Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, has been confirmed the authentic governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State. Inside the expansive Tinubu Square in Lagos, penultimate Thursday, he was handed over the party’s banner to fly PDP’s flag for February 28 gubernatorial election in Imo.
At the rally, President Goodluck Jonathan presented the banner to Ihedioha. Amid pomp and ceremony, his hands were raised by PDP National Chairman, Adamu Muazu; and one of the
PDP leaders in Imo, Senator Hope Uzodinma.
The presentation of the flag was received with loud ovation by leaders and other party members. Ihedioha waved cheerfully with overwhelming tinge of gratification in acknowledgment of the sustained applause.
The Thursday’s ceremony is symbolic in many respects. The presentation of the flag has evidently and permanently obliterated somewhat doubts erroneously surrounding the candidature of Ihedioha by Senator Ifeanyi Araraume’s protege. Far more significant, it will eclipse the hitherto increasing level of propaganda and disinformation being churned out from Araraume’s camp on the governorship primary election held on December 8, 2014.
Shortly after the primaries, Araraume who emerged second in the keenly contested election polling 336 as against Ihedioha’s 346 protested the result. The irony was that immediately after the result was announced by chairman of the Imo PDP Governorship Primary Election panel, Terngu Tsergba, that Ihedioha won the election, Araraume swiftly moved and hugged him, in apparent show of victory concession.
Not a few Imolites who watched this open show of recognition and solidarity were shocked when, a few hours later, Araraume started singing a different tone. He rejected the result as announced and claimed that the process was manipulated to favour Ihedioha. Many political watchers failed to understand why the governorship aspirant decided to throw decency to the wind by speaking from two sides of the mouth.
Araraume’s logic has been that the votes declared invalid by the election panel were deliberately entered for Ihedioha, which provided the pivot that resulted in his defeat. He has baselessly done the arithmetic in several inaccurate ways to arrive at pre-determined number.
On the contrary, the panel that conducted the primary has on several occasions countered and floored Araraume’s jaundiced calculations, thereby making edifying clarifications.
“A total of 1,064 delegates were accredited for voting. Voting, sorting, counting and declaration of result were done in the open. Ihedioha was polled the highest number of votes. The other contestants and their scores were also announced. Ihedioha was accordingly declared winner.
“For emphasis, this outcome was arrived at, agreed to and announced to the anxious crowd at the stadium, with the full consent of agents of all the aspirants gathered. There was no dissension whatsoever by the candidates or their agents,” the panel chairman said.
The party elders in the state, in a statement, also emphasised the openness, transparency and fair nature of the election, calling Araraume to sheathe his sword for the overall interest of the party. They had noted that, as agreed by the agents of all the aspirants, three verification processes were embarked on to ensure that the exercise was transparent. The first was identification of the delegates at the main entrance by all the agents of the aspirants. The agents carried out another check at the entrance leading to the voting arena. The delegates were later made to cast their votes on ward-by-ward basis.
According to them, the security operatives were also on top of their job, ensuring that law and order were instituted throughout the duration of the process. This reality provided the delegates the desirable conducive environment to cast their votes freely and evidently wisely.
The elders, who observed that at the end of the voting, the sorting of the ballots was done in the full glare of all agents and each ballot was shown to all agents for verification, with the votes counted openly and witnessed by virtually all the people who were present, including the aspirants, their agents, media personnel, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials and so on wondered how Araraume came about his manipulation theory.
Despite all these weighty clarifications by relevant and eminent groups and individuals, instead of consolidating on the victory concession he earlier made to Ihedioha, Araraume decided to protest the outcome of the election. The protests have been episodic. First, he used the media to register his protest. He later went to court where the case was struck out. Late last month, he took to the streets in Owerri with his motley crowd where he declared himself the party’s candidate.
Party ticket world over is an intra-party affair, determined by the party stakeholders. The presentation of the Imo guber ticket to Ihedioha on that Thursday by Jonathan remains a strong statement which should put all discordant positions to rest.
As a loyal party leader, Araraume and his group should do well by respecting the decision and position of the party elders and stakeholders as expressed in Lagos. What is needed now more than ever before is to strike conciliation, build bridges and linkages thereby forging a cohesive, formidable and common force towards dislodging Governor Rochas Okorocha.
The PDP’s collective political mission in the state is unmistakable. It is a clear project aimed at ensuring that PDP reclaims Imo. To succeed, all PDP stakeholders in the state must, as a matter of emergency, unify. This is no time for rancour and whimsical rebellion.
• Dr. Uganwa wrote in from Owerri.
