Why I Chose Ken Nnamani As Southeast APC Leader – Okorocha

The Imo Sstate governor, Rochas Okorocha, has explained why he recently nominated former Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani, as national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, South-

East zone.This is even as his choice of Nnamani has sharply divided members of the party along various interests.‎The governor was speaking yesterday during the meeting of the South-East zonal leaders of the APC held at the Nike Lake Hotel in Enugu.He said his decision to nominate Nnamani to lead the party in the zone during a recent meeting in Owerri, the Imo state capital, was simply to ensure that the South-East APC has an arrow-head leader who is a capable and well respected figure across the country.He challenged the leaders and members of the party in the South-East to “sit down” and plan properly so that the APC will win the governorship election coming up soon in Anambra state.Governor Okorocha however, urged South -East governors who wish to join the party, to declare their interest now before it was too late for them to do so.According to him, “The APC is a party with lots of promise. The South-West and South-South have better political fortunes today in APC.“The South-South, for instance, hold the position of national chairman. The South-East has only Minister of Labour and Employment [Dr Chris Nigige], Minister of Science and Technology [Dr Ogbonnaya Onu] and the Minister of Foreign Affairs [Geofrey Onyeama].“When l met with President Muhammadu Buhari over this matter, he said when he started out his presidential quest, he had picked Chuba Okadigbo (in 2003) and Edwin Umezoke (in 2007) as a way of reaching out to the South-East but it didn’t work. In APC South-East, we have to organize ourselves. The leaders should not be concerned with who sits on the high table. We should come together to move the APC in the South-East forward.“In fact, being a governor has deprived me of leadership opportunity in APC. Because of the need to have capable leaders in the party, that was why l advised that Ogbonnaya Onu and Chris Ngige should not be made ministers so that they can be the leaders of the party in the zone. I started this political journey with Jim Nwbodo in my house in Owerri long before now.“And when the issue of leadership came, l said we have to look for a capable person among us to lead this party in the south-east. I felt we needed somebody at this time, a central voice who will be speaking for us. That was why l had to nominate Chief Ken Nnamani, a former Senate President and who is credible to lead the party in the zone.”
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