By victor madumere
As the race to the finish line of guber primaries for all political parties for the 2015 general elections gets to its crescendo, the people of Owerri zone, Imo State under the auspices of Owerri People’s Front, OPF is not leaving any stone unturned towards the realization of Imo governor of Owerri, extraction come 2015.
In one of their strategies to ensure the emergence of a credible and acceptable guber candidate from Owerri zone, the group organized a public opinion poll that lasted for one month, where people were asked to send their preferred Guber aspirant to a certain GSM number and after the exercise, four aspirants out of the thirty (30) possible contenders from the zone (Owerri) came tops. They include, Senator Chris Anyanwu (Aboh Mbaise LGA), Barr Humphrey Anumudu (Mbaitoli LGA) Chief Jerry Chukwueke (Owerri North LGA) and Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha (Aboh Mbaise LGA) coincidentally the four front runners are of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Throwing more light on the exercise, during a press conference in Owerri yesterday, the national president of the body, Hon Ebere Chukwuemeka averred that the exercise is for the benefit of the people of Owerri zone and the positive minded aspirants for the collective interest of the politically marginalized people of the zone.
He also disclosed that the exercise became inevitable considering the large number of aspirants from the zone, in his release that reads. In parts “we observed that we have over 30 aspirants, we must admit that the aspirants are illustrious sons and daughters, of Owerri zone and are qualified to be governor.
It went further to say “not all of them can be governor at the same time. There is need to reduce the number of guber aspirants in the zone if we must achieve the dream of Imo governor of Owerri extraction in 2015”
Hon Chukwuemeka, submitted that the poll was to ascertain aspirants with the required acceptability within and outside the zone experience and all it takes to ensure the coveted governorship seat did not elude Owerri zone in 2015.
He maintained that the exercise was transparent and met the necessary requirements for conducting public opinion poll which attracted about 4000 participants/voters through text massages during the one month exercise.
However, the body has stated that based on the outcome of the opinion poll, the four aspirants have the mandate of the people of Owerri zone to carry on with their aspiration, as OPF will soon present them to the political leaders of Owerri zone.
The national president also promised that the full/comprehensive voting exercise will soon be published in Newspapers.
