*BY RALPH EJIMKONYE*
Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu’s open endorsement for the governorship ambition of Senator Samuel Anyanwu has opened a floodgate of reactions from some party chieftains.
According to media reports, Iwuanyanwu, an elder statesman and elder in the party had said Senator Anyanwu will emerge the governorship flagbearer of the PDP in Imo State and go ahead and win the 2019 governorship election.
Senator Anyanwu is Chief Iwuanyanwu’s political godson.
His political weight for Anyanwu has been considered a major plus to the senator’s guber ambition. Senator Anyanwu is up against a formidable opponent, a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, for the Imo PDP governorship ticket.
Iwuanyanwu has the loyalty of top political bigwigs in the party in Imo and at the national level. He was one time Board of Trustee member of the party and has remained very influential on key issues in the party in the State.
His support for Anyanwu was expected having midwifed the meteoric rise of the senator who under his tutelage was elected Chairman of Ikeduru Local Government Area and also represented Ikeduru State constituency in the Imo State House of Assembly for two terms before leapfrogging to the Senate in 2015.
Ihedioha may not be daunted by the open support of Iwuanyanwu for his main rival for the party’s governorship ticket having maintained a firm grip of the party structure in Imo PDP since the party nearly collapsed after losing the 2015 elections at the State and national levels.
This newspaper observed that Ihedioha is relying on the army of loyalists he has built in the party to snatch the Imo PDP governorship ticket which he had grabbed with the backing of Iwuanyanwu’s support in 2015.
With known political gladiators such as former Minister of Aviation and ex National Woman Leader of the PDP, Dr (Mrs) Kema Chikwe and a good number of public office holders at the state and national levels elected on the party’s platform backing his aspiration, Ihedioha may not be losing so much sleep over Iwuanyanwu’s open endorsement for Senator Anyannwu.
Some elders in Imo PDP had kicked against Iwuanyanwu’s open endorsement for his godson. One of them is Chief Josiah Odunna.
Odunna is Iwuanyanwu’s kinsman and he has maintained his support for Ihedioha firing salvos at the elder statesman for his open stance on who picks the party’s governorship ticket.
Chief Peter Mgbemelu, Secretary Imo PDP Elders forum is also among those opposed to Iwuanyawu’s open endorsement for the senator
“The Imo State PDP Elders Council very robustly disassociates itself from that statement of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu. I view it as his personal opinion or a figment of hi imagination and I don’t know how healthy that opinion is” he said
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