Allegation against Ugwuanyi: Nwodo, Eze, others react
Angry chieftains of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu state yesterday reacted to a recent media report (not THE CITIZEN), alleging that loyalists of the speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, including the party's consensus governorship candidate for Enugu State, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi were under watch by the presidency, warning President Goodluck Jonathan to be wary of the antics of fifth columnists who want to make him lose his support base through rumour mongering.
Former national chairman of the party, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, who is a member of the party's Board of Trustees, Ambassador Justina Eze who is also a BOT member of the party expressed anger yesterday when they reacted to the development, saying it was a 'huge insult on the leaders of the state to reduce their hard-earned popular decision for 2015 to the whims of the personal decision of Tambuwal'.
Speaking separately in Enugu, Eze and Nwodo agreed that whatever happens in the National Assembly does not have anything to do with the decision of the people of the state to support the emergence of Ugwuanyi as the 'very popular consensus candidate of the party'.
Mrs Eze particularly pointed out that it was clear that those behind the campaign against Ugwuanyi 'are those who feel they have failed to convince our people that they are better material for governorship and they have shown that they have failed indeed'.
She further posited that 'it is a well-known fact that some people in the National Assembly had during the crisis days of the Yar'Adua presidency when he was sick openly declared that he could rule the country from wherever he was indefinitely and we can see these same people now entering Jonathan's kitchen as his best of friends and these are people who want him to believe that Ugwuanyi is the best of Tambuwal's friends. The president should watch his back' . Also expressing anger over the smear campaign against Ugwuanyi, Dr. Nwodo queried: 'What does Tambuwal stand for and how does that affect the plausible decision of all times that the people of the state have just taken that this young man (Ugwuanyi) is our party's consensus candidate'
'We as leaders in Enugu state, along with our people have spoken unequivocally and anybody casting aspersion on that decision should be ready to face the music.
'Such people should know that the days of imposition and secret anointing of aspirants who are unpopular was over and anyone who wants to test his popularity should get ready to do that on November 29 this year when we hold our primary elections. It has been shown manifestly that our decision on Ugwuanyi remains the most popular since the creation of our state and they know it'.
'These are people who have failed to visit their constituencies for years and nobody knows what they doing there at the National Assembly and remain very unpopular among our people and they now want to deceive the president to be making enmity with popular leaders who would really garner presidency votes for him.
'I want to advise Mr. President to be wary of these desperate politicians who have no capacity to attract genuine votes for him during the coming elections'.
The PDP chieftains agreed that Ugwuanyi truly earned his position as a long-standing chairman of the committee on Marine Transport of the House of Representatives, having held it even during the regime of former speaker, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, adding that even the international Maritime Organization had found the lawmaker worthy of the position he is holding.