The Enugu Professionals Forum (EPF) has dismissed as unfounded and misleading, statements credited to the Senator representing Enugu North Senatorial District, Ayogu Eze, suggesting that the process that produced Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as the consensus governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was manipulated to favour the House of Representatives member.
A statement signed by Tony Agu, the publicity secretary of the group, said it was particularly uncharitable for anyone to insinuate that Governor Chime had a hand in Ugwuanyi’s emergence when the choice was clearly and openly made by the people of Enugu North Senatorial District to which the PDP in the state had zoned the gubernatorial slot.
He noted that the Governor’s role in at the meeting where Ugwuanyi was endorsed and which Senator Eze and other aspirants also attended, was that of an impartial observer who merely introduced the issue and never contributed in the discussions that culminated in the selection of Ugwuanyi by the zonal cacus of Enugu North PDP.
Agu also pointed out that the popularity of the decision was underscored by the fact that not only had it been greeted with wide applause in Enugu North but that it had already been endorsed by both the Enugu East and Enugu West senatorial zones.
He said: “While we acknowledge the right of Senator Eze to express his views on the outcome of the meeting or to pursue any other process, we only think it is proper that the facts must be stated as they are. The meeting where Hon. Ugwuanyi emerged as the consensus candidate was held under a very cordial and brotherly atmosphere.
“The people of Enugu North spoke their mind in unison and the governor merely thanked them on that day for the decision taken. There was no case of imposing anyone on the people.
“To underscore how transparent the exercise went, the nomination of Ugwuanyi was moved by Ambassador Fidel Ayogu and seconded by Ezenwata Okechukwu Itanyi, the former Deputy Governor of the State. It’s instructive because these two men were aspirants to the position.
“At that meeting of Enugu North zone, other important dignitaries like former Governor Okwesilieze Nwodo, Senator Fidelis Okolo, Ambassador Justina Eze and others unanimously endorsed Ugwuanyi’s candidacy.”
Agu noted that chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party from both Enugu East and Enugu West senatorial districts have also unanimously endorsed Ugwuanyi as the party’s consensus candidate in the 2015 general elections.
