Each of the new 17 Local Government chairmen in Enugu State will be attending the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) meeting today for the first time as leaders of their respective zones.
The meeting is holding all across the council areas today, a week after the party held similar meetings in the 260 wards statewide.
In Aninri local government area, many stakeholders, power brokers and hundreds of party faithfuls are expected to attend, said multiple insider sources. Prince Ugochukwu Nwanjoku, the chairman of Aninri would attend the all-important meeting, not necessarily because it was the first time he would be co-chairing such a gathering as the chairman.
His presence would speak volumes, and would particularly serve as a card of reassuring the council that the fear of the past is indeed passed.
Prince Nwanjoku took over from one-term council chairman, Bennett Ajah. Ajah presided over the darkest hours in history of Aninri.
During his two years in office, he held several chaotic party meetings, most of them turned outrightly violent. The former member representing Aninri constituency in the State Assembly, Chinedu Okwu (a.k.a Otaka) was once beaten to a pulp and left half-dead as a government-sponsored armed gang swooped on him and others during PDP meeting inside the headquarters.
Nicknamed 2-by-2 chairman for his group’s trademark of fighting party faithfuls using 2-by-2 logs of wood, Bennett Ajah sowed portent fear in his days. He crushed dissent voices with animal ferocity, trampled on stakeholders with reckless disregard, and surrounded himself with only idiots in his bid to build new hegemony in the council. The result was that his last meetings were scanty as everyone went into hiding.
In today’s meeting, scheduled to begin at 12 noon, the new Local Government chairman, will try to demonstrate that the coming of new era is real. Before now, he has presided over several public gatherings in the headquarters, all of them went smoothly and peacefully.
He is mostly likely to talk about his achievements so far in the areas of infrastructure, empowerment and agriculture; he will talk about the new face of the headquarters; he will say that “tomorrow is here.”
Then, from the chairman of Aninri PDP, Afam Okafor, to the rest of those to speak, the Prince Ugochukwu Nwanjoku would be praised for the new leadership he has brought to the party. Engr. Magnus Edeh, Lloyd Ekweremadu, Uche Ogbonna, Chinedu Okwu, Victor Okoro are likely to attend the meeting.
Sadly, the deputy chairman late Surv. Ifeanyi Nwaru, would be absent. Its unlikely that the question of his successor would come up in the talks. Also, Bennett Ajah is expected to avoid the meeting even with his all-important position as the youth leader of PDP in Enugu State.
Generally, everyone, including tens of uniformed women who would be singing and dancing for the chairman, would try to create the impression that there is no opposition under Nwanjoku. But that would be, of course, a fatal mistake to believe so.
Prince Ugochukwu Nwanjoku, a crafty politician is probably aware of these and is silently building his bones to confront the cracks when they finally show up. They are likely not going to show up in today’s meeting.
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