Ihedioha’s PDP flag as rallying point

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka
Ihedioha, was last week Thursday confirmed the authentic
governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
in Imo State. Inside the expansive Tafawa Balewa Square in
Lagos, he was handed over the party’s banner to represent
PDP in the February 28 gubernatorial election in Imo State.
President Goodluck Jonathan presented the banner to
Ihedioha at a thickly attended ceremony.
Amid pomp and ceremony, Ihedioha’s hands were raised by
national chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu and
Senator Hope Uzodinma, one of the leaders of the party in the
state. Indeed, the presentation of the flag was received with
loud ovation by leaders and other party members. Ihedioha
waved cheerfully with an overwhelming tinge of gratification, in
acknowledgment of the sustained applause.
That day’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 Ararauma’s
protégé. Far more significant is the fact that it will eclipse the
hitherto increasing level of propaganda and disinformation
being churned out from Araraume’s camp on the guber
primary election held on December 8, 2014.
Shortly after the primaries, Senator Araraume, who emerged
second in the keenly contested election, polling 336 as against
Ihedioha’s 346, protested the result and started making
claims. The irony was that immediately after the result was
announced by chairman of the Imo PDP Governorship Primary
Election Panel, Hon. 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 had 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. Hon. Ihedioha polled the highest number of votes. The
other contestants and their scores were also announced. Hon.
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 had stated.
The party elders in the state, in a statement also emphasised
the openness, transparent and fair nature of the election,
calling Araraume to sheath his sword for the overall interest of
the party. The elders 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 of the aspirants
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, INEC officials and so on, wondered how
Araraume came about his manipulation theory.
In spite of all these weighty clarifications by relevant and
eminent groups and individuals, instead of consolidating on
the victory concession he earlier made to Ihedioha, Senator
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’s stakeholders. The presentation of
the Imo guber ticket to Ihedioha by the national leader of the
party, President 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 last week Thursday 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.