Photo: Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha
The Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has said that the Deputy Senate president, Chief Ike Ekweremadu would soon be kicked out of the office.
Okorocha said this following the victory of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Imo North Senatorial re-run poll held last Saturday.
However, Ekweremadu fired his salvo back at the Imo State governor, saying that the governor was “on a wild goose chase”.
Governor Okorocha took a swipe at Ekweremadu for relocating to Imo during the election.
The governor made the statement through his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo.
He stated that the position of Ekweremadu as the deputy senate president was at the moment under heavy threat.
This, according to him, is because the APC senator in-waiting from Imo State, Benjamin Uwajumogu would take over.
EKWEREMADU FIRES BACK
Ekweremadu has fired back at the Imo State governor.
In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr Uche Anichukwu, he said he was not bothered by the “wishful” prospect of an APC senator from the South East.
Ekweremadu contradicted the allegation by Okorocha that he was in Imo State during the rerun poll to influence the result.
He said he was actually in his constituency for his annual Ikeoha Scholarship and Bursary Awards/Adult Literacy Day same day the rerun poll held.
He noted that the last time he visited Imo was in 2015.
He wondered how Okorocha would appoint a deputy senate president for the Senate when he could not secure any principal office for any of the two House of Representatives members in Imo State.
“The deputy president of the Senate visited Imo State for the last time in 2015.
“It is also instructive that the governor’s claim comes on the heels of another statement by some APC elements in Ezeagu Local Government Area on Sunday where they whined bitterly over the huge solidarity shown by the good people, stakeholders, and traditional rulers of Enugu State to Senator Ekweremadu during his annual Ikeoha Scholarship and Bursary Awards/Adult Literacy Day at the Council headquarters on the same Saturday, June 23, 2016.
“For the same party to also claim that the same Ekweremadu who was empowering his people at Ezeagu in a well reported event on the same Saturday was also in in Imo State at the same time to influence election is just another showcase of the buffet of lies, deceit, and confusion that has become the order of the day in the ruling party.
“The Senate has a ranking rule, and if Okorocha was not able to secure a principal office, even deputy majority whip for the two House of Representatives members from Imo State, it is left to imagination how he would be able to appoint a deputy president for the Senate.
“He is on a wild goose chase.”
He advised the Imo governor and APC leaders in the South East to “preoccupy themselves with ending the invasions and killings by purported herdsmen, gross marginalization of Ndigbo in the distribution of opportunities and the blessings of democracy as well as the worrisome trend of inconclusive elections.”