Imo PDP elders urge Jonathan to woo Araraume

Determined to win the February 28 gove r nor sh ip election, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) el­ders in Imo State may have reached out to President Goodluck Jonathan to in­fluence the support of Sena­tor Ifeanyi Araraume for the flag bearer of the party, Emeka Ihedioha.

Daily Sun gathered that worried by the controversy that trailed the emergence of Ihedioha as the PDP’s gover­norship candidate in the state, the elders resolved to ensure that President Goodluck Jona­than intervenes in the situa­tion.

A source on condition of anonymity told Daily Sun that the elders wanted President Jonathan to prevail on Senator Ifeanyi Araraume to support Ihedioha by publicly raising his hands and asking his sup­porters to cease their hostility and rejection of the deputy speaker of House of Repre­sentatives.

The elders, it was gathered, were worried that except Ara­raume supports Ihedioha, the PDP would not be able to upstage the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

A top PDP national officer, Daily Sun learnt, was man­dated to book an appointment with the president for the el­ders to meet with him for the purpose of persuading Ara­raume to support Ihedioha for PDP’s victory in Imo State.

The source added that since it was obvious that Ihedioha could not win the Imo gov­ernorship without Araraume, PDP did not want to further lose control by ignoring the former senator.

Recently, after electing Chief Emmanuel Iwuan­yanwu as their chairman and Mr. Peter Mgbenwelu as secretary, the elders had ex­pressed worry that since the Araraume factor could not be wished away, there was need to convince him to support Ihedioha.

It was gathered that the el­ders’ dilemma stemmed from field reports that Araraume still enjoyed a large following in the state.

However, Daily Sun learnt that the feeling among the el­ders was that since Ihedioha had been presented with the flag and until the pronounce­ment by the courts, Araraume should be prevailed upon to appeal to his supporters and Imo people to support the deputy speaker.

But the development came even as Araraume campaign organization declared recent­ly that the only way to true reconciliation was for PDP to hand over the governorship ticket won by Araraume on December 8, 2014 to him.