By Adesina Soyooye

Former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, has warned that nobody should try to play politics with death. Okorocha said this when he dismissed the reports that he has defected from the All Progressives Congress, APC, to the Peoples Democratic Party, APC as fake.

The report, supported by a photograph where Okorocha was in a relaxed mood with another former Governor of the State, the Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, made the rounds on Wednesday.

Not a few people were, at once, taken aback and happy when the report broke. They were like, at last, we know which Party to identify Okorocha with.

The former Governor, a founding member of the APC, lost its structures which he tightly held to the incumbent Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma. The battle for the control of the structure raged to the Supreme Court.

And even though Okorocha’s Group won, victory came too late. Their tenure had expired. The Court judgement had no effect, and the Uzodinma Group held sway.

Since then, Okorocha has not been active in the Imo APC. It is like he does not exist. He seems to have been “run out of town”. His political status as from June 2023 when the 10th National Assembly will be inaugurated is uncertain. He is not going back to the Senate as much as he would have loved to. He did not try to aspire to the Senate during the Primary. He knew he was not going to get it, and so avoided a situation where he would have failed.

It does look like he has no stake in Imo politics in 2023. New Sheriffs have taken over.

When the news, therefore, broke that he had joined the PDP, a number of his loyalists were happy.

But the Senator says the story is fake. He says he is still a member of the APC. That there is nothing like his joining the PDP.

In a lengthy statement issued  on his behalf by his Media Adviser, Sam Onwuemeodo, Okorocha said the photograph, from which the fake story emanated was taken at the funeral ceremony of the mother of one of his key loyalists, Hon. Kingsley Uju.

Uju, who was, among other things, Okorocha’s Deputy Chief of Staff, decamped to the PDP from the APC when he was denied the ticket for a second term to the House of Representatives. He quickly picked the ticket of the Party.

At his mother’s funeral, both leaders of the PDP, and Okorocha’s loyalists were present. That explains the presence of Ihedioha and Okorocha. And that explains the photograph which is circulating as evidence that Okorocha had joined the PDP.

Following is the full text of the statement signed by Onwuemeodo. Nobody should play politics with death, he warns.

Senator Okorocha has not joined PDP, he is still in APC

“1. Our attention had been drawn to a story, claiming  that , the former governor of lmo state and Senator Representing lmo West senatorial,  Owelle Rochas Okorocha,   has joined the Peoples Democratic Party,  PDP.

“2. To add flesh  to the false story,  those behind it also attached  some photographs,  with Senator  Okorocha and a Chieftain of the PDP, Rt. Hon.   Emeka lhedioha and others, being  in the pictures .

“3. Those behind this false story,  deliberately  failed or refused to mention the venue and title of the event,  where the photographs were taken. They could not also quote a portion of Okorocha’s speech,   since he is not  a dumb man , and  must have made a speech at the event.

“4. They concealed or withheld  those  vital aspects  of every event or story, because they would not serve their aim or goal .

“5. We are at ease,   to say that,   Okorocha has not joined the PDP. He is still a  member of the APC. Burial ceremony could not have become political declaration rally.

“6.  On Friday,  December 30, 2022, Hon.Kingsley Uju,  representing Ohaji-Egbema/Oguta/Oru West Federal Constituency, buried the mother,  Lolo Caroline Uju,  at her Home town,  Egbema.

“7.  Uju was Okorocha’s frontrow appointee. He served Okorocha and his government in various capacities,  including being the Deputy Chief of staff and was  his anchor man in the oil producing areas of the State . Okorocha was also  instrumental to his going to the House of Representatives on the platform of APC. There’re  also a lot of them like that.

“8. Uju joined PDP when he discovered that  his second term bid ticket,  could not be guaranteed in APC. He succeeded in getting the PDP ticket. Okorocha would not have,  in the circumstance, asked him to drop his second term bid.

“9. Uju buried the mother on Friday,  December 30, 2022 . Okorocha was at the burial because Uju served him and his government with dedication and commitment. Okorocha would not have boycotted the burial because of Uju’s current political  party. That would have been  most uncharitable and unimaginable, especially when  lgbos do not play politics with death and burial, even when the reverse seems to be the case these days.

“10. At the burial too, were PDP members where Uju belongs today.  And lhedioha,  one of the key leaders of PDP in lmo,  was at the burial too, with his party chieftains.

“11. The burial in question created an atmosphere of conviviality ,  in which case ,  people mixed up and interacted freely without minding which political parties they belong.  Photographers  were taking their shots without anybody being conscious of any attendant mischief,  since the political leaders  were all there,  for Hon.  Uju  mother’s burial. lt was not  a political rally.  lt was also  somewhat a carnival because the late woman lived a fulfilled life,  with the children being handy .

“12. Unfortunately, those who play politics with everything,  both human and inhuman,  circulated some of the photographs taken at the burial  and told their audience that,  Okorocha had joined the PDP. Yet, they could not tell the same audience,  the venue of the  ” joining” and what the event was all about .

“13. The correct story is that,  Okorocha is still a member of the  Apc. And if he decides to leave APC today or tomorrow,   the world would know he is quiting. As protocol demands,  he would write to inform the leadership of the Senate. He would write to inform the leadership of the APC.  And we would take off from  there. That would not take place at a burial event. At a  burial ground.

“14 . This is new year.  So,  we  wouldn’t be hard on those behind this cock and bull story . We would only ask  God to touch them,  to know that politics isn’t the end of life. To know that, it’s ungodly and high level of wickedness  to play politics with death or burial. To know that,  one day ,  we shall be judged by our actions, inactions and utterances. lt doesn’t end here.

“15. To also  know that,  those who played politics in the first Republic and second republic , even third republic, are not the ones playing it today. That is to say,  later,  if not sooner,  those playing it today,  would become history. We must, therefore,   be mindful of the way we play our politics.

“16.  All in all,  we  appeal that, the general public should disregard the story of Okorocha joining the PDP.  lt’s not true. The photographs attached to the false story  are not evil since politics is not war .Not a do or die venture. Our  only concern was the virus some mischief makers tried to inject into  the innocent photographs,  taken at Uju mother’s burial,   without malice or those involved  being conscious of  which political parties all  those at the burial in question,  belong.

“17. May God grant those behind this falsehood , Spiritual transformation and moral rebirth or formatting. They need it, more than ever before. They need to be taught that mischief isn’t a good English word.”