BY: RALPH EJIMKONYE
The quest by Senator Samuel Anyanwu to upstage Governor Emeka Ihedioha have been nailed to the coffin.
The Supreme Court had on Tuesday morning aborted the hopes of the Senator.
Anyanwu, the immediate past Senator who represented Owerri Senatorial zone, had dragged Ihedioha to court to challenge the authenticity of his emergence as governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Anyanwu had contended that Ihedioha, a former Deputy Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, won the governorship primary of the party through fraud by way of manipulating election results.
The lower courts had struck out the matter citing lack of merit.
Anyanwu had taken a shot at the governorship ticket of the PDP, a move most political pundists had described as “grave fatal error on the part of the Senator” who would have done better if he had sought a second term at the Senate.- Notwithstanding his Constitutional right to seek any elective office of his choice.
Senator Anyanwu’s one term at the Senate was remarkable leading to his ascension as Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, priviledges and petitions. He was a first rate Senator who made robust contributions on the floor of the Red Chambers including the landmark move for the establishment of South East Development Commission.
He had come under intense pressure to drop his guber bid and allow Ihedioha go for the shot a second time after doing so much to revive a battered and shattered PDP in Imo State after its defeat in the 2015 elections.
Anyanwu perhaps came into the governorship contest riding on the hopes of big names who could turn the tables in his favour. He may have banked on Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, his long time political godfather who weilds enormous influence in the party and a surging crowd of supporters mainly domiciled in Owerri Senatorial zone.
But Ihedioha, took the rug off his feet. Like a cat with sneaky moves, the ex federal lawmaker took over a ruptured Imo PDP in the State in 2015 and revved up the morale of party members which was all time low after losing both the Presidential and Governorship Election in 2015.
By the time Anyanwu joined the fray, he set his feet on a slippery floor as more than 70 percent of party members had fingered Ihedioha as the man who deserves to fly the party’s governorship ticket ahead of the guber polls.
When party Primary was over, Anyanwu ignored wise counsel to drop his grievances. Even when Ihedioha, his party man had emerhed as Governor.
He had a right to protest and seek legal redress which he did but many had expected an early call off of the legal battle against Ihedioha moreso when the odds were not in his favour.
With the legal squabbles over, the Senator who remains one of the finest Imo State had produced in recent times remains a asset to the State.
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