ENUGU: The Odds Still Favour PDP’s Return

AS the nation looks forward to the April 11 Governorship/State Assembly elections, popularity of candidates, party strength as well as the outcome of last Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections are chief among other factors that will determine where victory will go in the exercise in Enugu State.

The fear is that these unresolved issues might affect the voting pattern this time around and added to the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the presidential election, it might not be an easy ride for the Enugu PDP.

The other factor is the challenge thrown up to the parties by the ill feelings generated in the conduct of the governorship and state Assembly primaries in the parties in the state.

For Enugu State, two parties the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) are on the card. These parties are taking the lead following their level of acceptance here. They are also the parties that have fielded candidates for the various state Assembly positions and have campaigned vigorously.

Other parties like United Progressive Party (UPP) and Independent Democrats, also have governorship candidates and are contesting in the elections.

Before last Saturday’s APC upset in the national polls, pundits would have awarded a straight victory to PDP in the state, going by the results the party has posted in the state since 1999.

In fact, no opposition party has thrived here. It has been straight win and PDP all the way. Backed by government in power, the PDP has also run an elaborate campaign to convince the electorate on why they should vote in the party again and continue to support it.

The party has promised more democracy dividends as a continuation of what it had done in the state in the past 16 years. However, the ill feelings generated within the party over the last primaries of the party, upon which certain notable members who were part of the exercise have refused to let go and rather resorted to court for settlement could hurt the party.

The truth is that majority of these people have not been part of what is going on in the party since they were ‘unjustly’ handled. Some even jumped the boat to contest elections, using the platforms of other political parties and the fear is that the disillusionment may be carried into the election on Saturday.

The Guardian gathered during the week that the court had upturned the victory of Mr. Ikechukwu Ugwuegede in the primaries of the party for the House of Representative seat for Nsukka/Igboeze South constituency for his opponent, Pat Asadu, added fillip to the development.

The fear is that these unresolved issues might affect the voting pattern this time around and added to the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the presidential election, it might not be an easy ride for the Enugu PDP.

One thing that the two parties have in common, as they go into the election is that their governorship candidates came from the same senatorial zone of Enugu north. But while the PDP candidate, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has been in government since 1999, APC’s candidate, Okey Ezea has not been in government. He has been in private concern, but has sponsored his election for governorship since 2003. The current effort is his fourth attempt.

Since the presidential election was won, APC in the state seems to have woken up from their slumber and now talks like a party ready to win the governorship election. It was gathered that some underground moves are going on to join forces with the party to edge out PDP in the election.

Already, supporters of the People for Democratic Change (PDC), led by former governor, Chimaroke Nnamani, are threatening to vote against the ruling party following its loss in the Enugu East senatorial election. PDC strongly feels that its candidate, Nnamani was ‘rigged out’ of the election by PDP.