The political landscape in Enugu has been charged with the endorsement of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as the choice of the mainstream Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to replace Governor Sullivan Chime. But other battle fields are still smouldering
By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor & Francis Igata
IT has been hailed as Governor Sullivan Chime’s boldest political move in recent years. Who would have expected the governor who is presently in combat with some sections of the ruling party in the state to pick one of their own in the National Assembly as his successor.
Ugwuanyi: Consensus candidate
Rep. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s endorsement as the consensus candidate of the mainstream PDP seems to be settling down in the minds of many political stakeholders despite earlier revulsion in some interested quarters.
Other aspirants at the meeting where the endorsement was first reached like Senator Ayogu Eze representing Enugu-North senatorial district and the Speaker, Enugu State House of Assembly, Mr. Eugene Odo had initially promised to reject Ugwuanyi as the product of a crooked process.
However, beyond the initial rejections nothing much has been heard from them and Odo has apparently fallen in line after some threat of impeachment in the House of Assembly. (See accompanying story: Enugu House: Hand of Esau, Voice of Jacob)
Already, Ugwuanyi’s billboards are now dotting around major streets of Enugu metropolis and beyond following his endorsement by the stakeholders.
The inscription which is the same in all the billboards reads: “Ndi Enugu (People of Enugu), Thank you all.” From the message in the billboards, Ugwuanyi is already thanking the people for electing him the governor having been anointed by the governor and most stakeholders.
Most Local Government Chairmen, party officials and people from the private sector who benefit from politics have already expressed felicitation to Ugwuanyi in newspaper advertorials in major national dailies, an indication observers say, some say may impede the wheels of democracy in the state.
As the clock chimes towards the November 16 date for gubernatorial primaries of PDP nationwide , the political firmament in Enugu State is already smouldering as alignment and re-alignment have reached a feverish pitch between the power merchants struggling to control the party’s structure.
Remarkably, the choice of Ugwuanyi has been hailed as a bold political move by Governor Chime given the legislator’s popularity among the citizenry and political class.
He is especially said to be a bridge between the governor and Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy of the Senate, who leads political stakeholders in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP that are at variance with the mainstream as led by Governor Chime.
The choice of the ever smiling Ugwuanyi, who is popularly called Gburugburu was described in some quarters as a masterstroke by Chime to empty Ekweremadu of any reason to fight given the fact that Ugwuanyi was from the National Assembly and had not deliberately gone out of his way to antagonise the Ekweremadu group.
What may have prompted the governor to pick Ugwuanyi despite his seeming antagonism towards members of the National Assembly remains a mystery.
In fact some have read it as a way of making peace with the group led by Ekweremadu, but that has apparently not been the case given the continuing media war between the two camps.
Sources revealed that prior to the endorsement that the governor had invited Ekweremadu to the meeting of PDP state stakeholders at the Government House, Enugu. Ekweremadu, apparently as a result of the stand off between both men at the same venue few months back declined. He, however, subsequently agreed to a meeting at a private hotel in Abuja where the governor brought up his proposal on Ugwuanyi.
For whatever reason, Ekweremadu was said to have agreed. But given Ekweremadu’s own political activism it remains yet unknown whether the approval given by Ekweremadu should be taken for granted.
Indeed, few days after the meeting with Ekweremadu, one of the gubernatorial aspirants in the PDP in the state and known to be a loyalist of Ekweremadu Chief Anayo Onwuegbu picked the governorship form to contest the primaries.
The development came in the face of insinuations that Ugwuanyi despite being an Abuja based lawmaker may not be in the good books of the powers that be in the federal capital.
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