...Peter Obi’s victory in Imo
The Executive Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma has reacted to the exclusion of Igbos from the Transition Committee, set up by President-elect, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu.
The 14-man transition committee of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu was arranged by the APC and the members of the President-elect. However, there was a notable exclusion of South Easterners from the list and this has caused some displeasure from people who feel the South East has not been carried along by the President-elect. Governor Hope Uzodinma in his reaction to this exclusion, stated that the decision made by the president-elect and the party was not an unusual one.
He asserted that he sees nothing wrong with the exclusion as he contended that the party had made the selection based on it calculation. He stated further that a lot of people has misconstrued this to create a false narrative that the Igbos will be eluded in the affairs of the incoming government. He upheld that it is the duty of loyal members to follow any decision taken by the party.
While Governor Hope sees nothing wrong with the transition committee, the Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi has taken an opposite stance as he argued that the APC leadership should have picked at least one Igbo man for the sake of equity and fairness.
He said, ”Every Political party in any democratic dispensation must be governed by rules. APC is the largest political party today in Nigeria. And it is a rule-driven party, People must agree to disagree sometimes. APC has an internal mechanism for resolving differences in our vast political position. Nothing unusual has happened in the choice of the transition committee, people are being economical with the truth. Once the party takes a position, every loyal member of the party is expected to follow.”
Uzodinma while speaking on his chances ahead of the Imo state governorship election, expressed confidence that APC is still in control of the state despite Peter Obi’s victory.
He stated that the Presidential election is different from the state election.
Uzodimma also pointed out that the APC had won the majority in the House of Assembly and House of Representatives. According to him, what influenced the Labour Party’s victory in Imo state was ethnicity and religion.
He said, ”We had an election in February 25th and in Imo State, we produced 2 Senators out of 3 Senators. We produced 4 members of the House of Representatives out of 7 concluded ones. And in March, we produced 25 members of the House of Assembly out of 27. Is that how to lose an election?
“The decision of who will win the election and who will not win will be taken by the Imo state people, so we are trying to talk to our people. The Presidential election is not the same as the governorship election. In a Presidential election, the results are scored according to the number of vote cast in Nigeria. APC is the party to beat in Imo state, there is an exodus of people coming to our great party. The two major factors that affected the last Presidential election are tribe and religion.”