Okorocha donates campaign structure to Ararume
By Ezeocha Nzeh
The listing of Senator Ifeanyi Araraume by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the December 5 Imo North Senatorial District bye – election has created a sharp division in the ranks of the National Caretaker and Extra Ordinary Convention Committee of the party
Sources close to the committee revealed to The AUTHORITY that members of the Committee are divided over the candidature of Senator Ararume and Hon. Frank Ibezim for the Senatorial election.
It was gathered that while the former President of the Senate, and vice chairman of the committee, Senator Ken Nnamani, is supporting Governor Uzodimma’s preferred candidate, Ibezim, some other members are backing Senator Ararume for the ticket of the party, while others have prefered the party remains neutral in the matter.
Ibezim was declared the winner of the ticket at a controversial APC primaries, but a Federal High Court in Owerri, Imo State later declared Ararume as the winner of the primaries on the grounds that Ibezim was disqualified from contesting the primaries by the Screening and Appeals panel.
Meanwhile, in a show of support to Senator Araraume, former governor of Imo state and senator representing Imo West Senatorial District, Rochas Okorocha has donated his campaign structure, “Rescue Mission,” to the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Imo North Senatorial District By-election.
Special Adviser to Okorocha on media, Sam Onwuemeodo, in a statement made available to the media in Abuja, quoted Okorocha as saying, “the Rescue Mission Political Structure would work with the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state and other political structures, including the Destiny Organization, to ensure that Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, the APC Candidate in the Imo North Senatorial Bye-election wins the election resoundingly.”
According Onwuemeodo, Okorocha disclosed this during a meeting with his former Commissioners, APC State Executives and selected leaders from each of the Local Governments in the state,
He regretted that Senator Araraume didn’t take his advice in 2019 when he had told him to go for the Senate and that, if he had taken that advice, he would have become the Deputy Senate President.
Onwuemeodo said, “the former governor also explained that the decision to work assiduously for the victory of Senator Araraume in the bye-election, does not mean the collapse of the individual’s political structures, adding that after Araraume’s victory, the structures would return to their respective bases.
According to he statement, “the Chairman of the Senate committee on Culture and Tourism equally called on Governor Hope Uzodinma, not to take his quietness or peaceful dispositions for granted, stating that he has remained quiet in the face of insults and blackmails, in the interest of the State.
“He thanked his former appointees, and all the members of the Rescue Mission Political family, for their steadfastness.”
