The emergence of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State as the governorship candidate in the just concluded governorship primary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2019 general election has been described as a major sign of the party’s maturity and understanding in the state, as the governor stood for the election unopposed.
Deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, who introduced the aspirant before the delegates, PDP national executives and INEC representatives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium Enugu, venue of the event, said Ugwuanyi became the only candidate because of his humility and the magic power he possessed in making peace and unity across board.
He also explained that Ugwuanyi had earlier during his days at the National Assembly and even before joining politics as an insurer prepared himself for leadership. Ekweremadu went down memory lane on the story of PDP governorship primaries in the state since 1999, pointing out that this was the only time governorship primary was conducted without rancour.
“No two party chairmen, no one is going to court,” he said.
The deputy Senate president however castigated the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, stressing the APC primary at the Enugu temporary stadium ended in crisis as the two chairmen of the party in the state led by Ben Nwoye and Okey Ogbodo, respectively, refused to agree and the primary was shifted to Thursday.
“It was alleged that the people are not favoured with the imposition of senator Anyogu Eze, who was nursing the injury of the Supreme Court against him over the 2014 PDP primaries, an insider said that Eze was trying to buy his way to ensure that he gets the APC ticket,” he said.
He noted that feelings from the PDP was that they were comfortable with Eze emerging as APC candidate, adding that it would give the PDP clean win.
The leader of the PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) of the gubernatorial committee, Abu Zike, who monitored the primary in accordance with the Electoral Law and PDP guidelines, commended Ugwuanyi for his peace and high managerial skills that saved the party from crisis.
The general view is that the governorship of the state is zoned to the north and therefore the next governor should come from Enugu North Senatorial zone for two tenures, which Ugwuanyi has completed. After his second term it will shift to Enugu East, however, Eze’s ambition is to truncate the zoning arrangement in Enugu and create confusion in future elections.
