LEADING GOVERNORSHIP ASPIRANTS……. Imo: Crowded race to Douglas House

Okorocha, Ohakim, Ihedioha, 22 others battle for the soul of Imo

The 2015 governorship election is gradually gathering steam in Imo State. The battle for Douglas House, the seat of governance in Imo State, is peopled by political heavyweights. As at the last count, no fewer than 25 aspirants are angling for their respective party’s governorship tickets. In the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), 19 people have obtained governorship forms.

In the weeks ahead, these parties would have their day in the field where delegates of the parties would decide who flies the parties’ flags. The All Progressives Congress (APC) seems to have a candidate in the person of Governor Rochas Okorocha. But the choice of who becomes the candidates of the PDP and the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) is tearing the parties apart. Continue after the cut...

Rochas Okorocha

Governor Okorocha has earlier voiced his resolve to seek re-election in 2015. Though recent antics convey conflicting signals, close acolytes insist all efforts are geared towards consolidating his office as governor.

Okorocha had boasted that the APC will rule Imo for 20 years. It is indeed obvious he had a sweeping victory in 2011 but the variables are not exactly the same presently, and it is believed that he is well aware of the gathering of forces to unseat him. Though there is an avalanche of governorship aspirants gunning for his seat, Okorocha is not a stranger to political contests and intrigues.

In 2011, Okorocha altered the zoning arrangement in the state by emerging governor so soon after his kinsman, Chief Achike Udenwa, had served as governor of the state for eight years. Both Okorocha and Udenwa are from the Orlu zone of the state, while the Owerri zone is yet to get a shot at the governorship seat of Imo State since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999. With Okigwe zone kicking that they are yet to have a full share, zoning will definitely be an issue in the 2015 governorship election in Imo.

The governor had at different fora attempted to dismiss zoning as fostering mediocrity, it is definitely one of Okorocha’s major disadvantages in the forthcoming governorship election. Okorocha has put some structures in place – whether qualitative or not; people-oriented or not; purpose-driven or egodriven; futuristic or impulsive – there are some new infrastructures in place in Imo that people can point to.

Much as some extol the governor for this, very many others would easily accuse the governor of indiscriminately erecting structures that bear little or no relevance to the welfare of the people. Whatever is the case, Governor Okorocha is in the 2015 Imo governorship race for good. He is a major and formidable contender with immense capacity. In fairness, it will take diligent effort in mass mobilisation and strategic planning to unseat him.

He has a lot going for him, and even a lot more going against him, but only a meticulous strategy can oust the Ogboko-born politician who at present is testing the waters for the presidency of the country while locking down the governorship ticket of his party in Imo for himself.

Ikedi Ohakim

Ohakim, a former governor, is a key stakeholder in the politics of Imo State and a power broker in his own right. He comes into the race with a four-year experience as a former governor. If his party, the PDP, is looking for a candidate from Okigwe zone that can solve the equity question since 1999 and guarantee to govern for just one term before Imo East (Owerri zone) takes their slot in the governorship seat of the state, then Ohakim is the man as he has, by law, only four years to serve out his second term in power.

Ohakim is a team player and among all the aspirants in the PDP fold, he is the only aspirant who is in a position to match the incumbent governor, manifestofor- manifesto and projects-for-projects. The supposed errors he made during his time as governor, for which he was pilloried, have mostly been found to be largely exaggerated human errors of exuberance which have since been deflated and relegated to the trash bag of history.

Today, he enjoys the solidarity of the party and the citizens of the state. Ohakim is gifted with a string of loyal followers most of whom were former appointees during his days as the governor of Imo State.

While some of them are now operating at different levels of the party hierarchy, a good number of them are delegates to the governorship primaries. Again, most of the officials and structures of the PDP in the state were set up by Ohakim during his tenure as governor and he does not seem to have lost grip on this structure. Their loyalty may come in handy in the forthcoming PDP primaries.

Ifeanyi Araraume

Since 2007, Araraume has been in the race for the governorship of Imo State, having served two uninterrupted terms as senator for Imo North (Okigwe zone) from 1999 to 2007. Araraume is coming into the race for the PDP governorship ticket with years of field experience in party primary elections.

