By Ori Martins  


The question should be: Is Senator Samuel Anyanwu also known as Samdaddy suffering from  Ihedioha phobia? Why is Samdaddy so paranoic about His Excellency, Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha? It is so irritating and absolutely nauseating that Samdaddy who was the PDP candidate in last governorship election in Imo State where the party recorded its worst ever result in the history of election in the entire country has gone amok. 


In the run - up to the November 11, 2023 poll, Ihedioha pulled out even before the PDP governorship primary election and gave his reasons. Those not well informed about how Ihedioha does his politics of love, unity and progress, speculated he would leave the party, but he did not even as he asked his supporters to "stay in the party and work for PDP".


At no time did he enter into alliance or understanding with any of the candidates for the purposes of sabotaging the umbrella party or swaying victory in favour of other parties. Since 1998, Ihedioha has remained steadfast and committed to the cause and course of PDP. His faith in the party has been unwavering and unshakable. 


Yet, since after the election and as Samdaddy crashed like a pack of cards, he has been hauling all manner of insults and abuses on Ihedioha, aimlessly accusing the immediate past governor of being behind his grand failure. 


Samdaddy's first flak against the former deputy speaker was "Ihedioha never supported me". This is laughable and shameful. You believed you had weight capable of leading you to the Imo State Government House. You got the the ticket and expectedly ran the party aground. 


Ordinarily, Samdaddy ought to be going round Imo State on a " Please, forgive me"  tour. He is not doing it. He is in the contrary abusing Ihedioha and pointing fingers at an innocent man, just to destabilize Imo PDP. Samdaddy's actions as well as inations ever since his unfortunate outing of November 11,2023, have been awful and sorrowful. 


To start with, it is on record that Samdaddy developed a certain notorious nonchalant attitude against the PDP in 2015. Two weeks after Ihedioha led the good people of Owerri Zone to vote him as the senator elect, Samdaddy displayed a horrifying betrayal never ever before witnessed in the party nationwide. During the governorship and house of assembly elections two weeks later, Samdaddy played Judas Iscariot. He lost the elections in his booth, ward and local government council. It was unimaginable. 


The same scenario played out in 2019 where, after losing to Ihedioha in the PDP governorship primary election, Samdaddy took the matter up to the supreme  court, seeking to nullify Ihedioha's nomination. He lost and never supported PDP in the 2019 election. 


As it turned out, Ihedioha won the governorship contest but was sacked by the supreme court and Samdaddy celebrated that ouster to high heavens, tagging it as the "best thing ever to have happened to Imo State". 


Still, Ihedioha, a builder and a patient politician, assiduously gathered Imo PDP together and the party got stronger within months. After the congresses and after the State Working Committee (SWC) had stabilized, Samdaddy still  bared his fangs most dangerously. He petitioned and took the SWC up to supreme court, calling for its dissolution. Unable to stand Samdaddy's troubles, seven members of the SWC, including the secretary, publicity secretary, youth and woman leaders, resigned en masse and joined the Imo APC. 


No matter the angle you are looking at it, Imo people identify Ihedioha for what he is and stands for. It is the same way they rate Samdaddy for what he really is. The above account signifies  Samdaddy's anti party and anti people dispositions. 


On the other hand, even as the deputy speaker of the national assembly, Imo people have come to appreciate Ihedioha for what he was, preached and stood for - he was pro life and have been so ever since then. 


Visionary and ingenious, Ihedioha utlized his position as the deputy speaker to attract billions of naira projects projects not just to Imo State but also to South East. For instance, the reconstruction of the Owerri - Elele Road at the cost of N25b then still remained the biggest Federal Government project ever attracted to the state. 


The reconstruction of the road from Okpala Junction  to Igwirinta in Rivers State which was also attracted by Ihedioha is clearly the easiest and smoothest route for Imo travellers to Rivers State, particularly Port Harcourt. There was equally the Mbaise Ring Road that cut across the three local councils of the area which was initiated by Ihedioha but was abandoned the moment PDP lost power at the centre. 


