Imo guber survey: Ihedioha, Ohakim, Araraume lead pack

Former Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Chief Emeka Ihedioha looks good for the governorship seat of Imo State in 2019, according to a recent survey.
Others in close contention for the keys to the coveted Government House, Owerri are former Governor Ikedi Ohakim, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume and Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere.
According to a survey conducted by Opinion Research and Communications Incorporated, a consortium of public analysts led by, Dr. Chuks Osuji, Chief Ihedioha towered over 35 other governorship aspirants vying for the top job in the state.The survey conducted across 15 local governments of the state met all standards, criteria and requirements used in conducting credible survey which was anchored on three factors which include: “Name Recognition” which placed emphasis on the ability of the electorate to recognise the names of the aspirants, “electability prospect” which indicates the capacity to win elections if he or she wins the primaries of his political party and “performance perception” of the aspirants by the voting populace.
In the area of “name recognition” of the aspirants, those interviewed through random questions embedded in questionnaires showed preference for Ihedioha.
Ihedioha soared above other governorship aspirants in this category closely trailed by former governor of the state, Ikedi Ohakim, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume and Chief Okey Ezeh. Others in that order are Ike C. Ibe, Imo State Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere, Hon Uche Onyeagocha and Governor Rochas Okorocha’s son-in-law, Chief Uche Nwosu.
The 2015 governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) performed very well in the area of “electability prospect” by maintaining a good lead. Again Senator Araraume followed closely in this category ahead of Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, Uche Nwosu, Prof Jude Njoku and Steve Nwoga.
In the category of “performance perception” of the aspirants, the survey also rated Emeka Ihedioha, Eze Madumere, Frank Nneji, Ikedi Ohakim, Uche Nwosu, Steve Nwoga, Uche Onyeagocha, Okey Ezeh and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume high in this regard.
The organisers of the survey anchored their findings on several factors among which include posing random questions embedded in the questionnaires.
It stated: “The questionnaire contains 15 variables including the three core variables and other 12 associated variables. Therefore each questionnaire contains 15 questions posed to respondents who were randomly selected.
“We carefully chose 15 LGA’s to be surveyed based on empirical and operational necessity. Ordinarily, since we have only 27 LGAs we could have chosen at least 1/3 of the number .
which we believed would give adequate representation. But due to some obvious political necessities we chose 15 LGAs which is more than half of the number of the LGA’s. We did this in order to ensure adequate representation.”
According to the survey, 72% of the respondents are registered voters with 64% taking part in the 2015 election. Seventy eight percent admitted that “if the governorship election were held today, they are likely to vote. 10% of the respondents had not made up their minds whether to vote or not while 10% were adamantly negative.”
On how they will vote in the elections: “40% said they are going to vote on the basis of political party, 55% on the basis of the personal qualities of the aspirants while 5% said that they are undecided.”
It further revealed that 56% of the respondents were males while 44% are females with 30% between the ages of 18 and 30, 52%were in the age category of 31-40, while 6% were between the ages of 41-60.
The survey stated: “Of those surveyed, 10% had FLSC, 45% had post primary education, 50% degree and professional qualification while 5% had higher degree.
“Of those surveyed, 55% were married, 25% unmarried, 10% divorced, 5% widowed and 5% separated.
“In respect of employment status, 40% were employed, 10% unemployed and 5% retired.
“Of the respondents, 20% had below 100,000 per annum, 40% had 101,000 – 200,000 per annum, 30% had 201,000 – 400,000 and 10% had 401,000 and above per annum. This survey has 5% ± margin of errors,” the survey stated