Respite finally came the way of Senator Ifeanyi Araraume yesterday, when the apex court nullified the candidacy of Chief  Charles Ugwuh as the governorship flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State and consequently declared him (Araraume) as the authentic winner of the ticket.
The development might have laid to rest the protracted crisis rocking the Imo State chapter of the PDP since December last year. But it could be the beginning of another for the party leadership that may have believed in it could give and withdraw tickets at will given the scenario playing out in its Rivers State chapter.
The Imo State crisis with the December 13, 2006 gubernatorial primaries where Araraume scored the highest number of delegates' votes but not enough to declare him the outright winner.
Hours before the primaries were held, there had been ominous signs in the air that the outcome of the exercise might be mired in controversies. This was against the backdrop of the sudden cancellation of the event on December 9 and its eventual  rescheduling for Wednesday December 13.
The exercise which was held as rescheduled, reportedly continued till the following day, December 14. In the unfolding development, Araraume polled 2,069 votes to emerge contender with the highest votes, while his closest rivals, Chief Hope Uzodinma and Chief Anthony Ezenna of Orange Drugs Limited, scored 1,649 and 1,388 respectively.
At any rate, the primaries were inconclusive because Araraume did not emerge as clear-cut winner, having failed to meet the required two-third stipulations in the party's guideline. Whereas, a run-off was expected to hold between Araraume and Uzodinma, the party decided to put off any plan whatsoever for such exercise.
A new twist was however, introduced into the matter when the state party chairman,  Chief Marcellinus Nlemigbo, called a press conference shortly after the primaries and declared Ezenna, who came third in the primaries as the party's gubernatorial candidate. According to Nlemigbo, the decision to pick Ezenna as the candidate, was the exclusive preserve of the party's national headquaters.
The situation, however, degenerated into open confrontation between Nlemigbo and members of Araraume's Destiny Campaign Organization. To this end, Director General of the organization, Chief Bonny Ejiogu, stormed the party's secretariat along with some other supporters and accused the chairman of letting out false infomation to the press.
It took the intervention of the police to dismiss the angry supporters of Araraume on that fateful day.  Ejiogu later called another press conference, where he accused Nlemigbo of bias. "For sometime now, the state chairman of PDP has not hidden his nocturnal closeness to ensure that Ezenna won the primaries," he alleged.
But the announcement of Ezenna as the candidate, later turned out to be a futile effort as the party eventually  submitted Araraume's name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, the situation reached a turning point  recently when the party suddenly withdrew the ticket from Araraume and consequently submitted the name of Engineer Charles Ugwuh, former president of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) who came 13th at the primaries, with only 32 votes to INEC as the party's candidate.
The emergence of Ugwuh as a replacement  for Araraume, was according to the architects of the idea, "the best option for the party in order to win the election  in the state."
Prior to the emergence of Ugwuh, the state governor, Chief Achike Udenwa had called a stakeholders' meeting involving all the aspirants  at the parimaries, where he said the party had decided not to jettison the result of the governorship primaries, while simultaneously opting for a consensus candidate, expected to emerge from an election among the aspirants.
Eventually, Ugwuh was said to have had the highest votes from the informal selection process to emerge the winner, while one Chief Sam Uwandu, a United States-based professor came second.
Angered by the development, Araraume headed for an Abuja High Court to challenge his substitution of his name with Ugwuh. The presiding judge, Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako, technically gave her ruling in favour of Ugwuh, which Araraume appealed against.
But in what has been regarded as a landmark judgment, the case presided over by three learned justices of the Appeal Court - Olufunmilola Adekeye, Abdu Aboki and Chidi Uwa unanimously overruled the lower court's decision, saying the decision of the PDP to withdraw Araraume's name after it had been submitted to the INEC fell short of section 34 of the Electoral  Act 2006.
This section of the Electoral Act states that: "A political party intending to change any of its candidates for any election shall inform the commission of such change in writing not later than 60 days to election."
Again sub-section 2 of the section states further that : "Any application made pursuant to su-bsection 1 of this section shall give cogent and verifiable reasons," which proponents of Ugwuh's candidacy did not adhere to.
Disatisfied by the ruling of the Appellate Court, Ugwuh and PDP headed for the Supreme Court, asking it to overturn the judgment of the Appeal Court. But the plea fell through as the apex court  ruled yesterday that Araraume remained the authentic owner of the ticket.
With yesterday's judgment, the legal tussle over Imo PDP ticket has been exhausted. What that means is that the gubernatorial ambition of Ugwuh is over while that of Araraume remains on curse.
But of greater implication is what happens in the River State chapter of the PDP where the speaker, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi is challenging the substitution of his name as gubernatorial candidate with that of Celestine Omehia. 
When the Federal High Court ruled on the matter two weeks ago, both sides claimed victory with Ameachi's camp insisting the candidacy of the Speaker was upheld while Omehia, who has the offial backing of PDP, having emerged like Ugwuh through a consensus process, said he remained the candidate.
With the Supreme Court ruling yesterday which affirmed Araraume and not his replacement Ugwuh as the PDP gubernatorial candidate, Rivers State now also presents interesting scenario for the PDP in days to come.
And perhaps for INEC too.


