BY RAYMOND OZOJI, Awka
Despite attempts to scuttle Idemili-South Local Government Transition Committee Chairman selection and nomination process, Hon. Amaka Obi has won the nomination to continue in office as chairman of the council area.
The selection which was done at the Idemili-South council headquarters Ojoto at the weekend through the option A4 model, was adjudged to be free, fair, credible and transparent by stakeholders of Idemili-South as well as observers who were on ground to witness the nomination process.
While some contestants for the TC Chairmanship position declined to contest for reasons best known to them, other delegates queued behind Hon. Amaka Obi and two other male contenders where the incumbent TC Chairman Amaka Obi polled 36 votes to win the nomination.
Some delegates who spoke to newsmen about the nomination of Hon. Amaka Obi, said it was not about Awka-Etiti agenda or the grand conspiracy against her but about performance.
They said Hon. Amaka Obi has touched lives and executed life-changing programmes in Idemili-South since she became the TC Chairman and that her developmental strides are second to none.
That it is as a result of the foregoing and some other concrete reasons that they unanimously nominated her to Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo for her to be retained and returned as the TC Chairman of Idemili-South Local Government Area.
One of the stakeholders who was a former Deputy Chief Whip of the Anambra State House of Assembly Hon. Sir Tony Uche Ezekwelu said the idea of some people who knew they would not scale through the nomination trying to cause crisis did not stop the selection process from holding.
Ezekwelu said the process has been done and concluded and the three people whose names would be forwarded to the governor have been selected by the stakeholders that decided to vote.
He said the issue was that some people ganged up against Amaka Obi the incumbent TC Chairman but because she is a strong and performing council chairman, their conspiracy met its waterloo.
The former House of Assembly member equally stated that it was Amaka Obi who brought back Idemili-South APGA members that had left the party to enable them strategise on winning Idemili-South for Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo come 2025.
Although Ezekwelu said that the incumbent TC Chairman was doing well and should be returned, he appealed to the government of Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo for Ojoto to produce the Education Secretary and other appointees to enable Ojoto join in the move to secure Idemili-South for the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) come 2025.
The former lawmaker also disclosed that those who were actually behind the grand conspiracy to scheme out Ojoto community from the polity were the ones talking about zoning during the prolonged crucial meeting of Idemili-South stakeholders which preceded the selection process.
Ezekwelu therefore reemphasized that Amaka Obi was doing well and should be returned to continue and consolidate on her good works for Ndi-Idemili-South Local Government Area, stressing that there was absolutely no need changing a performing council chairman.
Meanwhile Idemili-South APGA Local Government Chairman Hon. Kizito Anoliefo described Amaka Obi as a grassroots person which he said was the remote reason she won the nomination.
He said the nomination process was free, fair and transparent and not a kangaroo process as erroneously described by some stakeholders who boycotted the selection process on their own volition while others participated.
Also Hon. Augustine Ejibendu, the Returning Officer who moderated the process, said Amaka Obi and one Mrs. Ngozi Mbamalu were the women contestants for the TC Chairmanship position but Mrs. Ngozi Mbamalu declined and didn't participate in the selection process.
The Returning Officer also announced that eight men contestants for the chairmanship position but six of them declined and refused to be involved remaining Mr. Smart Ebuka Nriama who got 21 votes, Mr. Ifenna Okafor has 12 votes while Amaka Obi polled 36 votes and won Idemili-South TC Chairmanship nomination landslide.