The Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, Wednesday stated that the emergence of the opposition parties' coalition, All Progressives Congress (APC), had become 'a child of necessity' at present, declaring that the emergence of APC would be in the best interest of the country's politics, democracy and Ndigbo.
The Okorocha made disclosure in Abuja, while addressing journalists after inspecting the on-going construction work of the state liaison building in the city.
While admitting that his teaming up with APC is to wrest power from the People Democratic Party (PDP) at the centre, the governor said: "It's not in doubt that I'm in APC. All Peoples Grand Alliance (APGA) is no longer the issue; we have moved beyond that and we are talking about APC now. Of course you will agree with me that there are factions of APGA; one of the factions is the one being led by me, the other one is the Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi-led faction and the one led by Chief Victor Umeh.
"On my part, we have said the formation of APC is for the better interest of Ndigbo, national politics, and democracy. Now we have a bigger party which would be a national party, that is why the APC became necessary."
Continuing, he said: "If you look at it, the Congress for Progress Change (CPC), All Nigeria's Peoples Party (ANPP), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and APGA were all regional parties. And if all these regional parties decide to form a mega party, then it is wise for every small party to join this big party knowing fully that you will be inconsequential if you remain with your tiny regional sentiment, and I think this nation should go beyond regional sentiment and talk about national sentiment and national issues."
The governor said the best option for opposition parties was the emergence of APC as a strong and viable party, adding: "Good enough, APC has come to stay.
"It's no longer in doubt whether I'm in APC or AGPA, but let it be known that people have always seen APGA as Igbo cultural party," admitting that APGA has never been a national party as it is not really a political party.
"For us, it is like an Igbo thing and for now, it is very proper that we look at it from a bigger picture that would benefit our people.
"It should be worrisome that today in Nigeria no Igbo man is the President or Vice-President, the Senate President or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chairman of a national party. None of these positions come to the Igbo man because we are not playing in the right party but in APC, we would make sure that one of these major positions comes to an Igbo man." Okorocha said.
He added that "if the late Odimegwu Ojukwu had been alive today, he will be the first person to support this merger because he was once the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of ANPP. So this idea of bringing tribal sentiments when it comes to a bigger picture of politics would not help us in this nation and that is why I commend the Buharis, and the Tinubus for giving up these regional sentiments to build a bigger party that can help rebuild our nation of our collective dream and aspiration."
On his involvement in the recent impeachment of his Deputy Governor, he however stated that he was innocent in the exercise. "It was purely the state House of Assembly matter, it was a poor situation that was not well managed, because the deputy governor is somebody that I love so much and somebody that I worked with before he became the deputy governor when he was the Commissioner for Works. That goes to show how close we were," he explained.
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