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| Chief Ezenwata Okechukwu Itanyi |
We can recall how he tried to
succeed his boss, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani.
Yes, he participated in the PDP governorship primary election but lost to Sullivan Chime. We can confidently say
that Chief Itanyi remains the best deputy governor Enugu State has ever
produced.
This is a man who became Enugu
State PDP governorship running mate to Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani owing to the rift
between two erstwhile governors of the state, Chief Jim Nwobodo and Dr.
Okwesilieze Nwodo.
Tectono Business Review can remember that Dr. Nwodo, who
was then the national secretary of PDP, had his candidates in virtually all the
sensitive elective positions in Enugu State. Chief Nwobodo equally had his.
After the governorship primary election, Dr. Nwodo’s candidate, Victor Nduka Agu from Enugu West
senatorial district, won convincingly and Chief Nwobodo’s candidate, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani from Enugu East
senatorial district, came third.
Then, Chief Nwobodo did what he
was known for as the godfather of Enugu politics and forcefully procured the
governorship ticket for his candidate, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani. We were surprised
to hear, on radio, that Victor Nduka Agu has won the primary election only for
us to hear Dr. Nnamani’s name after some hours. This really degenerated to a big
political battle between Nwobodo and Nwodo. Dr. Nwodo was placated by giving
the PDP senatorial tickets to his own candidates, but Chief Nwobodo took his
own candidates to Alliance for Democracy
(AD) and they all won the general elections. That’s how Fidelis Okoro (Agbadamal) and Ben Collins Ndu became senators.
Hmmm!!! A whole national secretary of the PDP, who was supposed to be the key
decision maker in his state chapter, became emasculated.
It did not end there. When the
deputy governorship position of the party was zoned to Enugu North senatorial
district, Nwobodo also messed Nwodo up again. Nwobodo knew the long-standing
enmity between Nwodo and Itanyi families in Ukehe. Then, Chief Itanyi had contested
for Igbo-Etiti local government chairmanship election under the platform of the
defunct All People’s Party (APP) and
lost woefully to Hon. Nnanwike Nwodo,
who was Dr. Nwodo’s candidate in PDP. Chief Nwobodo had a meeting with Itanyi
where he told him to decamp to PDP and he single-handedly made him the
governorship running mate.
Folks, that was how Chief
Ezenwata Okechukwu Itanyi became Enugu State deputy governor for eight years. Tectono
Business Review wonders why he does
not want to continue to climb the political ladder. Politics is meant for humble,
highly educated, internationally exposed and intelligent professionals like
him.
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