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.