Convinced that Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State is not ready to take prisoners in his desperate bid for re-election later this year, opposition political parties in the state are working towards building a coalition of forces to confront and unseat him.
THE CONCLAVE reports that the opposition parties have resolved to sink their respective interests in the mission to take back Imo State from Governor Uzodinma, who controversially became the governor through a Supreme Court verdict that remains questionable till date.
Since stepping in the saddle, Uzodinma has been scrambling for legitimacy but he has, in the process, been floundering even as his administration is largely perceived to have resorted to strong-arm tactics to beat down opposition elements.
The state, on his watch, has regressed into what some close watchers of political developments in the State refer to as the Hobbesian state of nature where life has become “nasty, brutish and short” as exemplified by the arsons, terrorism and killings across the state.
Some quarters had even insinuated the State into some of the heinous actions or crimes, although there has been no direct, official confirmation of the Uzodinma administration’s complicity in the reign of terror that has cast a pall on Imo.
THE CONCLAVE learnt that with Uzodinma picking the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) unchallenged and against the backdrop of how he deployed the machinery of state to allegedly overrun other parties in the just concluded elections, the opposition parties have come to the inevitable conclusion that the only way to dislodge Uzodinma is to present a formidable front.
The strategy, according to a source familiar with the plan, is two-pronged: to damage him from within and outside the APC.
It is, as yet, too early to indicate which of the opposition governorship candidates the others would step down with a view to building a coalition of forces behind him.
THE CONCLAVE, however, gathered that the opposition parties may be looking in the direction of Owerri Zone, which has more population and can generate the bloc votes that can be relied upon to produce the governor.
The votes from Ngor Okpalla, Aboh Mbaise, Ahiazu Local Government areas in Owerri zone swung victory in the direction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the 2019 election, Emeka Ihedioha, who unfortunately was governor for less than a year before he was supplanted by Uzodinma, courtesy of the historic Supreme Court verdict that gave victory to a candidate who placed fourth in the governorship election.
Significantly, Owerri zone is projected to deliver well over 300,000 votes (all factors of low voter turnout, voter suppression, among others, considered) to whoever is the candidate from the zone who is possibly picked as the coalition’s governorship candidate.
Although Orlu senatorial zzone has more local government areas than Owerri zone, the population is not as dense or huge as the population of Owerri senatorial zone
THE CONCLAVE reports that Owerri zone, which has not produced the governor in this fourth republic except the stint by Ihedioha, is intent on having one of his sons or daughters as the governor.
Whereas Orlu zone had produced Achike Udenwa, Rochas Okoroacha and Hope Uzodinma in between 1999 and now, Okigwe zone had produced Ikedi Ohakim, thus giving Owerri zone legitimate ground to demand for the governorship position in the interest of equity.
THE CONCLAVE reports that with the withdrawal of Ihedioha from the governorship race on the platform of the PDP, the coast appears clear for Sam Anyanwu (National Secretary of the party) to pick the governorship ticket of the party, but the party, according to feelers, has lost its gravitas and popularity with the ceding of the presidential ticket to a northerner in the 2023 poll at the expense of the Southeast zone.
The Southeast zone is now gravitating towards the Labour Party built around the persona of Mr Peter Obi, whose persona resonates with Nigerians and whose popularity echoes countrywide.
Although PDP’s Anyanwu (aka Sam Daddy) is from Owerri zone, he is from the Ikeduru local government from which Mbatoli was carved out. In essence, Anyanwu has his foothold in only two local government areas with reduced voter population.
On the flip side, Ihedioha, an Mbaise man, is from Ngor Okpalla; and, Mbaise people, who work together as a bloc, straddle three other populous local government areas, to wit: Aboh Mbaise, Ahiazu, and Ezenihite. These areas, as calculated, would be effectively locked down by Ihedioha, who pulled out of the PDP guber race because of lack of level playground.
Ihedioha’s camp is complaining that Anyanwu, as National Secretary, was presiding over the process in which he was participating by not resigning his office in the first instance.
The fear in Anyanwu’s camp is: what is Ihedioha up to by his unexpected withdrawal from the race for the guber ticket? Will he emerge on another party’s platform? If he does not, what if he throws his weight behind a coalition’s candidate on another party’s platform who is also from the Owerri zone? And what if the candidate so endorsed in on the platform of the LP, which is the new sensation in the zone?
A source close to the unfolding coalition told THE CONCLAVE that all efforts were geared towards the quest for a consensus or coalition candidate behind whom all other guber candidates would rally to build a formidable oppositional movement against Uzodinma.
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