Hon. Eugene Odo, on Thursday defied the consensus arrangement put in place by Governor Sullivan Chime by declaring his intention to contest the 2015 governorship election in the state.
The Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly told journalists at a news conference in the Assembly complex that he had purchased the N11m form for the Peoples Democratic Party governorship primary election.
The speaker was among a number of governorship hopefuls from Enugu North Senatorial District, to which the governorship position had been zoned. Odo had attended a stakeholders meeting called by Chime on September 26, where the governor presented the member representing Igbo Eze North /Udenu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, as his anointed successor.
The stakeholders at the meeting thereafter adopted Ugwuanyi as the consensus candidate, but Odo’s was said to be among the dissenting voices that kicked against the development.
The Enugu State PDP Caucus and the State Executive Committee had also adopted Ugwuanyi as the consensus candidate.
The speaker said that his experience as the head of the state legislature, which he said maintained a harmonious working relationship with the executive, would help him to serve the people of Enugu State if elected in 2015.
He identified the economy, agriculture, poverty alleviation and healthcare as the issues that he would focus on.
“I believe that if we find ourselves on the other side of the divide (executive arm of government), having led the legislature and also helped the executive, we are going to do better,” he said.
He urged delegates of the PDP in Enugu State to vote for him during the governorship primaries on November 29.
He said he rejected the consensus arrangement that threw up Ugwuanyi.
Noting that the laws of the PDP did not welcome the adoption of consensus candidates by state chapters, he said the process adopted in arriving at the consensus arrangement was not proper.
He said, “Of course we were in the meeting and we had our reservations; there is nothing wrong with consensus but the process through which it was arrived at was the problem.
“Our party frowns at consensus, the consensus that will make more sense to all of us is the consensus that will be arrived at on November 29 during the primaries.
“We hope that on November 29 the delegates will vote for the candidate of their choice.”
