ABBANOBI – EKU ONYEKA
Ahead of governorship and state assemblies elections scheduled to take place Saturday, former Governor Okwesilieze Nwodo of Enugu state has warned in strong terms against the alleged move by Nkanu people to stop the Labour Party (LP) guber candidate, Chijoke Edeoga, from the race, with the reason that he is equally from Enugu East Senatorial District.
Although under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) arrangement, that has been in power in the state right from1999, when the Nigeria commenced the 4th republic, governorship positions were zoned between the three senatorial zones of the Enugu East, Enugu North, and Enugu West.
After the tenure of the present Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi from Enugu North, populated mainly by the Nsukka people, it is the turn of Enugu East, primarily controlled by the Nkanu people, to produce a governor.
The people from Enugu East Senatorial District, whose turn it is to have the next governor produced from, were said to have moved against the candidacy of the LP guber candidate, saying that he is from Nsukka where the current Governor Ugwuanyi of the state comes from.
To clear the air, Our correspondent spoke to former Governors Jim Nwobodo and Okwesilieze Nwodo on the telephone yesterday.
Although Nwobodo, when contacted, only responded that the LP candidate said he was from Nsukka. Nwodo also spoke at length on Rhee matte, explaining why the LP candidate should go for the cutest without any hitches.
In his explanations, the former governor said that the LP candidate was from Isiuzor Local Government Area, being one of the local governments in Enugu East Senatorial District that should produce the next governor in line with the zoning system in the state. He informed us that after the creation of the new Enugu state, Abakaliki went to Ebonyi state, while Isiuzor was given to Enugu and put into Nkanu East Senatorial District.
Nwodo further informed us that since the creation of the senatorial district, nobody from Isiuzor had ever been a governor. He said that Nwobodo from Nkanu and Chimaroke from Nkanu had been governors to the exclusion of the Isiuzor people.
He also informed the press that Nwobodo, Ken Nnamani, and Chimaroke, each from Nkanu, had been senators to the exclusion of the Isiuzor people.
Accusing them of treating the people from Isiuzor as lepers, he said those from Nsukka have entirely faulted the marginalization.
Although he said that he was in support of the PDP candidate in the state, but was quick to reiterate the need for the candidates fielded by any political party in the senatorial district to be allowed to go for the campaign. He also said that the electorates should be allowed to vote for any candidate of their choice.
“The candidates are in the field. They should be allowed to do so and also allow the electorates to make their choice at the election. Each local government in the senatorial district whose son was given a ticket to contest for governorship in the state has the right to do so under the law and the zoning formula in the state. There are six local government areas in the senatorial district. Let there be no clannish division in the system, and I preach for a peaceful election,” he stated.