Featured, Politics
By Benprince Ezeh
GODDY Uwazuruike, lawyer and political analyst, has said that there is no room in the Ohanaeze Constitution for consensus candidate in contesting any office in the organization.
Speaking on the upcoming election of the president of Ohanaeze, which is zoned to Imo State, Uwazuruike told Realnews in an exclusive interview in Lagos that any interested candidate musthail from Imo State.
Uwazuruike explained that if somebody gathers a group of 10 or 15 persons and they sat down in one room and say, yes, we have decided that this man is our choice, it does not affect Ohanaeze.
“I am aware of it and I was there the day they announced him, but I can only smile or grin because, under the Ohanaeze Constitution, there is nothing like consensus. All that is required is that you must be from Imo State. That is all, nothing more,” he said.
According to him, if you take that person to the governor and say governor this is the man we have chosen, how does that affect Ohanaeze?
“That man will come out like any other candidate. All they are doing is to massage his ego, nothing more, nothing less,” Uwazuruike said.
When asked if he was aware or invited to the meeting where the decision was taken, he said he was aware, but was not invited to the meeting where the governor was present. “We were not invited to the meeting where the governor was present, we were invited by Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, who is the chairman of the stakeholders to come for a meeting and I was there and so was Dr. Joe Nworgu and Prof. Chidi Osuagwu and so was Prof. George Obiozor. We sat down. Kola nut was brought, blessed, broken and we were there waiting to know why they called us.
“Chief Iwuanyanwu asked the secretary to read what they have decided based on our CV. And they read and said they have adopted Prof. Obiozor as their consensus candidate. One or two persons spoke and they were happy. And I noticed that most of those present are from Orlu East Local Government, which is Obiozor’s local government. They clapped and clapped, then Obiozor was asked to respond and he thanked them for choosing him.
“No reference to his co-contestants. Thereafter, one of those present, who is not from Orlu, said can we know the other contestants. That was when they read our names. When I stood up like others, people were surprised and we were not asked to say something and no contestant responded. In other words, we did not know why we were there?
“Thereafter the meeting ended and how that affected me I don’t know. If you wanted to screen us, you will say by the powers conferred on you by the Constitution of Ohanaeze, which is not so. There is no such power delegated to anybody to decide for Imo people. I could easily gather some red cap chiefs and call them stakeholders and they will adopt me as their consensus candidate. So as far as I’m concerned, those things are not real and they can’t work,” he said.
– Dec. 11, 2020 @ 15:29| GMT |
A.I
Tags: Dr. Joe Nworgu Goddy Uwazuruike How Prof. Obizor was crowned consensus candidate Prof. George Obiozor.
