|
By Chidi Nkwopara
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
OWERRI — THE Senator representing Okigwe Senatorial zone in the National Assembly, Chief Ifeanyi Ararume, has warned that the governorship seat in Imo State, is not the exclusive preserve of any person or group of people. Chief Ararume spoke after political stakeholders from Orlu geo-political zone of Imo State, rose from a crucial meeting in the Amaifeke country home of Gov. Achike Udenwa, insisting that they would hold on tight to the seat come 2007.” It is not a hidden fact that some persons from Okigwe, Owerri and Orlu Senatorial zones of the state are laying claim to the gove- rnorship seat in 2007. "We must all realise that the governorship seat is not the exclusive preserve of any person or group of people,” Chief Ararume said.
While insisting that Okigwe people were legitimately saying it was their turn to produce the next governor of Imo State, Chief Ararume also advanced some reasons for making the claim. “It is on record that late Chief Sam Onunaka Mbakwe, an Okigwe son, was governor in the old Imo State. No Okigwe man has either been elected or appointed governor or administrator of Imo State, as presently constituted”, the Senator reasoned. Chief Ararume also argued that “even if we have to count from the old Imo State, it would only be natural for us to go back to where we started, when attempting to work out who steps into the Government House,Owerri, in 2007”. Continuing, the Senator insisted that it would not be fair for any Orlu man to again lay claim to the governorship seat during the next general elections, after successfully serving for eight years. “Politics is a matter of interest. People vote where they feel their collective interest would be firmly protected. It stand to reason that if the Orlu man thinks that his interest would be protected by an Okigwe man, he will naturally vote him in,” Ararume explained.
Answering another question, he said that people would feel the same way we are feeling now in Imo State, if another man from one of the South Western States plans to succeed President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007. “It would not be fair at all. It would not be fair to even the person preaching the gospel of confining any elective public seat to any area. We will talk to our brothers and sisters from Orlu geo-political zone at the appropriate time”, Ararume promised. Asked to make a definite statement on his alleged gubernatorial ambition, the Senator said that he is barely one year into his second tenure in the National Assembly, adding that for now, he is not talking about 2007. “I am not thinking about 2007 now. I am only one year into my second tenure as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. My interest for now is to attract federal government projects to my senatorial zone.
If thereafter my people feel I have performed creditably well and ask me to run for the governorship seat, I will give them an answer in time so that it will not be late for them to pick another candidate of their choice”, Chief Ararume said.
|
