matter of “political mathematical scatter diagram” equally sponsor many candidates from Orlu and Okigwe Zones for the 2019 elections to balance the political mathematic equations.
He expressed worried over the number of governorship aspirants of Mbaise extraction and Owerri Zone in general, saying that it is an indication that somebody somewhere is planting them to scuttle the Owerri Zone’s expectations of producing the next governor come 2019.
He also advised Owerri Zone to be mindful of what they are doing to avoid the mistake of a second fool, which late Dr M. I Okpara called “a proper foolish”.
He wondered why the Mbaise nation alone is having over ten candidates warming up for the 2019 Imo governorship race, suggesting that the proper thing to do is for Owerri Zone to pick one credible candidate with clout, experience, exposure, sense of maturity, humble, dynamic, visionary and wisdom, and not somebody without prerequisite experience in political administration, management of men and material.
“Owerri Zone should support core administrator and not business men who do not have the experience in political and civil administration”, he said, stressing that most of the people jostling around now are stooges planted by somebody you know very well to scatter Owerri Zone.
He recommended that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should ensure they did not compromise using the best from Owerri Zone come 2019.
He added that Owerri Zone at the moment has over twenty one governorship candidates already positioned in PDP, APGA, APC, AGAP, SDP, UPP, YDP, Labour Party, etc.
He said: “Most of these governorship aspirants are those who have been running for elections since 1999 and their stock in trade is to come out in every election, collect money from the person sponsoring them as stooges, only to destabilize the political party they were asked to ruin.
“These shameless Owerri zone politicians must be curtailed and exposed at the appropriate time before 2019. If not, good people from the zone may not be able to win elections”.
