Former Minister for Health, Chief Fidelis Nwankwo, has charged the leadership of the Ebonyi State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to guard against self-inflicted destruction by trying to impose a governorship candidate on the party.
Nwankwo, who is tipped to win today’s repeat governorship primary in the state, said although he was running on the vision he has for the state and experience garnered from his days at the local council, it would amount to self-destruction for the party leaders to overlook the issue of zoning.
He contended that the attempt to use socio-cultural blocs instead of senatorial districts as the basis of zoning is not only counterproductive but also imposes a tyranny of power, thereby making it hard for minority areas to access the governorship seat in the state.
Nwankwo, who spoke to The Guardian in an interview, contended that as the governorship has gone round in a seamless sequence, “it should naturally come back to the north, because the north has been out of power for 16 years.”
“The problem started with the man who benefited from this arrangement; he started talking tongue-in-cheek and talking about bloc; what is bloc? It is strange to our politics.”
“Unfortunately, the leadership of PDP has not been bold enough to take the right decision, except for Sam Egwu, who has been shouting it; the other people have not been able to take the rightful decision.
“They forget that we are an opposition party; all of a sudden, PDP has become opposition in Ebonyi; it behooves us to do the right thing, because the people are watching. I am not contesting because of zoning. I am contesting because I think I have the capacity. I am prepared. With all sense of modesty, I have been around since PDP started and I have watched some chief executives and I have gained a lot from watching them,” he stated.
