Chime Insists On Power Rotation In Enugu

Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State has reiterated his earlier position that elected public officers on the platform of the People Democratic Party, PDP, from the state, including members of the National Assembly, who have served more than a tenure should give way for fresh candidates to emerge in 2015.

The governor, who spoke at the State Executive Council, SEC, meeting of the party in Enugu, weekend, said there was need for elected public officers to eschew sit-tight syndrome and allow others who never had the opportunity of enjoying the benefits of such offices to do so.

He said political offices should not be seen as a football club where players would remain so long as they could actively play, stressing that even in football profession, players that had over- stayed were usually retired to enable younger ones to take over.

His words:  “We must work very hard to save this party; we must work very hard to save the policy and system already entrenched. “We have been able to have very peaceful transition. Enugu State has held four local government elections and it is only few states that can achieve that. “In each election we kept on improving. During the last election, the unexpected happened because all our 17 local government chairmen were returned unopposed.

“My wish is that in the very near future if not next year, we should be able to produce a governor unopposed. It will happen.  

We are working towards it. We will not impose any candidate, of course, the idea of imposition breeds violence, thuggery and all that.”

“We are hoping that later this year we will come together and endorse one of our own and give him the authority to run for the office of governor and that person, whoever we chose when presented to the state should be accepted by our people.

“So we must be careful about the choice of candidate. But sacrifices must be made. People should be ready to say I want to let this go in the interest of our party. We don’t become anything in Enugu PDP because we have money.