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By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
Formost aspirant for the Anambra state governorship election, DR. Ifedi Okwenna has cautioned the party against imposing a governorship candidate, threatening that the party is doomed if a non-southerner emerges after the primary.
Okwenna who was former Commissioner of Environment and Minerals resources as well as Science and Technology during the administration of former governor Peter Obi said that the party had earlier resolved that the next candidate of the party will emerges from the southern zone. He said that the South has the largest voting population, adding that the party cannot jettison it’s earlier agreement because of some pressure from some quarters.
Okwenna who made the disclosure when he came to pick his nomination and expression of interest forms at the party’s headquarters in Abuja on Monday said that despite having 70 percent of the politicians in the state, the party have not been able to produce a governor in the last 14 years due the wrong choice of candidate.
He said, “Power must go to the south If PDP really want to get it right. Southern senatorial zone is the largest senatorial zone. The zone has more resources than any zone. Southern senatorial zone has been out of power for 19 years. Let me tell you a story, today that largest Senatorial zone has no governor, no deputy governor, no speaker of the house, has no secretary to the government, has no Chief of Staff,
“They accepted the situation because they said that 2021 is their own. We agreed. It was agreed. The chairman of the party went to the central, governorship candidate went to the north, that was in 2017.
“Today because of one person, some elders of our paths are closing their mouth to the reality, but posterity will judge PDP if that day 26th June, a none southerner becomes the candidate of the PDP, It is bye bye for the party”.
The aspirant lamented that the party with it’s high caliber of politicians has failed to return to the government house due to the wrong choice of candidate.
“It is not coincidental that the party that has been tagged as Anambra party can be in opposition whereas over 70% of politicians are in PDP, this is an irony because the problem is ours. We are the cause of our problem. Once we get it right the party will pick the ticket. “What makes us to get, most of the time three senators, except for the last one, we lost one, and then we get between 8 and 11 House of Representatives members and yet in the governorship election at times we normally come 3rd. That is really unfortunate and that is why some of us have come to put ourselves out to aspire to take the leadership of our state”.
He said that PDP must prepared to take over power and that financial firepower should not be the consideration, saying that “Anambra is rich, but our state is poor.
“We need people that can come with ideas, innovative ideas to rescue us and make Anambra State transform from a rich-poor state to rich-rich state. That’s what we’re looking for.
“The PDP must prepared to take up power. And when we’re prepared to take up power, what Anambra man need is not a man with money, or too much money, because everybody in Anambra is rich, But our state is poor
We need people that can come with ideas, innovative ideas to rescue us and make Anambra State transform from a rich-poor state to rich-rich state. That’s what we’re looking for.
He cautioned the National Secretariat of the party against compromised delegate list, saying that he will not support any candidate that emerges from such a process.
The party’s primary election is scheduled to hold on the 26th of June while the givernoship election will take place on the 6th of November.
