by Oluwatosin Fatoyinbo
Enugu state Governor, Sullivan Chime of Enugu has defended consensus arrangement made within the Enugu PDP stating that consensus candidacy was democratic in politics if the people approved the arrangement.
He said this during a chat with the media over the emergence of Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as the consensus governorship candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 elections.
“I do not see why any party at any level should be against negotiation. It cannot, under any circumstance, be described as undemocratic.
“This is the most democratic thing, this is what lobbying is all about. We are not running contrary to the rules of the party; we are doing what the party encourages — dialogue.
“In Enugu, we do not anoint candidates, we allow the people to speak. What we did was a feat. We achieved a feat,’’ he said.
He said that the PDP zone the Governorship to the Enugu North Senatorial district and that he met with the leaders and stakeholders in the zone on the choice of Ugwuanyi. He said when Ugwuanyi emerged, there was no dissenting opinion.
“Everybody was given the opportunity to speak and the two people who moved and supported the motion to endorse Ugwuanyi were aspirants as well,’’ he said.
The governor said in spite of the development, other aspirants would not be prevented from purchasing forms for the primary elections of the party and that Ugwuanyi will pass through the Party’s primaries.
