A faction of the Imo State Chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress which is loyal to Governor  Rochas Okorocha this Monday staged a protest rally in Owerri.

The protesters were asking the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to submit the names of their candidates whom they claimed won the party’s primaries to the National Assembly and  the State House of Assembly to The Independent Natinal Electoral Commission. 

The aggrieved party members called on President Muhammadu Buhari to call on Oshiomhole to leave the state alone and desist from tinkering with the list of duly elected candidates of the party from the state.

The protesters who defied the rains also called on the Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) to immediately reinstate all candidates of the party whose names were substituted in the list it submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2019 general elections.

While reiterating their resolve to resist any form corruption, imposition and automatic tickets in the state, the protesters expressed their support for the state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, whom they said brought the ruling party to the South-East region of the country and made it viable.

In his speech, the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Acho Ihim reaffirmed their support for the governorship candidate of the party in the state, Ugwumba Uche Nwosu, describing him as a man with the requisite experience to lead the party and the state.

While describing the state as the launch pad and campaign base of the APC in the South-East, Ihim expressed concern over the future of the party in the region if it loses key positions to opposition parties in the forthcoming polls.

“This is an attempt to destroy the party. Mr. Chairman should leave Imo State to be. If you have become a mole for the PDP to destroy APC, we will not allow it,” Ihim stressed.

He further called for a reversal of the injustice meted out  to them by Oshiomhole by reinstating some substituted candidates like Pascal Obi, Kingsley Ujunwa and Simeon Iwunze.