LG POLL: CANDIDATE IMPOSTION MAY TEAR US APART This week has been heady for the state and local government executive and power manipulating bodies of the Ebonyi State PDP. It has been a hectic period as party blocks and their counterparts go for the jugular over who gets the upper hand in the selection of candidates for the next month LG election primaries. The dominance of the party in the state as it is in many states in the country makes it predictable that whoever wins the PDP nomination is already like a crown prince for election victory. After the party executive in the state flagged off moves for the selection of the candidates for the election, counter groups rolled out their arsenal to rubbish the decorum the state governor, Chief Martin Elechi is said to have vouched to institutionalize. Sources close to Saturday Sun hinted that Elechi had made his views and points clear that he wants internal democracy to determine who emerges the candidate in the 13 constitutional LGAs of the state. But in a swift twist, people said to be close to Elechi, even family members but without his mandate have muddled the water and insisted that the LG chairmen in power must be retained. “It is the power of bribery and the sit-tight syndrome that has become a tradition in Nigeria. The governor made his points clear that forms for expression of interest are open for sale. But some people, including those who claim to be his family members created this monster group that has aggregated the serving LG chairmen who have pulled money in a staggering quantity to undo others. The grapevine has it that each of the 13 LG chairmen dropped N500,000 to grease some palms and make sure they retain their position by being nominated the candidates for the next election. You know PDP won in all the LGs, so the thinking is that when they swing the balance and tilt the scale in their advantage, they are definitely going to remain in office. But this has a sure consequence – to destroy popular wish and internal democracy in the state, a stance Elechi, our governor and party leader who believes in equity and acts as a father solidly believes in”, a source revealed. Our findings revealed that the reason for Onwe’s sack is his “stubborn position that since the governor supports internal democracy, it should be allowed to take root. Onwe believes that anything short of this portrays the governor in bad light as a manipulator rather than a man who is astute and has the powers to convince his party men on logic and rationality. “All the LGAs have their internal mechanisms that support and lay credence to internal democracy and the need to pick a candidate through a primary election from among the candidates that indicated interest. Some of these LGAs have already mapped out zoning patterns for the selection of the candidates among them and such include Ezza South, Abakaliki, Ohaukwu, Afikpo South, Afikpo North, Ishielu and of course the governor’s LG, Ikwo. But these hijackers have destroyed the whole process and what we expect unless the governor intervenes to call to order these men some of who claim to be his nuclear family members who have been collecting the money to order. We know he would not want his image rubbished, so the only option to a democratic process is for Elechi to intervene”, the source called.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 05:58:01 +0000
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