By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA—SENATOR Ayogu Eze representing Enugu North senatorial District who is a governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday said there was no rift between him and the state governor, Sullivan Chime.

Governor Chime had in a meeting at Governor’s Lodge Enugu, last Friday, where Senator Eze was in attendance announced the adoption of a member of the House of Representatives, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as the PDP’s consensus candidate for the 2015 election.

But 48 hours after the adoption, Senator Eze rejected the consensus arrangement, which some persons had described as undemocratic and called for a free and fair primaries where the people will decide who should become the party’s governorship standard bearer in 2015.

Senator Eze in a statement yesterday said there was no rift between him and Governor Chime who he described as an old friend with good credentials.

Debunking insinuations that his rejection of an attempt to impose a predetermined candidate on the people of Enugu State might have created a rift between the governor and himself, Eze said he had been very close to Chime for nearly 15 years.

He dismissed claims that the relationship between the two of them would be affected in anyway by this development.

Eze explained that his disagreement with the governor was only on the principle and procedure for choosing the PDP   governorship candidate for the forthcoming general elections in the state, and that he still held the governor in very high esteem.

The senator expressed confidence that the governor would realise that those pushing him to take such steps did not mean well for him and the state.