Former Governor of old Anambra State, and a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Senator Jim Nwobodo, revealed on Tuesday that Barrister Dr. Peter Mba, has been selected as the right person to succeed Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
Senator Nwobodo said Mba was chosen after due consultations with o gubernqtorial aspirants in the state.
Mbah is one of the 17 governorship aspirants of the ruling PDP in the state.
The declaration followed months of speculations on who will succeed Governor Ugwuanyi at the expiration of his eight-year tenure on May 29, 2023.
But he did not state if Governor Ugwuanyi, who was widely speculated to be routing for Chijioke Edeoga from Isiuzo council area as his successor, and other 14 guber aspirants who earlier signed a memorandum of understanding to support whoever the governor nominated as his successor, were part of the decision to back Dr. Mbah.
Nwobodo further disclosed that another aspirant, Senator Ike Ekweremadu has accepted to support Mbah.
He said he held a meeting with a number of the aspirants from Enugu East Senatorial District for a conversation on how to develop Enugu State.
His words: “From my interaction with a number of them, I was looking for somebody who I think should redevelop Enugu State.
“As far back as October 2019, I invited Peter Mbah to my house. When he came, I told him to consider running for a position, especially Governor. He didn’t give me an answer immediately, but later he came and said he would consider running.
“Tomorrow, people will ask why am I keeping quiet, this is why I’m addressing the media today. I believe anybody who wins the primary tomorrow will be the Governor, because the PDP is the only party in Enugu State.
“I have also been speaking with the Governor of the State, a fine, peaceful gentleman and I told him that anybody that will succeed him must bring peace.
“We need a Governor who will not go into any war, rascality or vandalism but peace. Anybody who wants to be the Governor must follow the same path.
“I have heard all kinds of rumours about people claiming they are sponsoring Peter Mbah, but he knows that I brought him into this race.”
Speaking on Ekweremadu’s ambition, Nwobodo said the former Deputy Senate President “has come to see me many times and I told him about the need for peace, I have asked him to withdraw all cases in court so that we talk peace.
“We need peace in Enugu and that’s the legacy Ugwuanyi is leaving behind.
“I have asked Ekweremadu to collapse his team, let them join the rest in making Enugu to work.
“I want to thank Governor of the State for the way he has piloted the affairs of the State,” Nwobodo added.
But in a swift reaction, Ekweremadu’s Ikeoha Campain Organization, asked the public to disregard claim that the former deputy president of the senate had thrown his support behind Mba.
The endorsement of Mba comes on a day that a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, dismissed Ekweremadu’s application urging the court to declare the list of delegates produced by a faction loyal to him as the authentic list to be used in all the primary elections in the state chapter of the PDP.
Meanwhile, Gov. Ugwuanyi has picked the PDP ticket to represent Enugu North Senatorial District in the upper legislative chamber in 2022.
He is billed to take over from Senator Utazi, who according to speculations has been penciled down as Mba’s deputy.
