Enugu 2015: How Ekweremadu, Chime Shared Elective Political Positions. Leave a Comment. It is often said that in politics, “there are no permanent friends, but permanent interests”. This is quite true as it concerns the struggle for the control of the soul and even the body of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State between the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and the state governor, Sullivan Chime. The two political gladiators who hail from the same senatorial district – Enugu West – were for several months at daggers drawn following Governor Chime’s resolve to displace the three-term senator from the upper legislative House. As leader of the PDP in the state – and working in concert with Mr. Vita Abba, state chairman of the party – the governor was confident of clinching the Enugu West Senatorial ticket to contest the 2015 general elections. But the tide suddenly ebbed following the resignation of Abba to contest the Nsukka/Igboeze federal constituency seat in the House of Representatives. The governor appointed Ikeje Asogwa, managing director of the state Housing Corporation as acting chairman of the party, pending the election of a substantive chairman. In Governor Chime’s reckoning, Asogwa, said to be a hard-liner, would effortlessly handover the senatorial ticket to him, to the detriment of Senator Ekweremadu. But that was not to be. Elder David Aja, deputy state chairman of the state chapter of the PDP, assumed the position of the acting chairman, citing relevant provisions of the party’s constitution as basis for his action. The national leadership of the party agreed with him. Beyond that, two Federal High Courts in Abuja that he had approached to seek legal backing, also conferred authority on him to pilot the affairs of the party until further notice. It was against this background that Ajah conducted the November 1 congress in the 260 wards in the state to elect the three-man ad-hoc delegates from each ward. The delegates were to elect candidates for the State and National Assemblies, as well as the party’s gubernatorial candidate. Elder Aja reportedly hails from Aninri local government area – the same local government with Senator Ekweremadu. He is also alleged to be an in-law to the deputy senate president. So, it was easy for Aja to be at the beck and call of Senator Ekweremadu. As a matter of fact, all the delegates that emerged during the November 1 ward congress were by implication, loyal to Ekweremadu. And apparently sensing an impending defeat on the political turf, some members of the governor’s camp approached an Enugu High Court presided over by the State Chief Judge, Justice Innocent Umezuluike, seeking an order of the court to restrain the national leadership of the PDP from accepting the delegates list submitted by the Ekweremadu group, until the final determination of the suit challenging the November 1 ward congress in the state. While the Chime group insisted that the congress did not hold in Enugu on November 1, due to the non-arrival of both the members of the electoral committee and materials from Abuja, a faction of the partly said to be loyal to the Deputy Senate President, claimed that the congress held. The judge ruled in favour of the plaintiffs. He restrained the national leadership of the PDP from making use of the delegates list until further notice. The judge was to have given a definite ruling on the case on November 28, but adjourned the ruling on the controversial ward congress to December 12, after the court was told that the two feuding parties were at the verge of resolving the matter out of court. It was learnt that Senator Ekweremadu held a meeting with Governor Chime, at the Government House, Enugu, on the eve of the November 29 State House of Assembly primaries, to find ways and means of resolving the nagging issue out of court. It was gathered that both parties agreed to share the elective political positions in a mutually beneficial manner. The governor was said to have agreed to drop his senatorial ambition.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 08:23:07 +0000
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