Governor Sullivan Chime’s trusted man in the House of Assembly, joins the rebellion against the outgoing governor’s transition programme.
By Austin Ogwuda
EVENTS of Thursday, October 30, 2014 in Enugu may have finally unfolded the unravelling political drama around the state’s major political actors.
The mask of political deceit as portrayed in the Shakespearean assertion that, “there is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face” recently manifested when members of the Enugu State House of Assembly flatly denied a plot to impeach Speaker Eugene Odo.
•Chime and Odo: Who blinks first?
Gov. Chime
The alleged plot followed allegations that the speaker had turned against the consensus arrangement that had been arranged by Governor Sullivan Chime for Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, a member of the House of Representatives to fly the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the forthcoming governorship elections.
An initial attempt by Odo, who is also interested in the ticket to back out of the consensus arrangement had last month been matched by an impeachment threat which was subsequently denied by House members after Odo supposedly drew back from the contest.
But penultimate Thursday all such pretences were put away as the speaker decided to speak his mind on the issues. That was the day he formally declared to run for the governorship of Enugu State, describing the emergence of Ugwuanyi, the governor’s anointed candidate as a private endorsement.
Giving notice of his determination to pursue his ambition to a logical conclusion irrespective of the wishes of the governor, Odo gave newsmen his own perspective of the unfolding drama that is increasingly fragmenting the Chime camp.
He said: “Of course, we were in the meeting and the view of majority will certainly have its way. But we equally have our observations at least on the process. There is nothing wrong with consensus but the process through which consensus is arrived might be an issue. Consensus as a matter of fact, anybody can endorse anybody tomorrow as a consensus. Our national party frowns at party officials engaging in consensus.
“If party officials on their own decide to do so I mean that (consensus) could be seen as a private or rather as an individual effort towards moving the aspiration of a candidate. The consensus I think that will make more sense to all of us is that consensus that will be got on the 29th day of November 2014.”
As to whether or not, he has by that implication drawn a battle line between him and governor, he said, “I don’t think so. If we practice democracy I do not think that my declaration for governorship would occasion any problem between myself and the governor.”
“In the first instance”, he went on, “the governor is a democrat and the governor has not in any way prevented or precluded anybody from aspiring to any position of his choice. He has not in any way prevented anybody from collecting party form”.
From that postulation at the press conference announcing his formal entry into the race, it is very obvious that Odo had dammed all the consequences but would not like to be identified as attacking the governor out rightly but in a subtle way since he was aware that it was the governor that allegedly orchestrated that foiled impeachment saga against him because of the same issue.
What would be his next move should the impeachment ploy be thrown up again, trust Odo, who is known to be a ‘crafty’ politician who believes in the axiom ‘action is louder than words’.
Hi. I’m a Web Developer and Graphics Designer, I enjoy blogging as part-time and I draw a lot when I’m free. Thanks for visiting my blog today and I hope you come back next time.
0 comments:
Post a Comment