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… Rejects Senate Seat
The deputy governor of Imo State, Prince Eze Madumere, has debunked rumours that House of Assembly members loyal to his boss, Governor Rochas Okorocha, are planning to initiate impeachment proceedings against him.
In a chat with correspondents at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Prince Madumere noted that any plot hatched to impeach him would be resisted.
He said he is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the platform he seeks to use to contest the 2019 governorship election in, noting that he is “still the main deputy governor of Imo State.”
“I am a loyal member of the party. Many of you may not know my position in this government. I am an integral part of the Rescue mission government. I have paid my dues and have kept faith with the policies of the government I am part of,” he said.
The deputy governor’s comments follows media reports that he last Wednesday rejected the offer of a senatorial seat made to him by Governor Okorocha.
According to reports, the governor had on Monday declared interest to run for the Imo West Senatorial seat. He further added that he would ask his deputy (Madumere) to jettison his governorship ambition and run for the Imo East Senatorial seat, thus likely paving way for the governor’s son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, to emerge as gubernatorial candidate for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The governor had earlier endorsed Nwosu, who is married to his first daughter, Uloma, as the next governor of the state.
“If Uche Nwosu will be home for governor, I will tell the deputy governor to go to the Senate,” Okorocha had said.
But the deputy governor, Madumere, who is from Owerri zone, which has not produced a governor since the return to democracy in 1999, rejected the offer in a statement by his chief press secretary, Uche Onwuchekwa.
According to the statement, Madumere restated his resolve to contest for the office of the governor in 2019.
He said it is not just about his ambition but about the entire Owerri zone which “has been side-lined and marginalised.”
“God’s given vision to better the lot of Imo people is in no man’s hands.”
He described the Senate position offered to him by Mr. Okorocha as an act of betrayal, adding that “If Jesus Christ could be ill-treated by those he called his friends and was later betrayed by Judas, how much more a mere mortal like me.”
He lamented that he has been “molested, betrayed and insulted” by those he nurtured to “become relevant in life.”
It would be recalled that during the first term of the Okorocha administration, Madumere was appointed chief of staff to the governor. After the impeachment of the then deputy governor, Jude Abaso, by the state House of Assembly, Madumere emerged as the deputy governor.