Against all odds, Araraume won the PDP governorship ticket for Imo in 2007, beating among over a dozen contenders, aspirants favoured by the then governor, Chief Achike Udenwa. Araraume’s governorship ticket in 2007 was sabotaged by the party when they rendered it nugatory by declaring that the PDP did not have a candidate for the governorship election; after the keenly contested primary election, which he won.

In 2011, when his kinsman, Ohakim was running for a second term, Araraume was forced to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) where he also secured the party’s ticket to run for the governorship seat. Araraume in all his bids for party tickets have always shown doggedness, meticulous execution of political strategies and the capacity to pay the attendant bills that go with the race.

Chris Anyanwu

The interest of this two-term senator represents a radical departure from the previously male-dominated governorship race in Imo politics. Anyanwu understands the politics of party primaries.

She fought for her mandate to the Senate every step of the way. In 2011, she fell out of favour in the PDP when the party’s ticket was served Kema Chikwe on a platter after two controversial primary elections.

She pulled out of the party and pitched tents with APGA, bagged their senatorial ticket and again faced Chikwe in the election proper. She beat Chikwe to a second place against all odds. So, it is not moot that Anyanwu’s governorship ambition represents the strongest bid of the women folks for the Imo governorship seat since the return to democracy.

However, Anyanwu’s principled disposition seems too often, to envelop her with a seemingly haughty exterior. She may indeed make immense inroad for the female folks by her formidable bid for the highest office in Imo, but it is highly uncertain whether the Imo electorate is yet prepared for a female governor bearing in mind their cultural proclivity to the men folk when it comes to leadership.

Emeka Ihedioha

Ihedioha is the Deputy Speaker and a third-term member of the House of Representatives. Nobody can win three successive federal constituency elections by chance without a stroke of dexterity and some measure of experience in the electioneering process.

One of the front runners in the Imo governorship race and long-standing member of the PDP, Ihedioha understands the workings of the party organs and the internal politics of the PDP. He is politically grounded in his constituency to the extent that even in the face of the white-wash of the PDP by APGA in 2011, Ihedioha held his ground for PDP in the three Mbaise council areas and the Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala federal constituency conceding no ground to the rampaging APGA machinery at the time.

Given his enormous political clout within the state and at the federal level, with his supposed affinity to the presidency, most of his co-aspirants view him as a major hurdle to their ambitions. Fact gleaned from interviews and interactions indicate an unspoken accord among most of his co-aspirants in the PDP who, by gut-feeling have gradually started mustering clusters of anti-Ihedioha aspirants and sentiments within the PDP fold. All the more, the recent defection drama by Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, the Speaker of the House of Representatives may, if not handled well, rub off on Ihedioha.

There is a pervasive opinion that Tambuwal and Ihedioha are political allies. Their emergence as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively was akin to a palace coup against the leadership of the PDP and now at the twilight of their tenure, Tambuwal comes up with another sensational game plan; a crosscarpeting stunt that turns out a thunderous slap on the face of the PDP leadership and the presidency. Tambuwal’s dumping of the PDP for APC is convenient for him since Sokoto is an APC state.

It is believed in some quarters that if Imo had been a predominantly APC state, Ihedioha may have joined his Speaker in APC. It is, however, expected that while Ihedioha strives to douse the mistrust and questions of divided loyalty that may be thrown at him, other elements and vested interests within the party would do all there is to stoke the fire against him.

With the events of the not-too recent past, it is presumed that the Deputy Speaker understands and has what it takes to manoeuvre political situations in the party to his advantage and this may not be an exception. However, barring this political baggage which is capable of tilting the balance against him, Ihedioha remains a force to reckon with in the race for Imo PDP governorship ticket.

Martin Agbaso

In spite of his string of political misfortunes, Agbaso remains a known name in Imo politics. Having run for the Imo governorship seat since 2003, Agbaso has on more than one occasion been tipped as a governor-in-waiting especially in 2007 when it was widely believed that he won the election. Most of these episodes went sour just at the last minute with the political calculation turning against him.

His surprise support and backing of Okorocha in the 2011 governorship election, which turned a sordid misadventure, may after all take its toll on his political credibility in the Imo political landscape.

