IGBOZURUOKE MEDIA

On Arise TV morning show of May 20, 2025, Chief Achike Udenwa, a stalwart and founding member of PDP, exudes optimism that his party will ride out its crises and become a force by 2027 general election.

Chief Udenwa, who was also a former Imo State governor under PDP, believes the recently inaugurated peace-committee headed by Dr. Olusola Saraki, will do a good job and found solutions to the mirage of crises facing the party.

As a politician, it may not be out of place for Chief Udenwa, to exhibit such confidence giving the fact that politician especially; those from Nigeria never accept the routs or challenges facing their parties, rather, they found it conventional to keep highlighting the problems of their opponents and courting the image of an honest man belonging to the best party.

The participation of Chief Udenwa on the TV programme and all he said were worthy of mention because the latter, a reserved and former Biafra war commander, is regarded and whatever he says attracts attention in Igbo land. Unfortunately, Chief Udenwa doesn’t seem to be different from his Igbo colleagues in the Nigerian political space where, to them, politics in Nigeria, is for their benefit alone and does not include the betterment of their kinsmen or  constituencies.

Throughout the questions and answer programme, the Chief pretended that the trouble with PDP was trivial, fuelled by the APC and within the boundaries of being easily resolved by the Saraki-led peace committee. Nowhere in his responses did he attempt to highlight the root causes of the problem that was due to PDP’s failure to respect the party’s zoning agreements prior to 2023 elections.

After eight-unbroken years of Mohammadu Buhari’s tenure as president the presidency suppose to shift to the South, where only presidential candidates from that zone should contest. However, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, a serial contestant from the North, clandestinely, sort the position and emerged as the presidential candidate and Igbo leaders like Chief Udenwa were complicit in that scheme. Due to their selfish pursuits, it did prick their conscience to strongly root for Mr. Peter Obi, their kin who was a running mate to the same Atiku when the latter ran against Buhari, when it was the turn of the North to fill the presidency.    

As a result, Peter Obi left PDP for the Labour Party where he performed creditably as the presidential candidate and garnered over ten million votes. It was as a result of this double standard by the PDP and betrayal by most Igbo members that the party’s trouble started.

The nefarious schemes to enthrone Atiku once again as the PDP candidate began when a close associate of the northerner and owner of AIT TV broadcast station, Chief Raymond Dokpesi instigated his station to began the intermittent broadcast of why a northerner was still eligible to contest the 2023 election by a programme of a calibrated electoral graphs as an excuse for Atiku’s participation.

In the same vein, some Igbo PDP chieftain, like Chief Dan Ulasi began to canvass for Atiku’s candidacy by praising and presenting Atiku as a lover of the Igbo. On many occasions, the chief came on air and narrated how the former, during his time as a Nigerian customs officer assisted Igbo businessman in their businesses etc.  Sadly, both the PDP chieftains and their Igbo counterparts sort to be counted on the wrong side of equity, justice and fair play and refused to follow the party’s agreed arrangement for the party’s survival and progress. The most pathetic were the Igbo chieftains who betrayed their eligible kinsmen in the party and shamelessly supported Atiku.

As a result another powerful but cantankerous chieftain, Chief Nyeso Wike seized the opportunity to unleash the blows that is rocking and will continue to disrupt the PDP and may eventually destroy its capacity to win any major election in Nigeria.

So, to a large extent, it insincere for the likes of Chief Udenwa to come to the public and refused to acknowledge the foundation of PDP’s current crises, when he and his Igbo brothers failed to uphold an existing Gentleman agreement, the worst of it being when they treacherously failed to promote one of their kinsmen.

Boniface Alanwoko