2015: Furore over Chime’s choice The choice of Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi by Sullivan Chime to bear The Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship flag in Enugu State has created unabating ripples, IHUOMA CHIDOZIE reports Few months to the 2015 general elections, no aspirant had openly expressed the intention to succeed Governor Sullivan Chime in Enugu State. The silence was remarkable because it was well-known that Chime had completed his two terms and could not present himself again for election. Even with the zoning of the Peoples Democratic Party governorship slot to the Enugu North Senatorial Zone, no politician from the area indicated interest. Intentions to succeed Chime had remained largely speculative. Politics in the state, particularly as it concerned the 2015 governorship election, was passive. But the situation changed dramatically on Friday, September 26, 2014, when, at a stakeholders meeting he convened at the Government House, Chime presented Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the member representing Igbo Eze North /Udenu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives as his preferred candidate. Although many had expected that Chime would follow the trend which was established by a former governor, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, who annointed Chime, a former Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, to succeed him, the choice of Ugwuanyi by the incumbent took many by surprise. Chime had promised to hand over to an Nsukka indigene while campaigning for re-election in 2011. The Nsukka people have yet to produce a governor in the current political dispensation. Those being tipped by observers to emerge were commissioners of Nsukka extraction in Chime’s cabinet, namely the Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation and Human Capital Development, Godwin Ogenyi; Commissioner for Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority, Ike Ugwuegede; Commissioner for Chieftaincy Matters, Emeka Abugu; and Commissioner for Information, Chuks Ugwoke. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, Senator Ayogu Eze, who is also of Nsukka extraction, and the deputy governor during the Nnamani administration, Okey Itanyi, were also tipped. The Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Eugene Odo, and the state PDP Chairman, Mr. Vita Abba, both from Nsukka, were also favoured for the governorship race, alongside the Managing Director of the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation, Ikeje Asogwa. From the camp of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who is reportedly locked in an acrimonious supremacy struggle with Chime, the name of a member of the governing council of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Chinedu Onuh, was advanced as the man to fly the flag of the PDP in 2015. But curiously, rather than assert themselves, all the governorship hopefuls waited for Chime to make his choice. And that he did on September 26 at the meeting attended by members of the Enugu State PDP, which was also attended by political leaders of Nsukka extraction and those interested in succeeding the governor in 2015. The governor’s choice of Ugwuanyi unsettled many, though it was gathered that those who could not afford to oppose the governor endorsed his emergence at the meeting. Dissenting voices have been waxing stronger by day. One of the governorship hopefuls, Senator Eze, rejected Ugwuanyi’s emergence, insisting that he was going ahead with his intention to run for the office in 2015. The Senator stated that if Ugwuanyi was the consensus candidate of a group of politicians, he was also the consensus candidate of his supporters. He said, “I have been inundated by calls and personal visits by my supporters, who have expressed worry and outrage at newspaper reports, purporting that a consensus candidate had been anointed for Enugu State’s 2015 governorship election. “My supporters are particularly worried by the aspect of the story claiming that I have stepped down for the said anointed candidate. “I wish to state clearly and unambiguously that I have not and will not step down for any anointed candidate. I am still in the race for the Enugu Lion Building in 2015.” He said those invited were not informed of the agenda of the parley, which he described as pre-arranged. “I was invited to a meeting of a gathering of the people of my senatorial district, presided over by the governor at the Governor’s Lodge in Enugu, on Friday, September 26. “Prior to our arrival at the Government House that Friday afternoon, the agenda of the meeting was not circulated, neither was the criterion for selecting those attending the meeting made known to me. At the meeting, I pointedly stated that though I was already in their midst in a sort of an ambush, I was not bound by their decision, to which I believe they were entitled. “It is their inalienable right to choose a consensus candidate in the same manner that my supporters and well wishers have chosen me as their consensus candidate.” In the same vein, another chieftain of the party in the state, former national auditor, Ray Nnaji, who is also a lawyer, questioned the propriety of Ugwuanyi’s selection. Nnaji argued that the candidate that would fly the party’s flag in the governorship poll must emerge through a popular selection process. He predicted that the development would cause problems in the state chapter of the party. He said, “Who and who selected him? It was a selection, not an election — the party constitution did not say that you should select. If Governor Sullivan Chime thinks he can single-handedly pick anybody, he is wasting his time “This is going to cause a lot of problems in Enugu State, we don’t need that. What we have had in Enugu PDP is peace of the graveyard. Chime is killing politics in Enugu State, maybe he thinks he is protecting and enhancing the party but this is not the way to do it. “If Ugwuanyi has to be selected, it must be by popular choice.” Incidentally, Nwodo, one of the most prominent political leaders among the Nsukka people, justified Ugwuanyi’s selection shortly after the news of his emergence broke. He asked other governorship aspirants to step down for Ugwuanyi to enable the three-time lawmaker to become the zone’s consensus candidate for the 2015 election. Nwodo, who was part of the caucus meeting where Ugwuanyi emerged, also said the decision was driven by the determination of the zone to produce the next governor of the state. A member of the Board of Trustees of the PDP from the state, Ambassador Justina Eze, condemned the Senator’s opposition to Ugwuanyi’s endorsement. Describing the Senator’s comments as unfortunate, Eze, who was also at the caucus meeting where Ugwuanyi was adopted, noted that due process was followed. As the drama continues to unfold, some observers have noted that the development has put the consensus option of choosing leaders on trial. Mr. Bismark Oji, the Executive Director of Centre for the Advancement of Literacy and Leadership, an Enugu-based non-governmental organisation, told SUNDAY PUNCH there was the need to widen the political space in the state. He felt it was better for all aspirants to be given a chance to sell their candidacy to the people. He said, “First and foremost, I think the beauty of democracy is that all contestants are given an equal opportunity; all aspirants participated at the meeting and one emerged. “Those who did not emerge should still be given the opportunity to go to the primaries and participate. “Consensus candidacy is a feature of democracy but those who lost out should still have the right to participate at the primaries. Also, we expect the opposition parties to field candidates; that PDP has a consensus candidate does not mean that everybody should sleep. It must not be about PDP alone.” Also reacting to the development, a legal practitioner, Chima Obieze, noted that Ugwuanyi’s endorsement would be more effective if every section of the party was involved in his selection. Obieze pointed out that not all PDP stakeholders in Enugu State attended the September 26 meeting. He said, “I don’t think it is right to say that PDP has adopted a consensus candidate, the meeting was of aspirants from Enugu North Senatorial Zone — there were stakeholders from the zone and other zones and party players that were not there were not invited. “I think it was more like Nsukka aspirants endorsing a consensus candidate but there is still a question mark over that because some are not in support. “I believe at the end of the day everybody should be allowed to contest, including people from other zones. It will be a consensus candidate when everybody is involved.” Copyright PUNCH.All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH. Contact: editor@punchng ift.tt/10zuwVZ ift.tt/1sUMO0u [[Boost your social presence with NAIRALIKES nairalikes ]] #nigeria x #nairalikes #vanguardng
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 23:41:01 +0000
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