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No doubt, the stage is set for the four-year lifespan of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Imo State to face extinction even as 2019 general elections draw nearer.

Trouble seems to have started during the build up the recent nearly inconclusive ward and Local government congresses in the state and the resultant razing down of the party office in the state by yet to be identified hoodlums or party faithful after all.

Besides, another leg of confusion in the state’s party structure may stem from Governor Okorocha’s outburst that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun of plotting to derail the party. Okorocha based his assumption on the recent confusion that engulfed the party’s ward and local government congresses.

However, key angle of the crisis rocking Imo APC is traced to the clear governor’s plan impose his son-in-law, Chief Uche Nwosu as the next party flag bearer in the 2019 election.

Whereas the state governor’s differences with Senator Ifeanyi Ararume is linked to issues bordering on who Imo APC guber candidate in 2019 elections, Owelle Rochas Okorocha’s fallout with Senator Hope Uzodinma may be traced to the way and manner the later entered the party from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with the target of returning to Senate which Governor Okorocha had earlier declared for. Both of them are from Orlu Senatorial Zone of the state while Ararume is from Okigwe Zone.

Reacting to a recent utterance of the Governor on his poor political history and party harlotry, the board member of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over the year, Governor Rochas Okorocha has been deluding himself as a political giant in the state.

The governor had noted that he will not allow Ararume to destroy APC as he did PDP.

But in a statement by his Media Adviser, Ik Ogbonna, in Owerri, Araraume said the Imo state governor has contested over 15 elections and lost all.

According to him, “Governor Okorocha deludes himself as a political giant but it is not a hidden fact that in his career, he has contested over 15 elections and lost all; governor, party chairman, senator, president etc.

“Even the 2011 governorship election in which he was declared winner was make-belief.

“In 2015, he ran for a second term but the election went into second balloting and he almost lost because of his abysmal performance in his first term.

“Prior to being finally railroaded into the office of governor in 2011, Chief Okorocha had moved from one party to another, in search of political appointments.

“Even so, he was sacked from the one he eventually got into as chairman of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, by the person who gave him the appointment; President Olusegun Obasanjo.”

Arerume’s aide averred that “Contrary to governor Okorocha’s claim that senator Araraume joined the APC just to contest for the office of the governor, the truth is that the senator was talked into joining the party by people who belong to certain political circles outside the reach of the governor.

“It was only a matter of circumstance that it was during the 2015 general elections that he finally decided to join; in his continual insistence that there must be fairness and internal democracy in politics.

“Still, the matter of when senator Araraume joined APC is clearly diversionary.

“Even if the senator joined later, especially to ensure his second term election victory, what about his deputy, Prince Eze Madumere, the state chairman of the party, Chief Hillary Eke and others who joined the party the same time with him and who are currently part of the coalition?”

In his own, Senator Hope Uzodinma, who was election under the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has given insights on why he dumped the party for the ruling APC ahead of 2019 election.

Answering an interview question bordering on the fact that he pulled out with his followers to APC based on the fact that they lost a suit at the Supreme Court, he averred that “if anybody told you we can still achieve whatever in the present PDP, that person must be a joker”.

He argued that “The PDP on ground today is a shadow of itself. It has shrunk into a regional party and that was not the dream of the founding fathers of the party. I was a foundation member of the party so I should know better. How can you protect the interest of the South-east in a regional party? It does not make any political sense to me”.

On referring my group as bad losers in PDP, “I assure you were the most patriotic group in the PDP while they were still members. After the Supreme Court judgment, we stayed on and pushed for accommodation of everybody to ensure a real family reunion of sorts”.

“That was why we hung on up to and into the national convention, hoping that it was the opportunity we needed to re-jig the party. But what happened at the convention was appalling. Rather than open the doors for everybody, those who saw the Supreme Court victory as personal victory, shut the doors against the vast majority of PDP members and produced a regional party from the convention.

“At this point, it became clear to me that the PDP had lost it and can no longer champion real national issues. So as patriots we had to look for better alternatives so we are not bad losers rather it is those who saw the Supreme Court victory as their personal victory that you can call bad winners.

Continuing, Senator Uzodinma argued that “If you look carefully, you will notice that some political forces are at play right now in the nation. Some people from the South-east are being sentimental and politics is not about sentiment but reality. In my view, the political reality on ground today is that some unseen hands are either wittingly or unwittingly taking actions and inactions that if not checked could confine the South-east further to the fringes of the national platform.

“There is an urgent need to address this squarely and let our people see the need to look beyond our noses and become part of the national build up for 2019.We do not need to complain again after the elections. This is what I am working on now. After taking care of this then one can begin to talk of the elective office I shall be seeking.

Explaining more on national building, “You see, let us be frank, in 2015 the South-east voted massively for PDP. Perhaps, we had good reasons to do so. But the truth is that our calculation failed us. At the end, the South-east was among the two geopolitical zones that did not read the mood of the nation properly, in terms of the political alliances at play. After the election was won and lost we started complaining of marginalisation.

“Now another election is around the corner and if you look carefully you will discover that the alliances of 2015 are still intact. The election of a Nigerian president has always been a product of alliances, not sentiment. So can we really afford another miscalculation and be the complainant again in 2019.

“I think the South-east should put on her thinking cap and take the right political steps for 2019. This is what I am working on right now with like minds.

While denying the trending poser that he joined APC to actualize his governorship ambition, the chairman, Senate Committee on Customs replied that “If being governor of Imo State is my only worry, I can actually achieve that from any party platform. I could have joined APGA or any other party. I can assure you that my support base in Imo State is quite formidable and I can use that to pursue a governorship ambition. But there is more at stake than just being Imo governor”. “I will not want to be a governor of Imo State while the South-east is not adequately accommodated at the Federal level. So I think the immediate task now is to reverse the relative exclusion of the South-east from the Federal Government. An assurance of that is my priority and that is what I am working on right now.