It was jubilation galore for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, when President Goodluck Jonathan visited Imo State last month to formally receive some bigwigs who recently returned to the party after their sabbatical sojourn in other political parties. It was indeed a moment of relief for the national leadership of the party. To Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, the national chairman and President Jonathan, it was worthy gamble to weaken the prowling All Progressives Congress, APC. For them whatever the investment was worth it. Based on their calculations, the return of the likes of Chief Achike Udenwa, former governor and Minister for Commerce and Industry; Sen. Ifeanyi Araraume; Sen. Chris Ngozi Anyanwu; Dr Alex Obi among others is big plus and marks a turning point in the party’s quest to reclaim Imo governorship in 2015.
Naturally, the return of the Udenwas and Araraumes back to PDP was a welcome development in many quarters. Within Imo State, it has continued to reverberate with its attendant strokes. The return of the eggheads bloated the ranks of the party in the state and put Gov. Okorocha’s APC on undue pressure. But a snag appears to be lurking. The challenge is converting the new size of membership to advantage before the contrary becomes the case. If what is happening in Imo PDP today is unchecked, fears are rife that the party’s 2015 gubernatorial bid might crash again like in 2007 and 2011.
Today, PDP alone parades no fewer than 23 governorship aspirants for the Imo Douglas House. All of them are earnestly jostling for the plum job with remarkable desperation. They are all popular, seasoned, strong and affluent enough to go the whole hog. In fact, pundits appear to have concluded that there are no pretenders among the contenders. With weeks and months left for full scale politicking to kick-start, hopes are that more aspirants would join the races and at the last count PDP may have over 30 governorship hopefuls to contain during party primaries.
Noteworthy is the fact that the governorship aspirants cut across the three senatorial zones of the state. The spread of aspirants across Okigwe, Orlu and Owerri zones clearly indicates that there is no place for zoning on any basis not to talk of the much taunted “Imo Charter of Equity” in Imo PDP’s calculation for 2015. Unarguably, it is going to be ‘jungle rumble’ and ‘survival of the fittest.’
So far, the guber aspirants from Okigwe zone who have come open with their ambition include Sen. Ifeanyi Araraume (Isiala Mbano), Chief Ikedi Ohakim (Isiala Mbano), Dr Julius Kpaduwa (Isiala Mbano) and Barr. Ike Ibe (Obowo). In Orlu zone, aspirants include Sen. Hope Uzodimma (Oru East) and Evang. Chris Brown, a business mogul from Etekwuru in Ohaji/Egbema.
Owerri zone parades the highest number of aspirants. Every LGA in the zone appears poised to have somebody positioned to pick the PDP guber ticket for 2015. Those who have indicated interest publicly include Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, deputy speaker, House of Reps (Aboh Mbaise); Hon. Bethel Amadi, member House of Reps (Ikeduru), Prof. Jude Ejike Njoku, former FUTO VC and Education Commissioner (Ngor Okpala); Barr. Humphery Anumudu, businessman (Mbaitoli), Barr. Ken Njemanze, SAN, former Attorney-General (Owerri Municipal), Bethel Nzimako (Owerri West), Chief Chuka Odom, former minister (Ikeduru), Engr. Emma Ojinere, oil and gas magnet (Ahiazu Mbaise), Chief Jerry Chukwueke (Owerri North), Sen. Bright Nwanne (Ezinihitte Mbaise), Prince Chinyeze Chilaka (Ezinihitte Mbaise), Sen. Chris N. Anyanwu, (Aboh Mbaise), Dr Charles Amanze (Ahiazu Mbaise); and still warming up to declare is Lady Clara Njoku.
Political watchers have appeared somewhat bemused by this development have actually been struggling to hazard a guess of what this scenario portends for the PDP in Imo State. To many it is healthy and a lucid demonstration of democracy at play. A PDP chieftain, who preferred anonymity, described the increasing number of PDP governorship aspirants as ‘okay’ as it will make the primaries competitive and exciting. To would-be delegates of the party, they are already jubilating and praying for more aspirants as this for them simply translates to bumper harvest during the party primaries. An anonymous PDP source explained that the increasing number of aspirants is an indication that the aspirants are confident that internal democracy will prevail in choosing a candidate, hence the rush because it could favour anyone.
But non partisan observers differ quite sharply. In their view, PDP in for another messy tournament come 2015 considering the number of unwavering governorship desperadoes on parade already. They strongly believe that the state and national leadership of the party may find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to cope with the trouble that the bloated number of ‘governors’ would pose for the party in the future. If the party fails to manage the challenge, many strongly believe, what happened in 2011 will repeat.
As for what informed the engorging of governorship aspirants in the party, some say it is a sheer sign that Imo PDP had not learnt its lessons from past experiences. Again, it points to the fact that the Party has little or no harmony among its top brass. It is one thing to rejoin in one party, but another thing to create cohesion anchored on mutual trust for pursuit of a common goal. The fear for marginalization and domination by any group, naturally appears to be spurring ambition every clique to grab and control the ultimate power.
The number of heavyweights presently in the Imo PDP is a burden rather than blessing. This is so because every one of them appears to be looking for the same position of governorship with none ready to surrender. Their presence has resurrected the era of parallel factions within the party. Today, Imo PDP has become balkanised along personality lines. Redemption Group (Onongono) for Udenwa, New Face Organisation, NFO, for Ikedi Ohakim, Destiny Group for Sen. Araraume and the pro-Emeka Ihedioha group among several others have all sprouted again in the party.
For a party struggling to reclaim the governorship, it lost twice to underdog parties, the PDP in Imo needs cohesion to sail through in the turbulent waters of Imo politics. The prevalent mistrust occasioned by unhealed wounds inflicted on some members in the past is the bane of common interest of the party. With the resurgence of the old groupings that caused PDP to lose Imo in 2007 and 2011, many believe that it will be another fatal outing for the party if the number is not pruned down to size before the party primaries. If the primaries hold today who will win or lose and who will be ready to be a good party man to accept defeat, cheer up and work with the flag-bearer to win the governorship election in 2015? Have all this aspirants come genuinely to contest to be governor or are many of the mere moles for someone else? Under the circumstance, what is the leadership doing and how impartial can the individual state and national executives be in the face of the daunting challenge of having to deal with screening, clearing and selecting a candidate from the crowd without inflicting new injuries or opening old wounds? Those are the million dollar questions.
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