http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=74863

at least by now ararume shld have known that he is not in the good books of the elders in the state.
he is forcing himself on the party via intimidation.
well, it is one thing to win a case in the court, another thing to make the necessary changes with INEC.
Ugwu as we all know is obj's candidate so one will be forced here to ask, will obj fail here in delievering Ugwu who the state elders also approve.
it i obvious here that Udenwa has not been in good terms with Ararume who has been criticising his administration from Abuja so might ararume replace udenwa, it will be a sad news for udenwa.
one thing is sure here, as long as the battle lasts, other parties in the state stand better chances of winning in the state as was the case that brought Evan Enwerem to office.
the court that gave ararume the chance shld have equally understand that he did not win election as it was inconclusive.

@ chidichris,
Whether OBJ + Udenwa or the PDP + INEC like it or not Senator Ararume is the PDP Guber Candidate for IMO, so say the APEX COURT of the Law. The court decision is not contestable anywhere. The ealier this reality is accepted the better for them.

The IMO Leaders and People have other candidates and Parties to be considered and voted for, if they are not supporting Ararume.

@chidicris

IMO state people are not very loyal. The state will rather burn down than someone to foist a candidate on the people from far away Abuja. Charlse was not the first,
They initially wanted to impose Festus Odimegwu on the people it did not work, they tried the Orange drugs man that one failed now it is Charlse Ugwu. I am not a fan of Ararume and can't guess what his government will be like but just know that politics of Imo is bigger than any individual. We don't do Godfathers in Imo State.

Even if Ararume did not win the case at the courts, if the people of Imo don't want Charlse Ugwu not even the UN secretary general will impose him on the people.

Ararume won a landslide victory in PDP primaries.

ararume for gov, choi. . . .wahala dey o . . .
BTW mckren, are u from Imo?

Larufa and mackren,
i hope u have heard the latest. ararume expelled from pdp.
now what do u think?
the man ararume is a threat to the state and from the way he was moving, he appears unstoppable and now as you can see, suppreme court applied the constitution of nigeria while the pdp applied their party constitution and for you to be a member of a party, it means you are ready to abide by their rules and regulations. we do not need a propeht here to tell us that ararume in taking his party to court is no longer showing loyality and as such need to be reminded of his promise to be loyal to this party.
if you know the man in question and his political background, you will accept here that he is a confussionist and a former anpp chairman of imo state who sold his party out at the dying minute just to be given pdp ticket for okigwe senitorial zone and as such put anpp in a last minute mess. this is nemesis in play. it is biblical that those who live by sword dye by sword.
no matter how he look at it, he bleeped some people up by dumping his party during the 1999 election and this time, the wind of disappointment at 11th hours is blowing to his side.