IMO 2015: Agbaso declares self Okorocha’s successor

By Cyprian Ebele, Onitsha

Ahead of 2015 general election, the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in the 2011 Governorship election in Imo State, Chief Martin Agbaso, has reportedly declared himself successor to Governor Rochas Okorocha, even as he commenced his nationwide consultations with prominent Igbo leaders, and APGA chieftains in preparation for the said election.

He made the declaration when he called on Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka, the Igbo spiritual leader and member of APGA Board of Trustees, BOT, at Oba, Idemili South Local Government Area, Anambra State, at the weekend.

Agbaso who was received on arrival by members of the Ogirishi Igbo Foundation,led by its chairman, Dr. Linus Uche and other prominent Igbo leaders, including Dr. David Igwuilo, President of Odinana Anaedo Nnewi, Oraifite and Ichi and the first vice-president of Oba Patriotic Union, OPU, Hon. Dozie Nweke, expressed optimism that APGA, as a party for Ndigbo would win the 2015 governorship election.

He contended that APGA must take back Imo state and all the states in the South-East in 2015, just as the party has already been institutionalized in Anambra, adding, “APGA must win the whole South-East in the nearest future, so that Ndigbo will once again become a beautiful bride and have a bargaining power.”

He congratulated Ezeonwuka for his recent appointment as a member of APGA BOT and attributed it to his firm stand, on the repositioning of Ndigbo in the nation’s political landscape and urged him not to relent until APGA is institutionalized as the party for Ndigbo.

In response, The Ogirishi Igbo of Igbo-land, Chief Ezeonwuka, who presented Agbaso with a symbolic Ogirishi leaves, to cleanse his past political misfortunes, said that, APGA remains the voice of the South-East, adding that every Igbo-man must identify with APGA to have a self-identity in the country.

In his words, “APGA is the only platform, the people from the South-East have to negotiate within the Nigeria project. And we must not lose our own and be a people that will not be counted within the political scheme of the country’’.

Contributing, Dr. Uche and Igwilo, assured Agbaso that Anambra APGA would mobilize, to take over Imo,  just the way the party took over power in Anambra, the from 2003, to the last election that took place last year.