Politics
Imo 2023: APC, PDP, LP, others square up in five horse race
By Ori Martins
The November 11, 2023, governorship election in Imo State has been described by informed commentators as a five horse race.
According to experts of the pulsating Imo politics, the main contenders in the in the governorship election are: the serving governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, who will fly the All Progressives Congress, APC, flag; Senator Athanasius Achonu of the Labour Party, LP; Senator Samuel Anyanwu, otherwise known as Samdaddy of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP; Sir Anthony Ejiogu, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and Ikenga Johnjude Okere, who is contesting on the platform of the Accord Party.
Three of the candidates – Uzodimma, Achonu and Samddady were at one time or the other, colleagues as senators of the the Federal Republic of Nigeria. On the other hand, Ikenga Johnjude and Ejiogu were classmates at a missionary secondary school known as St Peter Claver Seminary, Okpala, Imo State. Thus, this is an election of “brothers at war”.
Already, there is a cold war raging among them. There have been accusations and counter accusations between the APC and PDP media handlers.
For instance, the publicity secretary of APC in the state, Comrade Cajetan Duke Akuta, has decided the PDP on its election of Samdaddy as the candidate of the party for the November election.
“While the state leadership and stakeholders of our great party, were engaged in a strategic meeting at our 47 Okigwe Road secretariat, the news filtered in of the open endorsement of Governor Uzodimma’s re-election by the main opposition PDP, with the emergence of Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu otherwise known as “Samdaddy”
“For the opposition PDP, this is not the time for serious contestation, but a time to fulfill all righteousness, having clearly demonstrated that the godsent governor Senator Hope Uzodimma, needs no distractions as he approaches his November 11, 2023 re-election.
“There’s no other way for the opposition PDP to endorse overwhelmingly the re-election of our ebullient, godsent governor Uzodimma than the unpossessed emergence of Senator Nnaemeka Anyanwu as the candidate of the opposition PDP”, he noted.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Nze Ogunbundu Nwadike, observed that the PDP candidate had no capacity whatsoever to measure up with Uzodimma for the November election. The Governor Uzodimma image maker advised Samdaddy not to waste his resources contesting the election.
In his submission, the media aide to the PDP candidate, Sir Ikenna Onuohia, stated that Samdaddy was the only man who could uproot the serving governor.
He equally revealed that the PDP standard bearer, having been a local government chairman, house of assembly member as well as a senator and now the national secretary of PDP, had the wherewithal to return the umbrella party to the Imo State Government House in November.
Among the citizenry, following the withdrawal of former governor, Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha from the Imo State governorship race, neither Hope nor Samddady has been the masses choice.
“I think Imo State is now at the crossroads. The APC government in Abuja and Owerri have brought nothing but pain and poverty to Nigeria and Nigerians in the eight years. We had hoped that Ihedioha would re – contested for a possible win in November, but he withdraw and that is out confusion. Both Samdaddy and Hope cannot take our people to the Promised Land. This is my stand”, Patrick Akulanna, a public affairs analyst noted.
In the height of the LP frenzy following His Excellency, Peter Gregory Obi’s tremendous impact on the 2023 presidential election, it was expected that the LP would have easily produced conducted a purposeful governorship election that would have ended peacefully.
That did not happen as the party had three separate governorship elections in Imo where three different candidates were returned. This threw the party in the shambles and since then it has yet to recover.
However, it was said that the primary election that produced Achonu was the the one recognized by the leadership of the party and INEC.
It was rumoured in many quarters that Achonu was sponsored by Uzodimma. Both Achonu and the leadership of LP in the state have debunked the allegation, calling it the handiwork of notorious detractors.
On his own, Achonu said promised to make Imo better by attracting foreign investors as well as putting an end to the spate of insecurity currently dealing with the state.
Practically highlighting how he would make Imo State great through his Impact Imo Project, the Accord party candidate, Ikenga Johnjude Okere noted that he would make the state to work again.
According to one of his media managers, Dan James, “In the height of the Depression that hit the United States of America, then President Franklyn Roosevelt, initiated the concept of New Deal as a way out of the economic quagmire.
“In the same vien, as a veritable means of solving what used to be addressed as the Niger Delta militancy, the late President Musa Yar’ dua declared the amnesty project in the oil rich territory.
“Both the New Deal as well as Amnesty Project worked wonders and miracles. America came out of the depression and emerged world powers, following the defeat of Adolf Hitler in the World War 11 that followed eventually.
“On the other hand, the Amnesty Project decimated the claws of the Niger Delta militants and brought peace as well as order to the once troubled region.
“Now in Imo, the governorship candidate of the Accord party, Ikenga Johnjude Okere, has assured that his Impact Imo Project would transform the Eastern Heartland state from the ashes of insecurity, poverty, joblessness, socioeconomic – political devastation to the status agricultural revolution, industrial growth, sports, entertainment and tourism development and economic invigoration.
He noted that, “just as Franklyn’s New Deal provided sucour and Americans in the face of hopeless, dejection and decay, even as Yar’ dua’s Amnesty ensured stability in the Niger Delta region that utterly damaged by environmental hazards and armed struggle, so shall his Impact Imo Project revamp, revive as well as reset the state’s infrastructure, business and sociocultural political landscapes through the introduction of new lease of life, to be made possible by his insistence on “Doing Things Differently”.
Ikenga Johnjude Okere shares thoughts with Imo people on the need to massively vote for him, the Accord party candidate, in the November 11, 2023 governorship election for the economic wellness of our dear state and good of all.
So far, from all available indicators, the Accord party candidate seems to be recording more followers than all the other contesters. One observer said, “Ikenga Johnjude is humble, energetic and well focused. He has a message that promotes capacity, character and competence even as he was one of those that LP and the Obidient Movement very solid in the state”.
The APGA party candidate has been talking about how he would use technology to create jobs, wealth, tackle insecurity and provide lasting and massive infrastructure for the state.
What is more, more and more politicians are leaving the PDP, APGA and LP for APC in recent times. The APC sees this as a big boost and a confirmation that Governor Uzodimma has been performing.