A section of Owerri politicians believe that Agbaso ceded the governorship seat due Owerri zone to Okorocha from Orlu in 2011 and may not be inclined to give him another chance.

Agbaso’s recent defection from APGA to the PDP is no guarantee of a governorship ticket especially when there is already a long list of well-grounded and loyal PDP aspirants gunning for the same ticket.

The best he would do is to just fall in line and bid his chances which under the present circumstances, are not much. Intelligent and dexterous as he is, it is certainly going to be an uphill task for Agbaso to make any meaningful impact in the PDP governorship primaries.

Emmanuel Ihenacho

Ihenacho may not be a regular politician but his humanitarian approach to politics has gained him quite a large space and followership in the Imo political landscape. Having been a PDP member since 1999, Ihenacho was temperate enough to move out of the crowded PDP umbrella and head to APGA to execute his ambition.

Gunning for the governorship seat of the state for Ihenacho, is apparently, not a justifiable reason for over two dozen aspirants to swamp one political party when all that should matter is the cred-ibility and competence of an aspirant. Since the time he hit political limelight as Nigeria’s Interior Minister, Ihenacho has remained a choice brand in Imo politics. He easily conveys integrity and purposefulness. Ihenacho had everything going for him, as the party leadership both in Imo and at the national level were favourably disposed to him, until he overstepped his bounds recently. The purported adoption of Ihenacho by a clique of party men loyal to him put Ihenacho in the news for several weeks for all the wrong reasons.

The plot somehow portrayed him as a schemer who was manipulating an influential section of the party to hand him the party’s ticket without a fight and by so doing deny other aspirants in APGA the right to a fair contest. One of his major rivals for the party ticket, Okey Ezeh, pounced on the opportunity and garnered for himself public sympathy and media mileage.

He fought Ihenacho’s purported endorsement with everything he had until the party leadership saw it was unhealthy to remain in the sideline much longer. Chief Victor Umeh, the party’s national chairman at a rally in Imo dismissed the purported endorsement of Ihenacho as APGA’s consensus governorship candidate as not feasible. Apparently for some strategic reasons, the leadership of the party still seems well disposed to an Ihenacho governorship candidature.

It has been hinted in certain quarters that the party leadership seems to pander towards Ihenacho because he has been funding the party since his joining and also would have the capacity to run a robust governorship campaign when the chips are down.

Jerry Chukwueke

Much as Chukwueke is assiduously working up a formidable political profile for himself, the Germaine Group boss is largely perceived as a seasonal leader who remembers his responsibilities to his people only in an election year.

By far, he cannot be said to be on ground, but his immense work rate in recent times is gradually creating foot soldiers for him where there hitherto was none before.

It is not clear how close he has been with the state leadership of the PDP but for his entire sojourn in partisan politics, his appointment early in the year as the Chairman, Contact and Mobilisation Committee of the PDP, seems the highest party position and recognition he has attained since joining the PDP. The last that was heard of him was in 2007, when he tried to establish his presence in the politics of Imo State.

Thereafter, he disappeared from the political scene until recently when he became a regular voice in the media. Chukwueke may be working quite hard but not hard enough to bag his party’s governorship ticket.

Humphrey Anumudu

Anumudu’s outing in the 1999 governorship race in Imo State cannot be forgotten in a hurry. Though he seems to have progressively lost steam, Anumudu still boasts of a large chunk of loyal followers especially among the crowd that recalls his exploits during his 1999 bid for the Imo governorship seat.

His large Mbaike federal constituency are totally rooting for him but his major challenge lies in the fact that he is perceived as often distancing himself from the electorate after every election year, only to reappear after four years. In 1999, Anumudu emerged candidate of the party after the primaries but superior party decision urged him to step aside for Udenwa who was not even a front runner in the primary election. Anumudu conceded to the wishes of the party.

Bethel Amadi

Amadi is a third term legislator in the House of Representatives. Hitherto believed to be disconnected from his constituency, Amadi has in recent times put forward empowerment programmes that impacted a vast area of his constituency and gave a little more visibility to his person.

With some level of street popularity and an unexpected grassroots appeal, Amadi emerged candidate in 2011 defying the plots of the state government at the time and the conspiracy of some political heavyweights to strip him of the Mbaitoli/Ikeduru Federal Constituency mandate. Though he is believed to be efficient in working quietly from the background, there is an air of aloofness around him that tends to contradict his supposed political savvy.

