By Gideon Njoku
The Governorship aspiration of Senator Samuel Anyanwu, the Imo State Governorship flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was on Friday, dealt another devastating blow. And so has the PDP in the State. Dr Mrs Kema Chikwe, by any standard, one of the most powerful and successful female politicians in Nigeria has dumped them.
In the past few weeks, the Imo Chapter of the PDP has had an unparalleled run with a number of its high profile members, dumping it for the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and Governor Hope Uzodinma.
Aside from its most high profile member and former Governor of the State, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, who has given the Party in the State some space since his sudden withdrawal from the Governorship race, the Party, in one fell swoop, a couple of weeks ago, lost seven members of its State Working Committee, SWC, including the State Secretary, State Publicity Secretary, Women Leader, Youth Leader, a State Deputy Chairman, to the APC. They declared that one of their reasons for leaving was to support the “good works of the Governor in the State.”
Since then, a number of other leaders, including a popular former House of Representatives Member, Jerry Alagboso, have followed the same path.
On Friday, July 20, it was the turn of Dr Chikwe. Until now, a staunch PDP member, Dr Chikwe was Minister for Aviation during the President Olusegun Obasanjo Government, later Nigeria’s Ambassador to Ireland, later, Chairman, JAMB, later, PDP National Women Leader, BOT member, etc. All, in addition to being a very strong pillar of the Party in the State.
Chikwe began to lose interest in the party some months ago. She was one of those who criticized the running of the Party in the State, and, alongside others, protested to the National Leadership of the Party.
A strong ally of Ihedioha, the two of them unexpectedly parted ways over the affairs of the Party in the State. She became more inclined towards the National Secretary of the Party, Anyanwu, who picked the Party’s Governorship ticket as a sole candidate after Ihedioha withdrew.
But since then, Chikwe’s attitude towards the Party in the State has been very lukewarm. Not a few people put it down to the insults publicly hauled at her, without any respect for her age and status, by those described by some people as overzealous PDP members over her criticism of the SWC. Not even the fact that Anyanwu is the Governorship flag bearer could draw her out from her shell.
On Wednesday, she took the bull by the horn. At the 6th Anniversary of the Women Leadership Institute, her baby, in Abuja, attended by a number of Imo leaders and stakeholders, Dr Chikwe told a brief story of her foray into politics. Then she threw in the shocker. She announced that she was done with partisan politics. She quit.
The high point of her speech, however, was her public endorsement of Governor Hope Uzodinma for a second term in office. This has left Anyanwu at crossroads, murmured somebody in the audience.
By doing so, Chikwe simply followed in the footsteps of many other individuals, associations and communities, recently, endorsing Uzodinma for a second term in office. While the PDP is embroiled in a self-inflicted crisis, and the Labour Party still battling with a “rogue” claimant to the ticket, Uzodinma has been harvesting goodwill and support from left, right and centre.
The Imo State Governorship election will be held on 11th November, 2023. Said a PDP stalwart who pleaded anonymity, “It will be a no-contest. The soul of PDP has moved on. PDP lost it when Ihedioha withdrew from the race.” However, time will tell.
