By Peter Uzoma
Governor Elect of Imo State, Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha and the PDP in the State are living in fear over the number of members of the Imo State House of Assembly elected under the platform of Action Alliance, AA and the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA after the elections.
For the 27 Member House AA and APGA chucked 14 slots ahead the PDP with 13. A breakdown shows that while AA boasts of 8 Members, APGA has six.
Trumpeta learnt that as the countdown for inauguration of the House and the expected subsequent emergence of Principal Officers of the House, the Governor Elect and his PDP are troubled on how to manipulate the process to ensure their preferred choices grab the vital positions in the leadership of the incoming 9th House.
With the position of Speaker likely to go to Okigwe Zone, the PDP is said to be uncomfortable that non of its 13 Members are from the zone forcing it to be at the mercy of the opposition AA and APGA who produced the candidates. While the AA has two lawmakers; Kennedy Ibeh of Obowo State Constituency and Ehime Mbano’s Lawman Duruji who ironically are returning to the House as ranking members favoured to get the Speakership, the rest four state constituencies that make up Okigwe zone are of APGA including another ranking lawmaker, Chiji Collins of Isiala Mbano.
An inside source revealed to Trumpeta that there is uneasy calm in Ihedioha’s camp following the difficult choice to pick among the six Okigwe Zone lawmakers who are of different party.
The source further adds that the PDP is worried that it might lose control of the AA and APGA members from the Okigwe Zone form partnership with other of their colleagues from Orlu to use their majority number of 14 and override PDP and produce Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
It was learnt that since the 27 Members shall chose among themselves who to be Speaker and Deputy Speaker, a political arrangement and partnership between AA and APGA may see the former getting Deputy Speaker while the latter produces the Speaker.
This rumoured arrangement, Trumpeta further gathered has sent shivers down the spines of PDP who is said not to let go the two principal positions. The source who is a PDP but chose to remain anonymous said of the AA and APGA Gang up “we have it on mind and it has become a big problem in the party. The governor is even more worried and everyone is afraid of the possible gang up to produce the Speaker and Deputy Speaker”.
