2015: Why South-East PDP Governors Want Jonathan To Run

Last week’s South-East zonal rally of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) eventually turned out to be an avenue for the governors of the zone to pressurise President Goodluck Jonathan to run in 2015. Even though president Jonathan’s turned down” the request, Mike Ubani, captures the event 

During the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) South-East zonal rally held at the Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium, Enugu, on April 11, 2014, the PDP governors’ from the zone made two appeals  to President Goodluck Jonathan, who attended the rally alongside his vice, Muhammadu Namadi Sambo, and several other high-heeled members of the party.
Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State who spoke on behalf of his counterparts from Abia and Ebonyi – Theodore Orji and Martin Elechi respectively, passionately requested the president
to announce that he will contest the 2015 presidential election.  That was the first request.  The second request was rather comical, and that was that the president should under no circumstances
reject the first request.
Though Governor Chime said the request made to the president to run, was a collective decision of the three PDP governors from the zone, it would appear that the governors did not agree on when and where to make their requests known to the president.
It was obvious that Governor Orji who is the chairman of the South East Governors’ Forum, and who ought to have made the announcement dithered over doing so forcing Governor Chime to grab the microphone to announce what he described as the “collective decision of the governors”.
Nevertheless, if the governors expected an instant answer, they were completely mistaken.  The chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (Bot), Chief Tony Anenih, said the president would return to Enugu at the right moment to provide answers to the two requests.
Indeed, Anenih said President Jonathan would announce his decision to run or not when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), releases the timetable and/or guidelines for the 2015 general elections.
However, by making their views public, the three PDP governors from the zone seem to have scored a political point against some National Assembly members from the zone, who have allegedly been meeting President Jonathan privately to prod him to contest the 2015 presidential election.
LEADERSHIP gathered that by nudging President Jonathan to run, the National Assembly members from the zone expect the president to support their respective political ambitions in 2015.  Many of them, particularly serving senators from the zone are desirous to return to the National Assembly in 2015.
Conversely, the governors of Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi states, have been plotting to grab the PDP senatorial tickets in their respective senatorial districts for the 2015 general elections, and in the process, they plan to send the senators currently representing their various senatorial districts into political wilderness.
For instance in Enugu State, there is presently no love lost between Governor Chime and Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy president of the senate.  Both elected public office holders, hail from Enugu West senatorial zone.
While Governor Chime has not hidden his intention to supplant Ekweremadu in 2015, the deputy senate president is known to have been mobilising his constituents to support his ambition to remain in the senate beyond 2015.
Also, Gilbert Nnaji, senator representing Enugu East senatorial zone in the upper legislative chamber, and chairman of the Senate Committee on Communications, has been battling to retain his seat beyond 2015, following the unconcealed plot by the leadership of the PDP in the state to replace him with the chief of staff Government House Enugu, Chief Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo.
The PDP in Enugu State is sharply divided into two or even three factions following the ongoing struggle to gain the levers of political power in the state in 2015. And this division was made visible during the April 11 PDP zonal rally held in Enugu.
Though party supporters from the state who attended the rally stayed in a particular section of the stadium, there was a clear demarcation between where supporters of Governor Chime and Senator Ekweremadu stayed.
It is doubtful whether Senator Nkechi Nwogu, who represents Abia central senatorial district in the upper legislative house, is excited about Governor Orji’s plan to take over her seat in the senate in 2015.  Governor Orji who brought almost the highest number of party supporters to the Enugu rally, seem not to be interested in what becomes of Senator Nwogu’s future political career.
Senator Nwogu is believed to have governorship ambition in 2015, but Governor Orji has vowed that his successor will come from the Ukwa/Ngwa cultural zone which lies within the Abia South Senatorial District.  The implication is that except Senator Nwogu is given a federal appointment, she may likely go into political oblivion after 2015.
Though during his short speech at the rally, President Jonathan refused to comment on the prodding by South-East governors to contest the next presidential election, it is obvious that in the weeks and months to come, the PDP governors from the South-East will intensify efforts to convince the president (if he has not already convinced himself) to run for a second term in 2015.