The Coup That Threw Up Senator Anyanwu As PDP’s Consensus National Secretary

By Gideon Njoku

In what has been described as a coup against the known leader of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in Imo State, the Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, popular as Sam Daddy, emerged the South-east consensus candidate for the office of the National Secretary.

The position was conceded to him in Enugu on Friday, October 15, at a meeting of the South-east PDP on Friday, October 15, 2021.

Earlier, the Party’s National Electoral body had zoned the office to the South-east, which, in turn, micro-zoned it to Imo State.

It was expected that Ihedioha, being the leader of the Party in the State, would bring his influence to bear on the choice of the consensus candidate, but it didn’t happen. Powerful forces from outside the State were, allegedly, stacked against him.

One of the formidable forces, it is alleged, was a Governor from the South-south Zone, who incidentally, was his very close associate.

It is not quite known what came between Ihedioha and the Governor, but Party sources said it had to do with the crisis over Prince Uche Secondus as the National Chairman of the Party. Apparently, both the former Governor of Imo State and the South-south Governor are in the opposite sides.

The South-south Governor who has since shifted his political interest in Imo State  away from Ihedioha, deposited it in Anyanwu. It is the new relationship that helped clinch the new plum office for Anyanwu.

In Imo State, the story is that Ihedioha and Anyanwu are not political friends, as such, even though they belong to same party.

Their “sour” relationship go a long way, especially, to the Governorship Primary in 2019, which saw the emergence of  Ihedioha as the Party’s flag bearer. He was eventually declared winner of the election, which was, however, aborted by the Supreme Court after he had stayed for seven months in office.

Senator Anyanwu contested against Ihedioha at the Primary, and vehemently disputed Ihedioha’s victory. And, even when Ihedioha had been sworn-in as the Governor, Anyanwu continued with the case against his emergence at the Primary upto the Supreme Court.

Anyanwu’s anger was, having “unfairly” lost at the Primary, he wanted a concession. At the time he contested, he was the Senator representing Imo East at the Senate. He wanted the Senatorial ticket conceded to him, but Ihedioha, allegedly preferred  the now incumbent Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi who he was, already, committed to from the beginning.

Since these incidents, even though both Ihedioha and Anyanwu had met and publicly declared a common front, many in the party insist it is cosmetic.

In the past couple of months, Anyanwu has been more vocal and visible in the political affairs of the State.

It is being strongly rumoured that he still has his eyes firmly placed on the Governorship seat of the State, and would contest. The new office of the National Secretary of the Party which he is going to occupy, when ratified at the upcoming National Congress, will be a solid stepping stone. And, if so, he is most likely to contest against Ihedioha, who for now, still has the solid support of the Imo PDP Executive behind him.

Instructively, since the emergence of Anyanwu as the consensus choice for the office of the National Secretary, neither Ihedioha nor the Imo PDP has, officially, said a word.