APC TACKLES OKOROCHA OVER LIBELLOUS ATTACKS ON PARTY, LEADERSÂ
Governor Rochas Okorochaâs recent jibes at the All Progressives Congress, APC, has been branded âlibelousâ by the Party. The APC has lamented the attacks as it has become a daily routine by the governor to throw shades at the Party.
In a statement by Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, National Publicity Secretary of APC, âHardly a day passes by without Governor Okorocha verbally assaulting our national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and other party leaders over the recently concluded congresses in Imo State.
âIn an advertorial published on June 11, 2018 and titled in part: âLet The Truth Speak For Itselfâ which was signed by a known associate of Governor Okorocha, one Hon. Ireagwu Obioma, who styles himself as âActing Secretary, Imo APCâ, a number of false claims were made against the party.
âThe import of the allegations was that the party was aware of a court order preventing it from conducting the Imo State Congress following receipt of a copy of the so-called court injunction which directed it to maintain status quo. But nothing can be further from the truth.
The statement read further:
âA cursory look at the published court papers revealed that the party was served the so-called court rulings on May 18, 2018, while the Ward and Local Government Congresses which produced the recently inaugurated party executives from the state was held on May 5th and 14th, 2018 respectively, four days before the court ruling was issued.
âIn fact, we strongly believe that the court ruling being paraded as injunction does not serve Governor Okorochaâs interest. At the time of the ruling, a new set of party executives had been validly elected, consequently the court ruling directing that the status quo is maintained, actually means that no one should interfere with the newly elected APC party executives in the state.
âAlso in the advertorial, a so-called internal party memo was published, which purportedly showed that we were aware of the pendency of the legal issues involving the congresses in Imo and Abia states. The published âmemoâ by the agents of the Imo State Governor is fake. No such memo was generated by our Party. A casual look will reveal the inconsistency of the published document.
âIndeed Banire, our partyâs Legal Adviser and the Chief of Staff, have denounced the document as fake, stating clearly that it neither originated from him, nor signed such memo. This is therefore, a clear case of forgery borne out of desperation. We are currently seeking legal advice on how to proceed with the matter to ensure that those culpable are identified and duly punishedâ.
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