By Ezeocha Nzeh
The former governor of Imo State and senator representing Imo West senatorial district, Sen. Rochas Okorocha, has noted that leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have remained a cog in the wheel of President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts to ensure good governance in the country
Okorocha, who spoke when he received the Executive and members of the Non NWC – NEC members of the party on Monday in Abuja
The former governor, who regretted that the numerous steps taken by the President to give the nation his [promised dividend of democracy have been continually frustrated by the party’s leadership
He regretted that rather than the APC leaders to help the president to offer good governance, they have pre occupied themselves with selfish ambitions of 2023
He tasked President Muhammadu Buhari to adopt the “hire and fire” mechanism to the governance of the nation if he must actualize his good governance plan for the nation and deliver his much desired dividends of democracy, stressing that the wheels of governance could move faster if persons in sensitive positions were doing as expected.
He further called on the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to, as a matter of urgency, return party to how things were at the formation stage, adding that the continuous loss of APC states to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) especially with the recent loss of Edo state has shown that the trend cannot continue.
Okorocha expressed worry over the total absence of the APC in the South-south region, even as he blamed the leadership of the party for neglecting the founding fathers of the party.
“I must say here that what works in most developed countries is hire and fire which brings discipline into the system. There is nothing as bad as persons who occupy government positions and are not working but are kept for s and basis. They should be fired to create room for those who can perform. There is nobody on earth who is Alpha and Omega, if you can’t do the job, be sure that someone can do it.
“We no longer have what I see as collective responsibility, rather we have selfish responsibility where leaders are busy thinking the next election and what positions they can occupy instead of thinking about the dividends of democracy as it should affect the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We therefore come back to the root of the problem in our party because the very people who worked for the success of the party are the ones that have been neglected, rather, those who came yesterday have taken over. This is why there is so much anger from the ward level to the national.
“Those who have been empowered have refused to empower others from the ward to the national level. The issue of empowerment is empower one person so that he can empower others but those who have been empowered now have new friends and neglected the foit soldiers and at the end of the day, it is President Muhammadu Buhari that takes the brunt.
‘” This is why I advice that we go back to the drawing board and some of this laudable projects should be extended to the party, I do not see any ward chairman and his 26 members who cannot farm under the Anchor-Borrower program. So, policies of our government are just hanging and do not get to the grassroots. Owners of our party are not participating in the running of the party.
Earlier, the leader of the group, also known as Integrity Group of the Non-NWC members of the APC, Sadiq Abubakar, insisted that the crisis currently rocking the party is the lack of a concrete reward system for loyal party members.
