Former Director General of the Voice of Nigeria and foundation member of All Progressives Congress, Mr Osita Okechukwu, has urged the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) to remove Governor Hope Uzodimma as its chairman before he “wrecks our great party”.
Okechukwu made the call while reacting to the bungling of the Edo State Governorship Primary, which was chaired by Uzodimma.
In a statement on Tuesday, the former VON DG appealed to the Progressive Governors Forum to as a matter of urgent national importance remove Uzodimma as its chairman over the mismanagement of the Edo State Governorship Primary Election which produced three candidates.
Okechukwu asked why Uzodimma who allegedly bungled a similar assignment four years ago in Edo was given another assignment.
He posed some questions including: “How can a sane Chairman of APC Governors Forum deliberately breach the extant laws by announcing result with impunity; albeit consigned to the dust bin his elementary knowledge that it is the sole duty of the Returning Officer?
“Based on the foregoing, is it appropriate for chairman of Progressive Governors Forum to abandon the more germane issue of advising Mr President alongside with other progressive governors on how best to rescue Nigeria from the dire economic doldrums, thus chasing rat while the house is burning?
“For me it is obvious that Uzodimma seems not understand the demands of his office as Progressive Governors Forum, but chooses to meddle with political assignments, which amounts to chasing rat while the house is on fire.”
According to him, the party “should take serious steps to quickly repair the monumental damage that Governor Hope Uzodimma has done to the image of our national chairman Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, whom he cajoled into endorsement of his cancelled shambolic primary election”.
Noting that he was one of the key supporters of Governor Uzodimma, Okechukwu said that though the governor had apologised for the error, the Progressive Governors Forum should avoid similar incidents.
Okechukwu narrated how Uzodimma allegedly ‘metastasised’ Anambra State gubernatorial primary election during the party’s congressional elections in the Southeast zone in 2022.
He said, “Then, as if that ugly prelude to 2023 general elections was not enough, Governor Uzodimma generated hatred, rancour, malcontents and alienated APC membership long before Peter Obi’s factor.
“The summary of Uzodimma’s woeful leadership is the 2023 presidential election results in the Southeast, which posted dismal outcomes: Abia-8,914 against 85,058 in 2019, Anambra-5,111 against 33,298 in 2019, Ebonyi-42,402 against 90,726 in 2019, Enugu-4,722 against 54,423 in 2019 and Imo-66,406 against 140,463 in 2019.”
