Imo PDP 2024: Road Clear For Ihedioha, As Samdaddy Endorses Him

By Charles Igbo

It was a day for the flag off of the Presidential Campaign for the Candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. So, it was a day meant for Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa to sell themselves to Imo people, to show the stuff they are made of, and what they have for the State if they win the Presidential election in 2023.

Their Party is in the opposition in the State. Led by former Governor of the State, the Rt. Honourable Emeka Ihedioha, who was removed from office by the Supreme Court in January 2020, just after about seven months in office, the Party is a very strong, some say bitter, opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

But within the PDP, there is a turmoil. Bitter politics which border on hatred, almost, reigns.  It is a house very much divided against itself. It is a house torn into two – between Ihedioha and the National Secretary of the Party, Samuel Anyanwu, popular as Samdaddy. He is the Party’s highest office holder from the State at the National level. The National Secretary is the engine room of the Party, depending on how the occupant packages/handles it.

Each of the PDP groups in the State, runs the other down. Each group fabricates stories against the other group. Each group lies against the other. For both groups, nothing negative is off limits against  the other. They, atimes, roll in the gutter.

So, not a few people were nervous about how the Presidential Campaign Rally  will play off. Will both parties behave? Will they bury the hatchet and present a common front?

How will the leaders of both groups, Ihedioha and Samdaddy, manage their differences? Both of them are, in their own right,  leaders of the Party in the State, but  Ihedioha has the upper hand. The members  of the State Working Committee, SWC, are fiercely loyal to him.

What is the bone of contention?

Their story goes back to 2019. And it is over the Governorship seat. Both men had, in 2019, aspired to be the Governor. At the Primary, Ihedioha won, but Samdaddy cried foul. He said he won but was cheated out. So, he went to Court. At the time, he was a Senator. All appeals to him to drop the case fail on deaf ears. When he lost at the lowered Courts, he gave a condition – that he be given the ticket to go back to the Senate. But it was late. For, by then, the ticket has been ceded to Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi who was then a member of the House of Representatives. It was going to be untidy to withdraw it from him.

So, Samdaddy challenged Ihedioha to the Supreme Court, and continued even after Ihedioha had been sworn in as Governor. Samdaddy lost at the Supreme Court, and the bad seed was sown, permanently, almost.

November 2023

The Imo State Governorship  election will be an off-season one in November, 2023. The winner will be sworn-in January 2024. That has set the battle, again, between Ihedioha and Samdaddy who has since become the National Secretary of the Party. Both men are fired up to lock horns again. And it is the reason for the fierce bad blood, the reason why the Party in the State is torn apart.

Why Ihedioha/Irona?

Ordinarily, one would say give the ticket back to Ihedioha and his Deputy, Gerald Irona, since their administration was cut short and, especially, seeing that Ihedioha is popular in the State. But Samdaddy and his group see it differently.

They ask: Why would it always be Ihedioha? He has contested two times, why go a third time? Is he the sole owner of the PDP in the State? If we agree it is the turn of Owerri, is Ihedioha the only Owerri person capable of contesting for the office? Why are other capable members being fenced out of the contest? Why not throw the contest open?

Samdaddy’s  About-Turn

But all that seem to have been settled during Atiku’s visit to the State on Saturday, December 17, 2022.

Samdaddy,  before the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates, before the members of the PCC, and the crowd, endorsed Ihedioha for Governorship.

This medium cannot confirm whether it was planned; whether there were behind the scene discussions before Samdaddy’s dramatic endorsement of Ihedioha. Or, if the endorsement was done without knowing. Or perhaps, Samdaddy was overwhelmed by the spirit of the moment and endorsed Ihedioha without knowing he did.

Here’s what happened

Atiku, while addressing the excited crowd, suddenly roared: “Emeka Ihedioha!” Then he followed up with a question: “Will you vote for him?” And the crowd roared in the affirmative. Then Atiku nailed it. “If you will vote for him, raise up your hand.”  And Samdaddy hand shot up, indeed higher than those of most other people. It was dramatic. And, Ihedioha and his vociferous supporters lapped it all up.

Ihedioha as Sole Candidate; Tough battle ahead

If Samdaddy sticks to his action on Saturday, Ihedioha  will be the sole candidate of the Party. He will square up with APC’s incumbent Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, a no-push over by any stretch of imagination, and whoever emerges as the Candidate of the Labour Party, LP. The candidates of the other Parties will be, well, “the also-ran,” In November 2023, Imo will be tough!