"Blackmail" - Okorocha Replies Oshiomhole Over Battle With Catholic Church

Governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha has replied the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshimhole over recent comments about his (Okorocha) feud with the Catholic Church in Imo state.

In a statement signed by his mediaa aide, Sam Onwuemeodo, made available to PoliticsNGR, Okorocha maintains that he has no problems with the Catholic Church in Imo state. The statement read;

"In responding to that deliberate blackmail, we won’t toe the path of Comrade Oshiomhole. We recognize the fact that he is the National Chairman of a ruling Party which President Muhammadu Buhari is the leader, and we would not, therefore, throw caution to the wind like he did, when he was abusing or attacking governors in his party as if he is the Publicity Secretary of any of the Political Parties in opposition. If he had asked question, he would have discovered that members of the Catholic Church in the State Constitute the bulk of Governor Okorocha’s supporters, especially at the grassroots.

They voted for him overwhelmingly in 2011 and 2015 respectively. And he has never taken their support for granted. He has shown gratitude in several ways which cannot be catalogued in this response, including making them majority in his cabinet. And for Archbishop Obinna, the governor holds him in a very high esteem and has no personal problem with that outstanding man of God.

But the truth is that the Archbishop perhaps expects the perfect Leadership expected in heaven to be established in Imo which is not possible. And that could be the reason he had had issues with Col Tanko Zubairu, Achike Udenwa and indeed Ikedi Ohakim. The Archbishop is the spiritual father of the governor. And the governor has never let him down. And Comrade Oshiomhole should find out from President Buhari whether Governor Okorocha took him to the Archbishop in 2015 when he came on Campaign for a private meeting that lasted more than an hour. To us, that was a high demonstration of respect and regard. But guess what?

Two days after, the newspaper owned by the Archbishop came up with a banner headline “Alhaji in Government House” and part of the story was that the governor was taking young Igbos to the North to be Islamized. All these were part of the Campaigns to discourage Imo people from voting for him, APC and President Buhari.

These are the issues. So, Comrade Oshiomhole’s apology was a badly tailored blackmail. And somewhat inciting. He is only trying to justify the blunder he contracted and dispatched Ahmed Gulak to commit in Owerri. And the man has put himself on trial. And that is the reason since that woeful and awful outing he has made more than nine claims to see how he could recover, but all to no avail.

He murdered sleep and would remain awake. We want to remind Comrade Oshiomhole that he is the National Chairman of a ruling party. His actions and utterances should reflect the dignity such office carries. For instance, when Governor Okorocha spoke to the media after meeting with Mr. President, one could see maturity in his speech. He didn’t start calling Oshiomhole names because calling names is meant for touts. As a matter of fact, the National Chairman didn’t treat the concerned governors well no matter his reasons. He should not expect them to go home celebrating. In the circumstance, his utterances and actions should be responsive and reconciliatory, to a very large extent. And not declaration of war."