By Charles Igbo
The immediate past Governor of Imo State, The Rt Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, has dismissed, as a lie from the pit of hell, that he met with, and held a meeting with Hon. Uche Ogbuagu, the recently removed Majority Leader of the Imo State House of Assembly in London, or anywhere.
Ogbuagu, you would recall, defected from the PDP to the APC, as soon as the Supreme Court removed Ihedioha as Governor, and declared Senator Hope Uzodinma Governor.
Ogbuagu’s defection shocked not a few people in the State, especially, the PDP family, as he was seen as one of Ihedioha’s close allies. The closeness did not stop him, however, from defecting along with many others, including then Speaker of the Imo House of Assembly, Hon. Chiji Collins
Incidentally, it was alleged that Collins and Ogbuagu were the anchors of the defection by most Assembly members from the PDP, where they were in absolute majority, to the APC.
Indeed, for the PDP family, it was a betrayal, especially on the part of Collins who was anointed Speaker during the Ihedioha Government, a couple of days after he decamped from APGA to the PDP. He was allegedly sponsored to the House by Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, a perennial Imo Governorship aspirant/candidate. On defection, Collins remained the Speaker
However, both Collins and Ogbuagu have since fallen by the way side in their new party, the APC. After months, ridden by crisis, Collins was sacked as the Speaker of the House. His colleagues gave him the boot by impeaching him. On impeachment, he was suspended from the Assembly, but the suspension was lifted a few days later.
This order day, Ogbuagu was surprisingly sacked as the Majority Leader of the Assembly, a position he was said to have been given as compensation for his alleged role in the mass defection of PDP members to the APC.
His sack as the Majority Leader shocked him, as it did many watchers of the Assembly. Owner of two Private Radio Stations, not a few people thought he would be indispensable to both the Assembly and the Government because of his ownership of the two media outfits.
It is not known, yet, why he fell out of favour, but speculations were high that he fell on the wrong side of the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Amara Chyna Iwuanyanwu, a man regarded as the most powerful member of the Assembly based on his relationship with the Governor.
Ogbuagu was not even present when he was removed. His first reaction confirmed it. He said he was on his way to the House of Assembly when he heard of his purported removal, a removal that was well celebrated by his former party members in the PDP. Serves him right, many of them proclaimed.
Thereafter, he made public a letter of resignation which he claimed to have officially submitted before his sack. In the letter, he said he was voluntarily given up the office, and now preferred being a floor member.
But not a few people dismissed the letter as an after-thought, asking why he did not make it public earlier than he did.
Why wait until he was officially sacked?, people asked.
However, in the past couple of days, a couple of rumours have been making the rounds that Ogbuagu could face a suspension from the party. Another is that a number of them, including Ogbuagu and Collins, plan to re-defect to the PDP. The third rumour is that Ogbuagu and Ihedioha met in London where both of them held a meeting. That, the rumour said, was why he was sacked as the Majority Leader.
While neither Ogbuagu nor Collins has denied the rumour of regretting decamping to the APC, and planning to re-decamp to the PDP, Ihedioha, has strongly rubbished the purported meeting between him and Ogbuagu. He described it as fake.
In a statement, Ihedioha’s Media Aide, Chibuike Onyeukwu, said there was no such meeting.
Proof: His Principal, he said, has not travelled out of the country, since the era of COVID-19 in 2020.
He said the story of the alleged meeting as carried by an Online medium and other social media outlets, was a lie from the pit of hell.
Many think that whoever fed the medium with the false story wanted to achieve two things.
One: Cause a little panic within the APC that it is about to lose a member. That could raise, again, Ogbuagu’s political profile which seems a little low since after his sack as Majority leader.
Two: Give the impression that he was persecuted because he was being wooed back to the PDP by no less a person than Ihedioha, just so if, and when he does that, it would be said that “Ihedioha asked him back and he was sacked because he met with him.”
Either way, Ihedioha’s reaction through Media Aide, Onyeukwu, has pulled the rug from under the feet of such thoughts.
Following, the full text of Ihedioha’s reaction, signed on his behalf by Onyeukwu.
PURPORTED LONDON MEETING OF RT. HON. IHEDIOHA AND UCHE OGBUAGU, FAKE NEWS, MISLEADING
“Our attention has been drawn to a fake news syndicated in the social media through elombah.com, an online news platform.
“We wish to state clearly that the purported report, captioned: “Exposed: Alleged London Meeting with Ihedioha, Reason, for Uche Ogbuagu’s Removal as A majority Leader’ is fake news, misleading and a handiwork of blackmailers.
“It is noteworthy to state that His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha CON, has not been out of the country since the Covid pandemic started in early 2020, and its attendant effect on global travel. The purported meeting therefore could not have happened and so its a figment of the writer’s imagination.
“The purveyors of this unfounded report should settle thier political scores and leave His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha CON out of it.
“The public is enjoined to disregard the falsehood in its entirety.”
