By Tony Edike
ENUGU— A group in the South East, The Orientals, has made a strong case for the nomination of former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim as the successor to the immediate past national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Okesilieze Nwodo.

The group said the party had been beating about the bush since 2008 searching for a national chairman from the South East geopolitical zone, whereas there were those eminently qualified, whose pedigree was well known and with the required political sagacity to take the job.

This was contained in a statement signed by National President of the group, Frank Okorie, in Enugu at the weekend.
The statement said: “One is that he is from Ebonyi State where no one from the state has held the position earlier than now.

“He had indicated interest for the job in 2008 and would have emerged if the election was held, that means that he is more accepted across the country other than those who do not know how to handle the job but were forced to take it. That was why they never lasted in the office.”

The group advised the governors of the South East to be careful over the manner they reject prominent personalities from their domain for sensitive positions zoned to Ndigbo.

It particularly advised the Ebonyi state governor to grow above primitive fear of the personality of Anyim and accept the former senate president to work for Nigeria once again.

The statement noted that it has become an insult for Ndigbo to allow the highest seat of the ruling party allocated to them to remain vacant because of primordial sentiments and fear of the unknown.

The Orientals stated that what happened between the former PDP National Chairman, Dr. Nwodo and his home governor was most unfortunate and should not be used as a reference point to stop better sons of the zone from serving the nation.