Many politicians who thought that there was no love lost between president Goodluck Jonathan and Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives were on Tuesday jolted to see both men embrace each other, when Ihedioha with other members of the Green chamber visited the President at Aso Rock Villa, Abuja to ask him to run for the 2015 presidential election.
However, politicians in Imo state have said that Ihedioha’s endorsement of Jonatahn for 2015 was a tacit way of seeking the President’s hand to also endorse his own ambition in 2015, which is to become the next Governor of Imo state.
In the Aso Rock visit, which was not attended by Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, the Imo state born Deputy Speaker, Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha spoke onbehalf of his Boss, and was seen occasionally whispering into the ears of Mr President.
A politician from Imo state told this Newspaper that Ihedioha may have used the occasion to sound out the president on his ambition to rule Imo state in 2015, and therefore may have asked for the President’s support, since he Ihedioha has also endorsed Jonathan for Presidency in 2015.
However, Ihedioha had in previous occasions declared that he has rosy relationship with the Presidency, but only that his detractors were going about peddling stories that he is not in good terms with President Goodluck Jonathan.
Ihedioha had said that President Goodluck Jonathan belongs to the same political party the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP with him, and therefore must support him to succeed, while also working for Nigerians under whose mandate he is the Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives.
It was alleged that the Ihedioha Aso Rock visit could be a way of telling the President that since he has rubbed Jonathan’s back, he expects the President to also rub his own back by supporting his own ambition in 2015.
However, some of the Imo Governorship aspirants under the PDP platform told Trumpeta that what happened in Ekiti state, where all the Aspirants went for open primaries will replicate itself in Imo, as there is no sacred cow in the exercise.
“No amount of visits to President Jonathan can give any Aspirant ticket. Unless they want to set crisis in the party in Imo state” An aspirant who wished to remain anonymous told Trumpeta.
Meanwhile a close source to the Deputy Speaker, Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha told Trumpeta that the visit to Jonathan was initiated by the PDP caucus in the House of Representatives, and by the virtue of his position, Ihedioha attended.
The source told Trumpeta that no amount of blackmail can stop Ihedioha from maintaining a close and rosy relationship with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
