By Charles Igbo
Going into the 2023 General Elections, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Imo State Chapter, will be one high profile member short.
It has lost its only Senator. The Party is now without a Senator at the National Assembly.
The only Senator it had before now, Senator Francis Ezenwa Onyewuchi, has dumped it. PDP’s loss is the gain of the fast rising Labour Party, LP. The LP has become home to thousands of people since Peter Obi, former Anambra State Governor, dumped it for LP, where he is now the Presidential candidate.
Senator Onyewuchi decamped so quietly that not many people in the PDP knew. They knew only on Friday when the Labour Party reeled out the names of its candidates for the 2023 Senatorial contest.
Until he decamped, Onyewuchi was the Senator representing Imo East
(Owerri Senatorial District) at the National Assembly. It is the Zone where both former State Governor, Rt Hon. Emeka Ihedioha and the PDP National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu (Sam Daddy) hail from. Both men now have an LP Senator representing them at the Senate.
Senator Onyewuchi’s journey to defection began seriously the day he was defeated at the Senatorial Primary by Hon. Uche Onyeagucha, a former House of Representatives member and, the immediate past Secretary to Imo State Government, SSG, under Ihedioha.
Onyewuchi was, at once, shocked and destabilised by his defeat. He was sure his second term bid was secured, especially, as he had the tacit backing of the District’s main stakeholders, especially, the elderly ones. But, like a hurricane, Onyeagucha was aggressive and unsparing in his campaign. He blew Onyewuchi and his supporters away.
This medium gathered that the hands of Ihedioha were tied. He couldn’t save Onyewuchi, the man he installed as Senator in 2019, in preference to Samdaddy.
Both Onyewuchi and Onyeagucha are close to Ihedioha. He, therefore, preferred not to take sides, and like a true democrat, allowed the delegates to make their choice. They chose Onyeagucha.
By his defection, the Senators representing Imo State now are:
*Senator Rochas Okorocha -APC.
*Senator Frank Ibezim -APC.
*Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi- LP.
In 2023, both Okorocha and Ibezim will be missing at the National Assembly. The political environment in the State did not favour Okorocha, Imo-west, to seek for a second term as a Senator. In his place, both the State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, and the officially recognised APC faction in the State preferred Senator Osita Izunaso, a former National Organising Secretary of the Party. He won the Primary.
Okorocha, wisely, did not take part in the Primary. He was busy with the Presidential Primary where he scored zero number of votes, prompting many to ask if he did not even vote for himself.
Like, Senator Onyewuchi, Senator Ibezim, Imo North, was defeated at the Primary which condemned him to a one-term Senator.
As for Onyewuchi, whether he goes back to the Senate or not depends on his performance during the proper election in 2023.
He will face two heavyweights – Onyeagucha who will be backed by the very aggressive opposition Imo PDP, and Prince Alex Mbata who will be backed by the ruling APC and the incumbent Governor, Uzodinma, who has won all the elections in the State held since he came into office. Imo will be tough in 2023.
