As the political horse trading and permutation continues to gather momentum ahead of the 2019 Presidential Election, top sources have confirmed that the Imo State Governor, and Chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, Governors Forum, Rochas Okorocha, is making clandestine moves to return to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
According to reports, Okorocha hatched the permutation upon realizing that the APC has declared “no vacancy in Aso Rock” by adopting the (Buhari/Osinbajo) ticket in 2019, therefore, hindering his long sought after presidential ambition.
With Okorocha losing out of the APC primaries to President Muhammadu Buhari, the self acclaimed ‘Peoples Governor’ has allegedly resolved to actualize his presidential ambition using another platform which is likely to be the PDP.
Related: Gov Okorocha vehemently responds to APC allegations
The Governor last year made a proclamation at the APC rally attended by prominent members of the party in the South-East in Enugu state, that it was prophesied that he will be president of Nigeria.
He had said, “Three months ago when I said I wanted to be president, they asked, can an Igbo man be president? But now when they count those contesting for president, they will first count Rochas Okorocha, before Buhari, Atiku Abubakar and Kwankwaso.”
Speaking further, Okorocha boasted that he had the resources to realize his ambition of becoming president.
According to sources, with the PDP zoning the Vice Presidential slot to the South-East, the Governor has started lobbying to return to the party, while pushing for the opposition party to cede the Presidential slot to the South-East zone.
Reacting to the PDP zoning arrangement, Okorocha said: “For 16 years, the PDP was in power, the party never had any reason to remember that the South-East, as a major block in the country, could occupy the Vice-President position or could hold any of the sensitive positions in the country, and they are just waking up from their slumber after being out of power.”
According to him, the PDP never allowed the South-East to have the President, the Vice-President, the Senate President, and the Speaker of House of Representatives positions.
Commenting on the supposedly planned defection, an Imo State based PDP supporter, Chisom Nnamdi, who spoke to Post-Nigeria said, “We all know that Okorocha is a political Nicodemus, he is a PDP stalwart in the night and APC crony in the day time.
“He is a bit smart, no permanent friends and no permanent enemies, but the irony is that he has no permanent interest also. He is the man to watch in 2019, because immediately after the APC primaries and the tables are put upside dawn before him, he will be the first caller to PDP for a waiver to contest under the umbrella.”
He added: “I also know that it will be very difficult for Rochas to provide a gateway for APC to be established in the South-East. He is smart to learn from the disgrace Ngige had at the Anambra state poll.
Another source said, “PDP is a national party unlike the APC, Rochas is free to return; but never be allowed to fly the ticket of the party.”
Recall, that the South-East chapter of the APC had in September last year slammed Okorocha, saying that the Governor did not campaign for President Buhari in the zone during the 2015 presidential elections.
It was reportedly gathered that Okorocha’s defection is imminent as APC remains “hell” for him over the ruling party’s politics of exclusion.
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