Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has berated the Peoples Democratic Party for zoning the party’s vice-presidential ticket to the South-East –ahead of the 2019 general election.
Describing the zoning of the ticket to the region as a mockery, Okorocha said the PDP never remembered the South-East as fit enough to occupy the office of the vice-president during its 16 years in power.
He said the party lacked the potential to win the 2019 presidential election, adding that the party was just waking up from its slumber.
“Why is the PDP now considering the South-East for the vice-presidency after 16 years? Are they just waking up from their slumber?,” Okorocha asked.
The governor, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, on Monday, said it was unfortunate that the South-East was never remembered by the PDP during the party’s 16 years in power.
He said, “For the 16 years the PDP was in power, it never considered the South-East as being fit for the position of the vice-president. The party never had any reason to remember the South-East as a major power bloc.
“It never considered the South-East as being capable of holding any sensitive position in the country. They are just waking up from their slumber after being out of power.
“The PDP never allowed the South-East to have the president, the vice-president, the senate president, the speaker of House of Representatives, and so on. The South-East totally lost out in the PDP government. Even in terms of projects, the South-East had a very rough experience in the PDP government.
“All the federal roads in the zone were all deathtraps until the party was voted out of power. The Second Niger Bridge became an endless pit for the PDP. Some oil wells belonging to some states in the zone were taken away and given to other states outside the zone. It was a hopeless situation for the zone.”
Okorocha, who said the vice-presidential ticket was a bait by the opposition party to deceived the people of the region, added that the people of the region could see beyond the bait.
He said, “Now, they have started to dangle the VP carrot before the zone because they desperately want power again. And they also know that what the zone could not get from the PDP government, it could now get from the Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress government.
“The fact is that the South-East would get its due from the APC administration because the APC believes in fair play, justice and equity. The PDP toyed with the fate of the South-East which the APC has not done. And the good signs are everywhere. The South-East will be better under the APC government.”
He said the major concern of the Buhari administration was to develop the South-East, stressing that the Federal Government would not neglect the region as the PDP did.
“Our interest is to develop the South-East. The APC administration will do that for the zone. Anything due to the zone will be given to it because the level of greed in the PDP cannot be found in APC. The APC won’t wait until it is out of power before remembering the South-East or any other zone. That cannot be our portion.”
