By Charles Onyekamuo 
 The two candidates, who emerged at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) parallel congresses, in Anambra State at the weekend, Senator Andy Uba and Mr. Tony Nwoye, have separately called for cooperation from all the aspirants that participated in the primaries. Their call came on the heels of the explanations by Senator Emma Anosike, as to why he left the scene of the primaries being conducted by the Kenneth Emeakayi-led faction at the Dr. Alex Ekwueme Square in Awka, for the primaries being conducted simultaneously by the Chief Ejike Oguebego-led faction at the Emmaus House also in Awka, saying Emeakayi’s faction did not only have structural problems but also deficient in procedure and process. Uba had after the primaries told THISDAY that he expected other aspirants to join him in lifting the PDP in the state and to work for its victory at the November 16 governorship poll as they all agreed in a meeting with the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) prior to the primaries where they pledged to work with whoever won. He said he would operate an open door policy which would be inclusive of progressive ideas that are not averse to constructive criticisms in his stride to develop the state if elected governor, adding that he would carry everybody along. He said his victory at the primaries conducted by the Oguebego-led executive and supervised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was for every one as there was neither a victor nor a vanquished. He promised to unfold his programme for the development of the state in the event of his victory at the poll. Uba had polled 645 votes to beat Anosike, who scored 110, and Patrick Ugboma, Jerry Ugokwe and Ugochukwu Okeke, who polled 89, 86 and 20 votes respectively. On his part, Nwoye who came tops at the primaries conducted by the Emeakayi-led faction of the party in the state and which was supervised by the PDP committee led by Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State, had shortly after being declared the winner called on all the 15 aspirants, who entered the race with him, including Uba and Mr. Nicholas Ukachukwu, whom he described as his mentors to join hands with him to make the PDP the dream party of Anambra people. He said he would work to ensure that the PDP wins the November 16, governorship polls and that outside providing infrastructure like roads, water and payment of salaries of workers as expected of a responsible government, he would strive to create employment opportunities and provide soft loans for the unemployed youths and women, while reducing crime rate. But Anosike, one of the aspirants from Anambra North zone, who after a stint with the primaries conducted by the Emekayi faction left in the middle of the accreditation for the Oguebego-led primaries, where he said he defected to because there was only one PDP and who ever emerges from both sides still remains a member of PDP. Besides, INEC, he said, had told them that it won’t monitor the primaries conducted at the Ekwueme square and that since he believed in the process and procedure and having fallen victim of running afoul of it in the past in defiance of the Electoral Act, which made it clear that the INEC should monitor the electoral process, and section 25 of the party constitutions, which stated that the state chairman of the party must be the chairman of the state primaries, he decided to opt out. At the aspirants’ meeting with Governor Ibrahim Shema who led the PDP committee for Anambra primaries, Anosike who spoke to THISDAY, said the committee saw with him and Shema explained that he was leaving the aspirants to determine what they wanted and the process they shall follow. Then, the aspirants, he said, met and agreed that the election should be done with statutory delegates alone and 10 of them signed the documents which was duly delivered to Shema and the Secretary of the committee, Senator Ndoma-Egba as well as the chairman of the observation team, Governor Dankwanbo of Gombe State. “After that, when I found out that the primaries being conducted at Emmaus House was being done with all the processes in place, I felt that the best place for me to be was there. “When I got there, I saw and felt the presence of INEC, the party executive and the full paraphernalia of the primaries election. At that juncture, I had no option but to be part of the congress primaries,” he said, adding that when issues concerning the election at Ekwueme Square, how delegates were bought, increasing level of violence, lapses in the process and the court orders were raised, Shema explained that he was leaving the aspirants to determine our fate and had only come to facilitate what we were doing. Tags: Nigeria, Featured, Politics, Andy Uba
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 05:38:34 +0000
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