Orlu Senate seat: Group rejects Izunaso

The Orlu Zone Conscience and Integrity Forum (OZCIF) has described the four-year of representation of Imo West Senatorial District by the National Organizing Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Osita Izunaso, as a failure.

In a statement signed by Onyemauchechukwu Albert Orisah, national coordinator, released after its members embarked on a sensitisation mission and mobilisation of Orlu people for next year’s senatorial election, the forum stated that Izunaso owed the zone a debt of gratitude, as he had been  “duly favoured and empowered by the people of Orlu, who raised him from obscurity to become a senator of the Federal Republic,” adding: “We are amazed why he should think that Orlu zone Senate slot is his birthright despite his disastrous and colossal failure to give the people responsive and adequate representation in the past.”
The group frowned at Izunazo’s ambition to contest for the senatorial ticket of the APC, while remaining as national organizing secretary of the party, saying APC would lose the election if he is fielded.
The group stated: “How can Izunaso retain his office as the national organizing secretary of the party, while contesting for senatorial election, even when a layman knows that he was supposed to have resigned his position since October 29, 2014, a month to the scheduled senatorial primaries of the party? How can Izunaso be a prosecutor, witness and judge over his own case?
“The unfortunate thing is that a party like APC that prides itself as a credible alternative has allowed inordinate PDP converts to dent the image of the party and the earlier something is done, the better.”
The OZCIF wondered why Izunaso wants to return to the Senate, and advised APC not to make the blunder of giving him its ticket.
“If PDP, as a bad party, could stop a sitting senator because of poor performance, why should APC that prides itself as a credible alternative sponsor somebody who did not do much as senator?”
The group enjoined lovers and supporters of democracy and good governance to ensure that “the long awaited change is allowed to blossom in 2015, by rejecting Senator Izunaso.”
It advised APC and the Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, to avoid fielding unpopular candidates so as not to cause protest votes against the party.