A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Enugu State has announced Chief Dona Nwogbo as the winner of its governorship primary election.
Nwogbo’s emergence was confirmed on Thursday, during a primary election held in Enugu.
The exercise, which also produced candidates for the Senate, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly seats, was held across the state and culminated in the final collation of results in Enugu.
The development comes amid the lingering leadership dispute within the PDP in the state, with another faction led by Chief Vitus Okechi having earlier conducted separate primaries that produced former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji, as its governorship candidate.
Declaring the outcome of Thursday’s governorship primary, the Returning Officer for the Enugu State PDP primaries election, Yarima Edachaba, described the exercise as peaceful and widely participated in by party members.
“By the grace of God, you can see that we have declared the winners of these primaries. By next year, the election itself will commence in full. The turnout was massive in the places we visited. There was no violence or fight in any way,” Edachaba said.
He commended party members for conducting themselves peacefully throughout the process and expressed optimism that the party would remain united ahead of the general elections.
Speaking after the collation of results, the Acting factional Chairman of the PDP in Enugu State, Steve Oruruo, described the exercise as a demonstration of internal democracy and transparent leadership recruitment.
“What happened today was the final collation of the PDP primaries which emanated from different wards via direct primaries. It was a glamorous outing that marked the end of elections in terms of primaries. This is the quality of PDP that was presented without rancour and with a sense of equity and fairness,” Oruruo stated.
He said the quality of leadership in any society was largely determined by the transparency of the recruitment process that produced such leaders.
“Leadership recruitment process should determine the coloration of quality leadership. So the warped value and poor leadership threat that we have witnessed over the years are just mere products of bad primaries of parties. today we have presented a primary devoid of rancour, quarrel and skirmishes,” he added.
Oruruo also dismissed claims of division within the party in the state, insisting that the PDP leadership structure under his faction remained intact and legally recognised.
“Enugu has never had any crisis in the PDP. The leadership of this party exists courtesy of the court secured a judgement that has never been vacated in the high court. Beyond this, the Supreme Court nailed it in the final judgement and clearly made it very visible that it is the BOT led by former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, that controls the PDP.
“That leadership has since appointed leaders at the national level to man positions in the PDP and they are in charge of the processes today. So any other thing violates the law and is tantamount to nullity before the law. Any other party acting contrary to the stipulation of the Supreme Court is acting null and void and of no effect,” he said.
The party also unveiled its candidates for the three senatorial districts in the state.
Basil Aguigwo emerged candidate for Enugu West Senatorial District, while Dr. Nwatu Anthony clinched the ticket for Enugu East Senatorial District. Lady Asogwa Beatrice emerged candidate for Enugu North Senatorial District.
For the House of Representatives, Isaac Onoyima emerged candidate for Igboeze South/Nsukka Federal Constituency, while Nwatu Chukwudi secured the ticket for Nkanu East/West Federal Constituency.
Lilian Ugwuoke emerged candidate for Enugu East/Isi Uzo Federal Constituency, while Onah Uchechukwu picked the ticket for Aninri/Awgu/Oji River Federal Constituency.
Others are Nnaji Erobuike for Enugu North/South Federal Constituency, Chief Cosmas Onyia for Udi/Ezeagu Federal Constituency, Anikezie Michael for Igbo Etiti/Uzo Uwani Federal Constituency, and Eze Ephraim for Udenu/Igbo Eze North Federal Constituency.