Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, yesterday described as malicious and unfounded, the reported power tussle between him and the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over who controls the APC structure in the South-East.

The Imo Governor also debunked allegations of looming crisis in the South-East Chapter of the APC, stating that those behind the mischievous reports were determined to cause disaffection between him and the former Lagos State Governor for fear of the rising profile of the party in the zone.

The Governor, in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, stated that “those behind the falsehood and inciting publication also tried in vain to introduce popularity contest between Governor Okorocha and Senator Chris Ngige”.

According to the statement, “Having carefully gone through the publications, and have painstakingly analyzed the contents or the claims thereto, we won’t hesitate to conclude that the publication was structured or programmed to achieve one goal, and that is, to cause disaffection or undue suspicion between Governor Okorocha and Bola Tinubu on one side, and between Governor Okorocha and Senator Chris Ngige on the other side.

“There is no looming crisis in the South-East APC for which Gov. Okorocha, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Senator Ngige could be accused of being responsible. Whatever anybody fells that is happening in the South-East APC cannot be seen as strange but as the normal politics of group or individual interest pursuit.

"As far as we are concerned, the claimed looming crisis in the APC South-East is a media creation. It does not exist. The idea of bringing in the names of Okorocha, Tinubu and Ngige was aimed at adding value to the false alarm.

“The publication was ill-motivated otherwise those behind it would have taken the liberty to convince their readers on why they felt Asiwaju Bola Tinubu should be struggling to control APC in the Southeast at this point in time or why Senator Ngige or Governor Okorocha should engage themselves in popularity race this time."

The statement also noted that “the South-East APC has had series of meetings in recent time in various parts of the geo-political zone and with a crowded rally also held in Aba, Abia State and in Enugu respectively few weeks ago and in each case, Okorocha and Ngige had sat together and had preached unity of purpose among the members and leaders of the party in the South-East."

It added: “We may not be wrong if we accuse those intimidated by Governor Okorocha’s enviable political character and growth that have made him a fanciful and acceptable politician across the nation, to be behind the publications in question and their sole aim was to create bad blood among the three APC leaders.

"This is not their first time of doing such a thing. They have been in such dirty enterprise, and the good thing is that they have been failing and shall continue to fail because nobody can be against who God has favoured.

"We make bold to say that Governor Okorocha is living no stone unturned in making the APC a formidable party in the South-East. He has gone a long way and cannot at the same time be causing looming crisis in the party in the zone. And he is not in any power tussle with any leader of the party for the control of the party in the South-East or any other zone because it is neither necessary nor advisable.”

•Adapted from The Nation. Photo shows Okorocha.