Enugu governorship: Issues in Ugwuanyi’s endorsement

While a few have dealt with the discomforting fall-out from the exercise, a preponderance of them has commended the choice, believing it represents the best for Enugu state in the present circumstances.The choice of Ugwuanyi may not sit well with a few people. There were a lot ‘more visible’ aspirants than the self-effacing Chairman of […]

While a few have dealt with the discomforting fall-out from the exercise, a preponderance of them has commended the choice, believing it represents the best for Enugu state in the present circumstances.
The choice of Ugwuanyi may not sit well with a few people. There were a lot ‘more visible’ aspirants than the self-effacing Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Marine Transport. However, at this critical moment when the party faces a challenge of managing internal disagreements, only a bridge-builder will do. The choice of Ugwuanyi who did not even publicly indicate his interest in the contest prior to his adoption, does not only elicit excitement across the state, it raises hope that he would foster the much-desired unity among party faithful in the state.
For Governor Sullivan Chime and nearly a hundred top stakeholders from the zone who met to endorse his candidature, Ugwuanyi’s choice is a political masterstroke. The Enugu North PDP Caucus, in deciding to pick him, keyed into the Governor’s preference for a candidate who would unite the party and sustain his administration’s development strides. To underscore their support for a consensus arrangement, the state PDP chairman, Vita Abba and 9 other aspirants had stepped down for Ugwuanyi, widely regarded as the most suitable for the position. Among those who stepped down include Chief Okechukwu Itanyi, Pat Asadu, Prince Mathew Agu,  Vita Abba, Chief Ikeje Asogwa, Prof. Simon Ortuanya, Eddy Ugwu, Ambassador Fidel Ayogu, Prof. Osita Ogbu and Dan Onyishi.
In arriving at a consensus, the Enugu state PDP has not only reduced the field of contestants, it has also greatly doused tension that was going to accompany an open contest, especially within Enugu North senatorial zone to which the top position is zoned. Across the state, Gburugburu as Ugwuanyi is called, is seen as a God-fearing, result-oriented, humble and peace-loving gentleman who would sustain the momentum of development in the state. In supporting his candidature, Chime may also have extended an an olive branch to members of the National Assembly with whom he has had a lingering disagreement over his insistence that elected legislators who had done two or three terms should not aspire to another term. In that raging controversy which others latched on to deepen cleavages, he largely played the peace-maker.
A financial expert who majored in the insurance subsector, Ugwuanyi brings into the contest a rich private and public sector experience. He holds a Masters degree in three disciplines and is a two-time Chairman of House Committee on Marine transport. He boasts a character and disposition that endears him to all manner of people irrespective of age and status. In his three cumulative tenures in the Federal House of Representatives, the member representing Igboeze North/Udenu constituency of Enugu state, has distinguished himself as federal legislator and as a man who identifies with yearnings and aspirations of his constituents and Enugu state at large.
His choice is almost unanimous but a pocket of disagreements still follow, most prominently from the camp of Senator Ayogu Eze. The senator who lost out in the contest is staking all by running against the tide of opinion in his Senatorial zone. In a press statement after the decision penultimate week, he vowed to engage Ugwuanyi at the governorship primaries, a decision that two PDP leaders from his zone, Chief (Mrs) Justina Eze and Chief Fidel Ayogu, said was legitimate. Their only grouse was his uncharitable remarks and Eze’s antics which has been generating bad blood among the people.
For one, he could not have been ‘ambushed’ as he claimed, or cajoled to attend a meeting of his Nsukka kinsmen whom he represents at the Senate. That will be ridiculous coming from someone so knowledgeable. What if that ‘ambush’ had led to his nomination as consensus candidate? As a PDP chieftain, he understands the process of calling such Senatorial District caucus meetings and he knows that the party empowers such a gathering to consider “urgent and important political and economic issues affecting the party, the senatorial district and the state”.  He cannot now feign ignorance.
At this stage when their quest to produce the state governor has started yielding fruits, the last thing expected among leaders in Enugu North is unnecessary bickering. That it is being promoted by their own Senator who has himself benefitted severally from the system, makes it worrisome.  His utterances create the impression that the North is not united, a distraction which can possibly endanger the chances of the zone to produce the next governor of the State. Senator Eze should play the sportsman this time around and shun actions that portray him as selfish. Nsukka zone has given him so much and it is time for him to show understanding with their preference for the state governorship.
Ozoene, Publisher of People&Politics magazine, writes from Abuja.