Senator Eze (left) with deputy Senate President Ekweremadu
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, Senator Ayogu Eze, has become the first of the many aspirants for the Enugu State governorship seat in 2015 to distance himself from the Governor Sullivan Chime induced selection of Honourable Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as a consensus candidate on the Peoples Democratic Party platform.
Eze at a conference in Abuja on Sunday that he has rejected the endorsement of Ugwuanyi, who is chairman House of Representatives’ Committee on Maritime as the candidate of the Peoples Democtatic Party (PDP) for the governorship election in Enugu State.
The senator, whose strong performance in the Senate has endeared to many people of Enugu North, said he remained the candidate to beat in the race in 2015, adding that there was no question of any purported endorsement.
According to him, members of the party were allegedly railroaded into a meeting at the Enugu State Governor’s Lodge on Friday, September 26, with a pre-arranged endorsement agenda.
Eze, who represents Enugu North Senatorial District in the Senate, said he was not a party to the endorsement, adding that he would contest next year’s governorship election upon the platform of the PDP.
The Senator said: “ I’ve 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.
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“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.
“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 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 to my supporters and well wishers, I am also consensus candidate.
“I look forward to all the consensus candidates of the various interest groups meeting in the field at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primaries on November 29, to test which of the various consensus blocs is numerically stronger.
“Democracy is about elections and the will of the people. Those elements of democracy will be put to test when we arrive the field for the primaries.
“I will gladly accept the outcome of the primaries and go the extra mile to work for the party with resources and whatever it will take to give the opponents of the PDP a run for their money.
“Let me state categorically that my respect for the governor and leader of PDP in Enugu State is not diminished in anyway by this development. My loyalty to the party is also unalloyed.
“I urge the party to do the right thing by providing a level playing field for all legitimate aspirants and consensusto express themselves in a truly democratic and fair manner.”
Eze reaction came the same day the former National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, gave an insight into the reasons that swayed the pendulum for the Peoples democratic Party candidate for coming 2015 elections the way of the Hon Ifeany Ugwuanyi.
According to Nwodo, who spoke on Sunday, the Zone in consult with Governor Sullivan Chime settled for Ugwuanyi as a result of a determination of the zone to produce candidate that has unifying tendencies.
Ugwuanyi is said to have played suave in the political altercations between Governor Chime and the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, which had split the state.
The state since its creation in 1991 has operated a rotational policy, where the seat of the state chief executive rotated round the three senatorial zones in the state.
In that spirit, the PDP in Enugu state had last year formally zoned the governorship ticket to Enugu North (Nsukka zone), as the Enugu East and Enugu West had produced governors between 1999 to 2015. while Chimaraoke Nnamani hails from Nkanu in Enugu East, Sullivan Chime hails from Udi in Enugu West.
Stakeholders of the PDP caucus mainly drawn from Enugu North senatorial zone had last Friday night endorsed the candidacy of Ugwuanyi for the governorship election after a three-hour closed door meeting held at the instance of the governor at the Government House.
As a result of the choice, atleast 10 frontline governorship aspirants from Nsukka zone have offered to step in other to line behind Ugwuanyi.
Ugwuanyi strength the fact that he is bridge builder who is capable of pulling together all the divisive forces in the state.
Other prominent aspirants for the post included the chairman of the PDP in the state, Engr. Vita Abba, a former Deputy Governor of the state, Chief Okechukwu Itanyi, Senator Ayogu Eze, Hon. Pat Asadu, Prince Mathew Agu, Amb. Fidel Ayogu, Prof. Osita Ogbu, Chief Ikeje Asogwa, Prof. Simon Ortuanya and Dan Onyishi.
Political pundits believe that in open, uncensored contest, Senator would be difficult to beat.
It was being speculated over the weekend that his well oiled political machinery might band together with that of the Deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, to put up a fight against the governor’s anointed Ugwuanyi.
Although Chime copied the practice of anointing successors from his former boss, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, he had earlier given impression that he would allow the people to make their choice.
The meeting that produced Ugwuanyi was said to have been attended by at least 90 notable chieftains of the party including members of the party’s working committee, Board of Trustees, commissioners, national and state lawmakers, elders, council chairmen and their deputies from the zone.
Some of them included former national chairman of PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, chairman of the senate committee on works, Senator Ayogu Eze, Chief Fidelis Okoro, Ambassador Fidel Ayogu, state PDP chairman, Chief Vita Abba, elder stateswoman and former member of the House of Representatives, Chief (Mrs.) Justina Eze, and chairman of the PDP in that zone, Chief Mike Ejinima.
A stakeholder at the meeting on Friday was quoted as saying that the other main attraction for the choice of Ugwuanyi who is a member of National Assembly member is that it is likely to reduce what was feared as a formidable force-base being built by the federal legislators to fight the governor over the 2015 sensitive matters”.
Senator Ekweremadu is yet to react officially to this development.
