The simmering conflict between Enugu
State governor, Sullivan Chime, and Deputy
Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, over
their individual political future has put
President Goodluck Jonathan in a
quandary ahead of the 2015 general polls.
While Ekweremadu, who is representing
Enugu West senatorial zone, seeks to
retain his seat in the upper legislative
chamber, the governor is eyeing the same
slot as he rounds off his second term as
governor of the state.
The battle came to a head last weekend
during the ward congresses of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) to which both
belong and which ended up with governor
seemingly holding the short end of the
stick.
Several complaints reaching Jonathan over
the development compelled him to convene
a meeting to attempt to resolve the
differences between the two combatants.
The meeting held at the Aso Rock Villa last
Thursday and it was also attended by the
party’s National Chairman, Adamu Muazu.
A source close to one of the gladiators told
Sunday Independent that Jonathan had
to equally invite a former president of the
Senate, Ken Nnamani, to the parley to help
put the puzzle in place.
The Presidency is said to believe that
Nnamani, who is respected in political
circles of Enugu and has substantial
influence in the state can weigh in on one
the fueding parties to sheathe the sword or
reach a compromise.
While Chime is believed to have dragged
his feet for too long in the days of
confusion over whether Jonathan should
assume the acting presidency of the
country when his predecessor, Umaru
Ya’Adua, was terminally ill in a Saudi
hospital, Ekweremadu had been quick to
retrace his steps after declaring that the
ailing President could rule the country from
anywhere.
This had not really mattered until as the
circumstance had been overtaken by time
until now that the Presidency has to
choose between the two men.
Our source insists that the cold shoulder
being given by Muazu, a one-time
governor of Bauchi State, may have the
hand of the Presidency.
But the source said the Presidency has
pledged to resolve the issue as he
understands the need to have PDP
governors on his side as the February 14
presidential elections gets closer.
The governors have already handed
Jonathan a freeway to emerge as the
party’s sole candidate for the election and
this may not be the time to hurt their
feelings.
The confusion increases owing to the fact
that the President also does not want to
hurt the feelings of the senators who have
stood by him through thick and thin, and in
fact offered him one of their own to
become one of the longest-serving
ministers of the Federal Capital Territory.
Another source disclosed that Chime might
have quietly dropped his ambition to get to
the Senate following the intervention of
Jonathan.
The governor is said to have lost at the
negotiation table owing to his loss of the
state’s party structure to Ekweremadu at
the last ward congresses.
Our source said some members of the
party in the state, including the party
executive members had become
disenchanted with Chime, which led to the
resignation of the erstwhile party chairman,
Vitalis Abba.
The discontent had snowballed into the
governor having fewer loyalists during the
congress, a situation Ekweremadu took
advantage of and is said to be using well
as negotiations continued.
The source argued that it makes it less
messy for the PDP to have a Deputy
Senate President retain his seat than for a
governor to shelve his ambition to go to
the Senate.
Having given his promise to settle the
matter to reasonable satisfaction of all
parties, the source points out that
Jonathan is acutely aware that his getting
more votes in the 2015 election is a factor
in how he and the party chairman charts
the course of the battle for the soul of
Enugu.
Meanwhile, the purported truce between the
two may have raised some apprehensions
in Enugu, where their supporters are still
unaware of the details of the reconciliation.

http://dailyindependentnig.com/2014/11/jonathan-dilemma-chime-ekweremadus-ambitions/

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