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Dickson Okafor
Member, representing Okigwe South Federal Constituency of Imo State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the House of Representatives, Chike Okafor, has said that the ruling party (APC) has been unfair to Senator Rochas Okorocha.
He also spoke on other issues in this interview.
What actually happened during the election and how were you able to reclaim your mandate?
I will describe what happened to me as a conspiracy by few individuals to hijack my mandate. It began like a child’s play when one Mrs. Uzoma Chioma Mary Ann instituted a litigation at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja. This is in spite of the fact that she has largely remained faceless as all enquiries made in the three council areas which include, Ehime Mbano, Ihitte Uboma and Obowo that make up Okigwe South of her whereabouts proved abortive because nobody seems to know who she is. Not even my coordinators in the 31 wards and 75 autonomous communities in the federal constituency know her. None of them has any inkling as to who she is as she did not campaign anywhere within the constituency and she never participated in the primary election of APC. In her suit, she challenged my candidacy saying I was not validly nominated by the APC and that ignited the legal action that threw up the Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba as member representing the Constituency in clear controversial circumstance. She knew that I and not Nwajiuba was the candidate of the APC for the federal constituency seat and deliberately did not make him a party to the suit, hence the order made by the judge on April 29, 2019 was made without jurisdiction. It was made well outside the 180 days permitted by the 4th alteration to the 1999 constitution for the trial court to conclude pre-election matters. So, I had to appealed the judgment and coincidentally I got an order from an Abuja division of the Court of Appeal on May 10, 2019 which nullified the judgment of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that produced Nwajiuba as the representative of the constituency. It automatically made me the authentic member representing the constituency few days after Nwajiuba had resigned his membership of the House of Representatives as Minister designate.
But aside Mary Ann, other aggrieved APC aspirants in the March 2019 National Assembly election in Okigwe South alleged that primary elections did not hold and that Senator Rochas Okorocha manipulated the process in your favour which led to your emergence as candidate of APC; can you throw more light on that accusation?
As former Commissioner for Finance under former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, I will be ungrateful if I fail to attribute my political success to God and Okorocha. However, that does not mean that the Distinguished Senator actually manipulated the primary poll to my advantage as alleged. The primary poll was held in a transparent manner and I won clean and clear and that was why the Court of Appeal upheld my candidacy for the March 2019 National Assembly election. The judgment showed that the process that produced me as the APC candidate was in line with provisions of the Electoral Act.
How true is the speculation that there is a power tussle between the minister and yourself?
It can be best described as divine intervention or you can as well as say that it is the finger of God. Come to think of it, Nwajiuba was nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari as one of his ministerial nominees barely 24 hours after he announced his defection from Accord Party to APC at the floor of the House. His defection was contained in a letter read on Wednesday, July 24, 2019 on the floor of the House during a plenary by the presiding Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase. Coincidentally, the Court of Appeal judgment also came within the same time thereby ending the power struggle in no victor, no vanquish. This development was greeted with cheers from the people of Okigwe South as our people heaved a sigh of relief because the outcome of the power play is in their favour and they could not hide their gratitude to President Buhari for what they call a well deserved honour done to Nwajiuba and Okigwe South
How do you rate the first 100 days of the present administration in Imo State?
The present administration in Imo State led by Governor Emeka Ihedioha within 100 Days has done nothing, but vendetta against those who served under the immediate past administration. Since the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took over government in the state, all we hear is attack against those loyal to the former governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha, members of his family or friends. You cannot point at a single developmental project Ihedioha has done, rather, if his men are not chasing vehicles they perceived belong to someone who served under Okorocha, they are breaking warehouses and people’s homes searching for state government property
But it was reported that EFCC is investigating Sen. Okorocha for misappropriation of the state fund when he presided over the state, isn’t that enough reason for him to be questioned?
I have no problem with that, but the questioning must be done by a government agency empowered by law to do so. Not an individual or group of persons. If Distinguished Senator Rochas Okorocha is being investigated by the anti-graft agency, that is normal and until he is found guilty, you cannot say he misappropriated state fund when he was governor. My advice to Ihedioha is to desist from chasing shadows and concentrate on governance pending the judgment of the governorship election petition tribunal whether he will continue as governor or not
Do you agree that the poor outing of APC in the South East can be attributed to Okorocha’s Presidential ambition in 2023?
I’m not aware that Governor Okorocha is aspiring to become President in 2023. To the best of my knowledge, I’m not sure he has declared interest for the Presidency. Let me dwell on the issue of supporting the candidate of AA, Uche Nwosu for the position of Imo State governor in the just concluded governorship election; I will describe it in a proverb. You won’t beat a child and ask the child not to cry
