Irrespective of the fact that the coming Governorship/House of Assembly Elections is not for him, the governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma is said to be deeply involved in the contest scheduled for Saturday.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has scheduled March 18 as the date for polls to elect fresh governors and assembly members, but the gubernatorial contest for Imo is excluded.
Investigations by Trumpeta revealed that the state governor is more interested in those to emerge winners of the 27 state constituencies of Imo.
The reason for the deeper interest of the governor, this newspaper learned on good authority is that it’s not just only for the victory of his party, the APC, where he reigns as the state leader, but also to ensure he has his sympathizers who are members of his party get elected.
Recall that during the APC primaries to select APC candidates, the governor was said to be instrumental in the emergence of ticket holders.
The essence was to get Assembly Members who would not only work in harmony within the period they will be in office before the second term but also support his second term bid.
Another factor that may have warranted Uzodinma’s quest to have his men elected is to be able to ensure the produce principal officers of his choice, like the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and Majority Leader should be one of those from the majority party.
Apparently aware of the importance of the House of Assembly Election, Uzodinma said to be warming up for a second term come November is leaving no stone unturned to ensure the APC candidates become victorious.
Part of the process to achieve this aim is the intensive mobilization of fresh support for APC candidates as well as admonishing the party leaders and machinery to live up to expectations on Saturday.
Trumpeta learned that the governor has initiated tactical meetings among all strata of the leaders for the purpose of ensuring that no chance is given to other parties to get a seat in the state parliament.
The target of the governor, according to reliable sources is to have a 27/27 result where only APC candidates will win.
It would be recalled that in the Presidential/National Assembly Elections held three weeks ago, APC secured two of the three senate positions and succeeded in getting three of the four Reps seats.
The outcome, it was learned sent a dangerous signal to the governor and APC to work hard for the coming elections.