During his seven month reign as governor, Ihedioha displayed high degree of honesty, integrity and discipline that he even converted the worst of his critics as fans. In that regard, he proved his competence, character and courage as a leader.  Moreover, he based his appointments on merit even as he also considered the geo - political spread of the state in order to guarantee fairness, equity and justice. 


On that brilliant note, Ihedioha kicked off his seven month reign that was remarkable with projects and restored public confidence in governance cc. Ihedioha in a landmark move that positively amazed the citizenry, began the construction of 32 roads across the state., he revamped sports compelling the sports minister, an APC Federal Executive Council member, to proclaim "Imo as the home of sports in Nigeria". 


Ihedioha made civil servants to smile and be happy as he paid regular and complete salaries., he ensured that pensioners backlog and running payments were made regularly., housing, agriculture, health, education and water board received urgent and adequate attention to the admiration of the masses, especially the electorate. 


These are facts Samdaddy and his band of evil writers and social media rats cannot erase, no matter how hard they try. Ihedioha is a man of the people. He is a symbol of what true leadership is all about and the people have come to have absolute confidence in him. 


Seeing that he was not on the ballot in the last election, Imo voters were not very much encouraged and so they shunned PDP. Probably this is what Samdaddy mistakes as "sabotage by Ihedioha". It is not sabotage. Samdaddy doesn't command the same respect, honour and integrity as Ihedioha does. This kind of perception is earned not bought by grand standing or blackmail as Samdaddy is currently pushing against Ihedioha. It can correctly be said that Samdaddy harbours a notorious and satanic jealousy against Ihedioha because of his antecedent and pedigree 


Based on the foregoing, rather than taking the path of dignity and honour, at least, as a way of reassuring members of the Peoples Democratic Party who have been nursing untold and severe political injury following Samdaddy's abysmal performance in the November 11, 2023 governorship election, the sacked national secretary of PDP is ingloriously trapped by the crossfire of infamy and infantile curves. 


It is ridiculous that after the last governorship election which Samdaddy claimed to have posted a landslide victory, more than two months after, the PDP candidate is not working to reclaim his so called stolen mandate. In stead, he is organizing and exhibiting an orchestrated show of deceitful leaps meant to blur the sensitivities of his few gullible followers who still erroneously address him as the national secretary of PDP.


This is why he has been gate crashing into the Wadata Plaza, the national headquarters of PDP, Abuja, forcing himself to be captured in camera as he squeezes himself in the activities conducted by the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party. The poser here is, when Samdaddy functioned in that  capacity, was he taking pictures and  posting them on the internet to be acknowledged as such? 


You see, Samdaddy's childish behaviour is now very disgusting because it stinks. The stench from his cesspit is dangerously fouling the air and everyone is affected, not just Ihedioha. And this is he must be shunned and resisted. 


It is inconceivable that Samdaddy, a former national officer of PDP, in conjunction with his equally destructive ally, the ever belligerent Evangelist Mike Ikoku, would employ the latter's radio stations to malign Ihedioha. 


Before the November 11,2023 election, Boss FM Radio Station, owned by Ikoku, rather than telling the Imo electorate what Samdaddy would offer if elected, was busy churning out insulting as well as casting aspersions on Ihedioha. Boss FM never did Samdaddy any good in real terms. 


Months after the election, Samdaddy and Ikoku have deployed a certain Chima Ucheghara, to be pouring venoms at Ihedioha. And what is now used as a platform for the jabs against Ihedioha was a clip drawn from an event he attended where Chinasa Nwaneri, Governor Uzodimma's aid, was also in attendance.


Thus, Ucheghara uses that video to draw the lazy and incoherent conclusion that Ihedioha and Uzodimma worked together during the last election. You can see how feeble their mentality works. So, political opponents no longer attend the same functions? And when they do and exchange pleasantries, it becomes having political understanding or working together? This is amorphous as it has no meaning whatsoever. 


Samdaddy is hereby urged in unmistakable terms to steer clear Ihedioha but face his own odds and challenges as he battles in the waters of political insanity.