Irrespective of the large turnout of party faithful who witnessed the unveiling of the Deputy Governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Mrs Chinyere Ekomaru, Trumpeta can confidently reveal that another round of disaffection has been instituted in the political camp of the governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma.
After keeping party members and loyalists waiting for a while, Governor Uzodimma last week officially informed the world about his running mate in the November 11, 2023 Governorship contest in the state.
It would be recalled that in 2019, he ran with Prof Placid Njoku, the present number two man in Imo State. In what appeared not to be a surprise development, after winning the APC ticket for the final showdown, Uzodimma became economical with the issue of running mate, leaving room for speculations about who it would be until evidences from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC showed the name of Mrs Ekomaru.
Trumpeta learnt that even as leader of the party in the state and head of the 3R administration, reactions trailing the choice of Mrs Ekomaru, married to a politician and senior lawyer, Chief Chukwuma Ekomaru ( SAN), is causing ripples in both the party and Uzodimma’s political family.
This newspaper was well informed that politicians of APC extraction from Owerri Zone, especially those of Owerri Federal Constituency and Mbaise blocs are still licking their wounds that the governor didn’t look at their side for the choice.
Before now, reports had it that some top rated politicians of Owerri Fed Constituency, and Ngor Okpala had been wangling to be nominated for the running mate post and looked good for it.
The interests of these groups in the past suggested that Prof Placid Njoku was on his out of office.
Similarly, some APC chieftains from the Mbaise axis and close to Uzodimma were also rumoured to be possible candidates for the position until the public presentation of Mrs Ekomaru who is from Mbaitoli LGA. The failure of Uzodimma to look at the three Owerri LGAs, Ngor Okpala and Mbaise blocs is raising signs of discontent in the ruling party.
This newspaper further gathered that the inability of Uzodimma to chose Mrs Ekomaru instead of a core Camp Hope loyalist as Running Mate is also causing friction in the governor’s camp. Reason is that the woman has not been part of them before now. Those against the nomination feel that during the Markafi/Sherrif battle for the soul of PDP that led Uzodimma leave with his followers to APC, the Deputy Governorship candidate was nowhere near the Camp Hope family. The governor’s followers, according to Trumpeta findings are not comfortable that the woman and husband were not of the APC structure before now to be granted the chance to be presented as Running Mate of the party’s governorship candidate.
The womenfolk in the APC and Camp Hope are not also left out in the complains against the choice as it was learnt that majority of the women who have been diehards of Uzodimma’s political structure are not disposed to the choice. A source within the governor’s camp also revealed that the women feel neglected that non of them was considered good enough for the position despite years of loyalty and followership.
However, there are indications that Uzodimma may have taking into consideration several factors of great importance before going for Mrs Ekomaru. Part of it remains the balance in the Catholic and Anglican interests in the choice of who occupies positions of authority in Imo State.
Apart from zonal arrangements, the issue of religion comes into play in agreeing to a striking balance of the two major Christian denominations; Catholic and Anglican. The two are dominant in the sharing formula.
While Uzodimma is a Catholic, his running mate, Ekomaru is an Anglican, which responds to the required balance. Prof Njoku was Catholic and this factor has been raising concern in the agreement for a striking balance in the state.
