The Peoples Democratic Party’s, PDP, Primary Election for the Senatorial seat of Imo East, Owerri District, was the most expected. It was the most anticipated. It was the most fiercely contested for. It was energy sapping. And it was, messy, almost. It destroyed relationships. And, unless the PDP leadership in the State reconciles, quick, some relationships may be permanently destroyed. That job will be mainly carried out by the Rt Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, former Governor of the State, who is regarded as the Leader of the PDP in the State. He was, almost caught in between. He walked a tight rope.
The hard-fought battle was between the incumbent Senator, Francis Ezenwa Onyewuchi, and a former member of the House of Representatives, Uche Onyeagucha.
Both are close associates of Ihedioha. While it was Ihedioha who pushed Onyewuchi, a former member of the House of Representatives, to the Senate to replace Senator Samuel Anyanwu, popular as Samdaddy, Onyeagucha was Ihedioha’s Secretary to the State Government, during Ihedioha’s short-lived tenure as Governor of Imo State.
Onyewuchi was interested in a second term in office as Senator. Everybody, including Ihedioha, this medium was told, thought it was a done deal. Onyewuchi was not giving the leadership of the Party in the State any problems. He is on the calm side, and was not in anybody’s face.
But, suddenly, like a volcano, Onyeagucha surfaced. He decided to run for the seat occupied by Onyewuchi. Charismatic, an orator, activist, Lawyer, Onyeagucha siezed the political space. He took it by storm.
This medium was told that Ihedioha was taken-aback. It is alleged that Onyeagucha did not consult him before going public with his aspiration. If he did, this magazine was told, he would probably have discouraged him.
He wanted Onyewuchi, we were told, to get his second term in office. Ihedioha had his reasons.
He did not want to be seen as a stumbling block to the second term aspiration of Onyewuchi, having been accused of stopping Anyanwu from getting a second time in 2019.
Yet, his story with Anyanwu, now the National Secretary of the PDP, is not that straight. Anyanwu, like Ihedioha, aspired to be Governor in 2019. He was a Senator then. When the ticket went to Ihedioha, Anyanwu challenged it in court. He refused to withdraw the case. By that time, Ihedioha had backed Onyewuchi to the Senate. Later, Anyanwu wanted the Senate ticket as a condition to withdraw the case, but Ihedioha had already given his words to Onyewuchi. Anyanwu ended up a one-term Senator. And held Ihedioha responsible for that.
In the instant case, Ihedioha didn’t want to be seen as backing Onyeagucha to succeed Onyewuchi just after a term. So, he was caught in between. In that difficult situation, he decided to play safe. Back none of them publicly. May delegates decide.
But suddenly, a third candidate surfaced – Basil Maduka from Mbaise, Ihedioha’s area. Maduka was seen as a spoiler. Not a few people alleged he was being encouraged by Anyanwu to spoil Ihedioha’s chances of picking the PDP Governorship ticket. Being from the same Mbaise as Ihedioha, the argument would have been that Mbaise cannot produce both the Senatorial and Governorship candidate. Anyanwu denied the allegation
The three men went to battle. A hard fought battle which overshadowed those of the other two Senatorial Districts – Imo North and Imo West.
While they campaigned hard, not a few people gave Onyewuchi the edge. Maduka was given no chance. But on Thursday, May 26, the battle was won and lost. There was an upset. Onyewuchi lost the battle to Onyeagucha. He scored 110 votes to Onyeagucha’s 134 votes.
Maduka was a distant third with a score of 64 votes.
Elsewhere in Okigwe Senatorial District, Imo North, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume’s son, Ifeanyi Araraume jnr, who recently decamped from the APC to the PDP, and surprisingly joined the race, was beaten silly by the popular Chief Emmanuel Okewulonu who flew the Party’s flag in the last election, and lost to the incumbent Senator Francis Ibezim.
In the Orlu Senatorial Zone, Imo West, Hon Jones Onyereri beat both Hon ThankGod Ezeani and Hon Jerry Alagbaoso to clinch the ticket.
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