Ten days to the close of purchase of
nomination forms by governorship
aspirants on the platform of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), there are fresh
facts that some aspirants may be
prevented from flying the party’s flag
during the forthcoming general
elections.
Daily Sun learnt that while some
aspirants will be stopped at the party
primaries, a few others who had been
endorsed as consensus candidates by
some outgoing state governors may be
screened out. It was also gathered that
the PDP hierarchy and the Presidency
are opposed to some persons who
purportedly worked against the interests
and directives of the above organs to vie
for the governorship elections. This,
Daily Sun gathered, explained why the
PDP made a public declaration against
the endorsement of some aspirants by
governors and the state PDP.
According to a source, “the time has
come to show that loyalty to the party
pays. The party is not going to reward
someone or those people who worked
against its interest in the past to
become its candidates. Otherwise, what
message are you sending to those who
were loyal and carried out the party’s
directives?
“I’ll give you just one example to
buttress what I’m mean. You may say it
belongs to the past but you see, during
the election of the Speaker of the House
of Representatives (Alhaji Aminu
Tambuwal), there were some PDP
members in the House who worked
against the party’s directives and by
extension, against the Presidency.
Today, some of them are aspiring to
contest governorship elections in their
states. I concede it to them that it is
their constitutional rights but we will, as
a party, speak at the appropriate time
on the sorts of people who will and will
not fly the party’s flag,” the source
affirmed.
It is against this backdrop and the need
to ensure that their favoured candidates
get both the party and security
clearances that has propelled some of
the outgoing PDP governors who have
been visiting Abuja to ascertain if their
preferred successors have issues.
For instance, Governors Godswill
Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Emmanuel
Uduaghan of Delta and others especially
from the North have people they favour
but have kept sealed lips on their
preferred successors, while also working
underground to ascertain if their
anointed candidates would scale
through party and security screening
when the chips are down.
Deputy Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Chief Emeka Ihedioha
has mounted a strong campaign to win
the Imo State governorship primary and
has also won the support of some
influential politicians. Sources revealed
however, that the presidency has not
forgiven him for his role during the
election of Tambuwal as speaker.
Similarly, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi
representing Udenu/Igbo Eze South
federal constituency, who was recently
endorsed as the PDP gubernatorial
candidate for Enugu State also has the
same problem with the presidency. He
was said to be one of the strong
supporters and financiers of the
speaker’s emergence against the
Presidency’s preferred choice and the
party’s firm directive on the matter.
Though he, like Ihedioha, has been trying
to reach out to the Presidency through
emissaries, President Goodluck
Jonathan is said not to have forgiven
him for his alleged involvement in
influencing how the lawmakers voted
during that ill-fated election that
dislodged the President’s annointed
candidate.
Our source further disclosed that
Nigerians will be shocked by the
outcomes of the party primaries across
the states because “it will be suicidal for
us as a party to hand over our ticket to
people who worked against our party
before now and whose allegiance is
elsewhere. No matter what they profess
today, we are mindful of what they can
do tomorrow.
“If the President and our party are
disposed to our outgoing governors
having a big role in deciding their
successors, they must give us credible
and acceptable candidates or
alternatives. Otherwise, we are not
obliged to accept their sole choices if
they don’t satisfy our criteria, one of
which is loyalty to the party.”
- The Sun News
http://sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=86945