Chuka Odom

Odom is a brilliant politician and lawyer. His intelligence easily stands him out in a crowd, but the Imo governorship is a different ball game altogether. Odom has never been perceived as one who is on ground in Imo State despite the fact that he has been aspiring for the governorship seat of the state since 2007.

It is common knowledge that Odom is well connected to the high and mighty. His stint as a minister further enlarged his political horizon bringing him in contact with even more influential power brokers in Nigerian politics.

His linkages of friends outside the state alone, may not adequately guarantee him the ticket of his party but if he has a corresponding network of allies strategically positioned in the power structure of the state, he may get more than a fair chance of securing his party’s confidence. But as for competence and credibility, Odom has these in very rich supply, across diverse spheres.

Obinna Adim

Very little is known of Adim in Imo besides being a former Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Youth Empowerment. Not even the members of the state PDP executives knew anything about him until his sudden visit to the state party office to express his desire to run for the governorship of the state and display his Nomination and declaration of Interest forms.

Mike Ahamba

Ahamba (SAN) has spent more years in opposition politics than he has for a ruling party. He joined the PDP only recently. Ahamba is respected in the Imo political circles but the governorship ticket of the party is for one who has grassroots appeal and a measure of acceptability across internal power blocs in the PDP. Ahamba is likely not the man for the ticket.

Ken Njemanze

Scion of the Njemanze royal family of Owerri, Ken Njemanze (SAN) is a former Attorney General of the state. Njemanze hails from the largest voting section of Owerri which is the municipality and has the ear of most of the influential power brokers in the state PDP. He is well able to fund his aspiration but may not be disposed to throwing money about as is often obtainable in primary elections.

Ken Ojiri

Ojiri is a young and flourishing entrepreneur. His ambition to govern Imo in 2015 is his first foray into partisan politics. Though he is believed to have a sizeable chunk of the youth population in Owerri on his side, he evidently lacks depth in the real politics of party primaries. Ojiri is generous and has enormous goodwill; yet it would still amount to an expensive gamble for the PDP to field him to fly the party’s flag in such a high-stake electoral battle.

Charles Onyeagbako

Onyeagbako is a renowned lawyer with over 30-year experience at the bar. Politically, he rose from the ranks; rising from a local government legislative leader to become the chairman of Owerri North council area and thereafter the Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Urban Planning.

Onyegbako primarily belongs to the political family of Udenwa. He is a product of the Redemption 98 structure. He has been running a robust, though quiet consultation tours across the 27 council areas in Imo State. Onyeagbako is running to win the PDP governorship primaries.

The challenge is that while the Udenwa power bloc in the PDP favours a candidate from Owerri zone, Senator Hope Uzodinma and his group favour a candidate of Okigwe zone extraction. This is where the strength of Onyeagbako’s political structure and reach comes into play. There may not be any certainty of securing the party’s ticket, but with Udenwa’s support, Onyeagbako may be a prospect.

Okey Ezeh

Very little was known about Ezeh until recently when he threw his hat in the ring to contest the Imo governorship election on the platform of APGA. Ezeh is passionate about the possibilities before Imo under a selfless and astute governor. But the ticket of the party is not always for the most promising but involves a lot of political variables of which seemingly, Ezeh knows relatively very little about. Ezeh, a former banker, is battling Ihenacho for the APGA governorship ticket.

Chris Brown Amadi

Amadi is a business mogul from the Ohaji Egbema axis of the state. He is widely known as a philanthropist but his decision to run for the top job in the state is by far ill-advised. He happens to be the only Orlu man in the race and it needs no saying that Orlu is totally outside the calculation for the 2015 Imo governorship.

Osmond Imo Ukanacho

Ukanacho is running for the governorship of the state on the platform of the United Progressive Party (UPP). Not much was known about him before now except that he is a successful businessman. Ukanacho is likely going to emerge the sole candidate of his party but his walk to Douglas House thereafter, may not be entirely impossible given the dynamism of politics, but would indeed be tortuous and herculean. Prof. Jude Njoku and Chief Chief Charles Onuoha are also in the governorship race.