JUST IN: Chime pulls out of Senate race

There were indications on Friday that Enugu State
Governor, Sullivan Chime, has dropped his bid to go to
the Senate in 2015.
Chime, whose tenure expires in 2015, had been locked in a
contest with Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike
Ekweremadu, over the seat of the Enugu West
Senatorial Zone.
The governor had already been screened for the Peoples
Democratic Party senatorial election primaries by the
party’s screening committee.
However, a few days to the primaries, reports emerged
that Chime would no longer be participating in the
election.
Following enquiries by our correspondent, the Chief
Press Secretary to the Governor, Chukwudi Achife,
confirmed the development on Friday.
Achife confirmed to our correspondent that Chime was no
longer running for Senate.
Our correspondent gathered that the development followed
a peaceful agreement between Chime and Ekweremadu.
Sources in the Enugu State PDP told our
correspondent that, in line with the said agreement, the
governor will produce most of the party’s key candidates,
including the flag bearer in the governorship election.
In exchange, Chime had to drop his senatorial bid.
It was learnt that the peace deal became imperative after
an acrimonious battle for the control of the PDP in
Enugu State, between Chime and Ekweremadu,
threatened to undermine the party’s fortunes ahead of the
2015 elections.
The battle came to a head after the former Enugu State
PDP chairman, Chief Vita Abba, resigned
unexpectedly.
The party’s State Executive Committee, which is loyal to
Chime, immediately appointed Chief Ifeanyi Asogwa as
chairman to replace Abba, but the deputy chairman, Elder
David Aja, who is a staunch Ekweremadu loyalist,
protested, arguing that he should be the chairman.
Ekweremadu appeared to have handed over control of the
party after the PDP National Working Committee
endorsed Aja as acting chairman, giving him the powers to
conduct the ward and national congresses in the state.
Although the SEC, which is loyal to Chime, insisted that
the congresses did not hold, Aja, backed by Ekweremadu,
forwarded names of delegates elected from the exercise to
the PDP national leadership.
Following the development, both camps went to court to
advance their positions, with an Abuja Federal High
Court upholding the ward congresses, even as a related
suit is pending before an Enugu High Court.
Before the current peace agreement came into effect, there
were fears that the PDP might not be able to present
candidates in 2015 as a result of the protracted legal
dispute.
The chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Enugu
State, Dr. Ben Nwoye, had at a news conference
declared that the PDP would not be able to present
candidates in the state.
However, the absence of major protests after the state
house of assembly primaries is an indication that peace has
returned to the Enugu State PDP.