Emeka Osondu
2 July 2009
Lagos — As part of its preparation for the governorship election slated for the first quarter of 2010, the Anambra State executive committee of the Peoples Party (PDP) recently embarked on a state-wide familiarization tour of the 21 local government areas of the state. The tour was undertaken with a view to assessing the structure of the party, reconciling members and mobilizing them in readiness for the crucial governorship election. To cap the tour of the local government areas, a state-wide rally
The party leadership under Mr. Uchenna Emodi, which was recently returned to office as the authentic state executive of the state chapter of the party by the National Working Committee (NWC) of PDP, used the opportunity of the tour to urge the various local government executive leaderships of the party to remain intact at all times as well as to be people-oriented in their dealings so as to renew the popularity of the party at the grassroots.
The tour kicked off at Umunze, Orumba South Local Government area of the state on June 16, 2009. According to the state chairman of the party, Emodi, who led other members of the state executive committee on the tour, there was the utmost need to fortify the electoral wards for the genuine change so as to add value to politics. He explained that electoral wards are very essential to grassroots mobilization and therefore should never be toyed with.
Emodi described the Anambra State Chapter of PDP as a mass movement which had since won the heart of the electorate. However, he lamented that the leadership crisis which engulfed the party in the state over the years has left its toll with the party winning every election at each occasion with the exception of the all important governorship. He noted that this single failure in the system has made it impossible for the state to properly link up with the mainstream of governance in the country which is PDP-controlled.
He therefore, charged the leadership at both the local government and ward levels as well as the members to work hard for the restoration of peace and unity among the rank and file, as well as strive to sustain the interests of the electorate in the party by reaching out to the people, just as they should carry everybody along in the scheme of things. In his words:
"Our beauty should start at home. We have a total of 326 electoral wards and 21 local government chapters in the state. So, I ask you: if we don't have problems in those chapters, shall we have problem in the state leadership? The answer is no. Therefore, you should work hard to fortify the party at those levels, especially at the ward levels because democratic process starts there, and the ward is a very crucial level of the party at the grassroots.
"Those at the leadership level at the wards should ensure that members meet constantly. We should as members of one large family strive to evolve the truth and fear of God in our dealings with ourselves as well as with the larger public so that our journey towards recapturing the government House in 2010 would be crowned with success," Emodi stressed.
Continuing, he said, "What we are here for is to initiate dialogue on how to fortify PDP in Anambra State. It is heart-rending that after each election in Anambra State, PDP will not win the governorship seat, not minding that it won every other seat that was contested".
The party chairman said the issue has become a source of great concern to all stakeholders, including the PDP National leadership adding that that was why the national leadership invited them, (Anambra State PDP leaders), to Abuja recently and challenged them to intensify efforts to achieve full reconciliation. He appealed to them to help his executive in making sure that PDP wins the governorship seat come 2010.
Emodi assured them that the war in the state chapter of the party was over. He stressed that if the party stakeholders and the members should demonstrate to the world that the war was over and resolve to work in concert, then PDP's recapture of Anambra Government House in the next election would become a fait accompli. As he put it, what we require is to be in unity and abide with God.
Some of the state officers of PDP who accompanied Emodi on the familiarization tour include the State Deputy Chairman, Chief Ben Udeozor, the State Secretary, Chief Reuben Okpalaoka; State Women's Leaders, Chief (Mrs.) Tessy Ezechukwu; the State Legal Adviser, Mr. Chuks Okoye; State Publicity Secretary, Mr. Afam Ilounoh; the State Treasurer, Hon. Ben Nwaulu, as well as the State Youth leader of PDP, Chief Osita Okosieme, among others.
The unique thing with each local government visited by Emodi and his Committee was their perceived openness to dialogue on the way toward for the PDP in the State. At each point, not only the local government chapter leaders and their wards executives were conspicuously present, but also their members and some major stakeholders.
Each of the local government chapters in turn commended President Umaru Yar'Ardua, the National Working Committee (NWC) of PDP led by Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, for their efforts in quelling the crisis in the state chapter of the party by taking recourse to the rule of law which reinstated the Emodi-led executive committee as the authentic leadership of PDP in the state. They also commended the efforts made by some Southeast zonal leaders of the party, especially Chief Chris Uba, whose prompt intervention in the matter helped in no small measure in tackling the leadership crisis that rocked the party over the years.
However, while each of the chapters pledged to work in tandem with the Emodi executive to stabilize the party and achieve victory in the proposed 2010 governorship election and beyond, they nevertheless listed their problems and set-backs. They appealed to the state executive not to side-track them in the long run after the dreams were realized.
In his welcome address during the tour of his area, the chairman, Ogbaru local government chapter of PDP, Hon. Sinbad Chukwuma, urged every party member to get down to work with the Emodi-led executive and deliver the party in the challenges ahead. He nevertheless drew the attention of the state executive of PDP to the poor road network in the area.
"Ogbaru is the food basket of Anambra State endowed with highly rich natural resources, but the bad road networks place people of Ogbaru in perpetual socio-economic sufferings and loss. There, it is our prayer that the government that would come 2010 shall not relegate or undermine to work Ogbaru road, so as to ease the problems in transporting our products to the outside markets, " he stressed.
In Umueze-Anam, Anambra West, the local government PDP Chairman, Hon. Chigbata Raphael drew the attention of the State executive to the plurality of he ethnicity of he area, and lamented that their Igala brothers have never tasted any elective or appointed office both in the party and in government at the state level over the years, just as he complained about the poor terrain of the area which has made life burdensome for the indigenes.
"We therefore recommend sufficiently that equity be treated fairly to stop the cry of marginalization in the area. We will also like to remind you of the difficult terrain of Anambra West local government Area, especially in this period of the year. For example, it takes not less than Two Thousand Naira to come (2000) to come from Nzam to Umueze-Anam. In the light of this reality, we appeal passionately that Anambra West be considered in terms of logistics support because this hampers mobilization in the area, "he said.
Beyond the dialogue between Emodi and the members, the familiarization tour offered more insight to some of the issues surrounding the nagging crisis that had hampered the smooth sail of the party over the years. For instance, at Idemili South council area, where a former governor of the State, Dr. Chris Ngige hails from, his kinsmen used the occasion of the visit to apologize to the leader of the party in the state, Chief Chris Uba, for the embarrassment caused him by the former Governor, Ngige. Ngige had alleged that Chris Uba demanded that he pay him a whooping sum of N3 billion to him (Uba), his political godfather for making him the governor of the State in 2003.
According to their spokesman, Mr. Chuks Okoye, the allegation levelled against Chris Uba by Chris Ngige was an unfortunate falsehood and a product of propaganda machinery employed by the then governor to hoodwink Uba and pitch him against the public. Okoye said this development was bad because Uba had acted in good faith in making Ngige governor, when ordinarily what he (Ngige) wanted to vie for was a senatorial seat.
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