Imo East Senatorial District: Why Onyewuchi Defeated Onyeagucha

By Charles Igbo

The shock in the camp of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the State is not just that its Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, lost in the State, it is also that it lost the Imo East Senatorial seat. Although the State, like other States has three Senatorial Zones – Imo North, Imo West, Imo East – none was more anticipated than Imo East.

For good reasons.

*It is the seat of Government, therefore, Senator Hope Uzodinma, an APC Governor, will hate to lose the Zone which hosts his seat.

*Former Imo State Governor, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha is from the Zone. He was removed from office in favour of Uzodinma, and would hate to lose his Zone to anybody, especially, the man for whom he was removed from office.

*The three main candidates – *Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi, LP,

*Hon. Uche Onyeagucha, PDP,

*Prince Alex Mbata, popular as PAM, APC, are no push-overs.

While the first two – Onyewuchi and Onyeagucha – are political heavyweights in their own rights, Mbata is what Nigerians call a money-bag.

No Zone was, therefore, as anticipated in Imo as Imo East. It lived upto it.

When the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC announced the results, and declared the incumbent Senator, Ezenwa Onyewuchi, of the Labour Party, LP,  the winner,, the PDP was dumb-founded. Many of its members were in self-denial. So, they gave all kinds of reasons why it was not possible, including that the same INEC which declared Onyewuchi the winner says “it is inconclusive.”

Nobody should blame them. Their disbelief is understandable. If there was any Senatorial Zone the PDP was sure of winning, it was Imo East. Here are why.

The Party’s Candidate, Uche Onyeagucha, a Lawyer, a former Member of the House of Representatives, immediate past Secretary to the Imo State Government, under the short-lived tenure of the charismatic Rt. Honourable Emeka Ihedioha, is like a hurricane.

He has charisma, propelled more by his good looks and clean appearance and oratory. The man in white. Courageous, blunt, but perhaps, atimes, to a dangerous and needless extent.

A civil rights activist, Onyeagucha is a grassroot politician, a peoples’ person, a good mixer. And he can talk. And he can fight. And, when he fights, he takes no hostages.

From the day he declared interest in the Owerri Senatorial Zone seat, allegedly, without consulting  a number of Party Leaders, including, Ihedioha, he was all over the place. He was like a tsunami. Ihedioha, allegedly, was not very happy with Onyeagucha’s declaration.  Ihedioha was responsible for Onyewuchi’s journey to the Senate. He wanted Onyewuchi to have a second term in office. But Onyeagucha was bent on sacking Onyewuchi from the seat.

Onyewuchi is the opposite of Onyeagucha. He is calm and ordinary and unassuming. He does not talk much. A number of his loyalists call him a quiet operator.A quiet achiever. He does not show off. He does not hug publicity. He does not play to the gallery. One of the reasons not a few people think he did not do well in his first term as Senator. His loyalists insist he did well. And they have a list of projects to show off. Yet, he hardly spoke about them, or published them (Bad judgment) until Onyeagucha appeared on the scene.

So, from the day Onyeagucha expressed interest to run, he overshadowed Onyewuchi. And shut-down, almost, every PDP member who was in support of Onyewuchi going back to the Senate.

His foot soldiers are aggressive, Onyewuchi’s were no match to them. It was no surprise, then, that at the PDP Senatorial Primary, Onyeagucha carried the day. That was when the real “war” started.

Onyeagucha’s foot soldiers and his aggressive media team, even from the Party, went to work. Onyewuchi decamped to the Labour Party when lost in the Primary. He had the sympathy of not a few PDP members, including some of the Party elders.

Then, Onyeagucha’s attack team went into full throttle.

They attacked any PDP member, including some Party elders, who had sympathy for Onyewuchi.

The aggressiveness of the attack put a lot of people off. And had a negative effect on Onyeagucha. The Party became divided.

In the LP, Onyewuchi, helped by the Peter Obi-effect, helped by the division in the PDP, helped by the foul language of most writers in the (divided) PDP, especially, those who call the elders names and accuse them of all kinds of things, including taking money and cars from the APC Governor to undermine tye PDP, worked his way into the hearts of many voters.

The result is the defeat of the charismatic Onyeagucha.

When the final curtain was drawn, the results stood at:

*Onyewuchi – 92,143.

*Onyeagucha- 88,712.

*Mbata – 33, 726.

For Onyewuchi, victory has never been this sweet. Failing in the PDP Primary and decamping to LP, has never been more rewarding than this. It turned a blessing. He is deservedly celebrating with praise songs.