Assistant Editor, SAM NWAOKO, who was in Anambra State, writes on the political parties’ preparation towards the coming governorship election in the state, concluding that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) may still hold the ace.
THE politics of Anambra State could ordinarily come under the categorisation of legendary American rap artiste, Calvin Broadus, more commonly known as Snoop Dogg’s description of himself: “Money, power, respect, street knowledge, leadership.” The description was capped by a reference to the lanky artiste as a “no limit soldier.”
Indeed, politics everywhere comes with all these substantially, but Anambra State has carved a niche for itself in Nigerian politics by the amount of power play, monetary involvement, street wisdom, leadership and limitless intrigues.
The last few months in the state has been dedicated to the politics of who would take over from Governor Peter Obi when he completes his tenure on March 17 next year. The build-up to the governorship election that would confer such authority on another citizen of the state, slated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for November 17 this year, has seen the display of all that Snoop Dogg called himself. And according to side talk, there has been no limit to the display of money, power, street knowledge and respect in the contest.
For instance, rumours were that the leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the party in power in the state, received money from various moneybags who showed interest inits ticket to vie for the position. Of course same was said of the various political parties in the state, which are also jostling for the governorship position. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) billed interested aspirants the sum of N1 million each for the expression of interest form and N10 million each for nomination form for the male aspirants while the female contestants among them paid N5 million each for the same nomination form.
However, the PDP aspirants disagreed on the consensus option for the selection of a candidate and after screening, four of them were disqualified and eventually, 15 members went for primary elections. But it is not as straightforward as it appears. The party was in two distinct factions: One is led by Chief Ejike Oguebego while the other is led by Prince Ken Emeakayi. The faction led by Oguebego has court orders affirming its authenticity while that led by Emeakayi has the backing of the national leadership of the party.
Interestingly, the PDP in Anambra State went into the governorship primaries along this factional divide. The Oguebego faction’s primary election produced Senator Andy Uba currently representing Anambra South in the Senate while the Emekayi faction produced Mr. Tony Nwoye, a former students’ union leader as candidates respectively. The PDP had since given its blessing to Nwoye as its candidate, while Uba is running from one court to the other for what an observer referred to as “validation of his primary election victory.” But it is the party that would present a candidate for an election and from the look of things, with the deadline for the submission of candidates being September 2 (tomorrow), there seems to be little Uba could do.
But on the other hand, he could go to court to get an injunction to stop INEC from recognising Nwoye, and an observer noted that “he could get it because he seems to get whatever he wants from the courts.”
Asked why the contention, the source wondered why “Uba would go to Port Harcourt and all kinds of places to get court orders to make INEC appear like his pun and dragging the party around while others cannot get the same kind of treatment from the same courts.”
According to the source, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo went to APGA for the governorship ticket, was disqualified and he went to a court outside Anambra State but was told to take the matter to Anambra for resolution, whereas others could still have had the matter entertained.”
As things stand, the PDP is going into the election as a divided house. This much was among the sentiments expressed by some of the chieftains of the party last Saturday when the parallel primary elections were held. A two-time member of the House of Representatives and former Miss Nigeria, Linda Chuba-Ikpeazu said at the Oguebego’s faction’s primary election: “I actually know of one primaries and that is the one right here. We are law-abiding citizens. Nigeria is not a jungle where you pick and choose which laws to obey. So, as far as I am concerned, this is the primaries, this is the venue of the right PDP primaries. We had the ward congresses which the INEC monitored and today is the culmination of that delegate election, where our candidate is elected. This is very important for us to choose the right candidate.”
But an aspirant, Chief (Mrs.) Josephine Anenih, described the Oguebego-led congress as “a distraction.” Mrs. Anenih, who is the wife of the chairman of the Board of Trustees of PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, said of the Emeakayi’s faction’s primaries: “I’m not worried because this is the party. This is where the party is. So, anything that is happening outside this arena does not concern me and will not distract me and should not distract anybody. This is where the party is standing and this is the party. I heard rumours that there are other primaries holding somewhere else. They are not the party’s primaries. So we should not even be talking about that because it is just what it is: A distraction.”
Thus, the stage appears set for the PDP to concede some vital things to the other parties in the election. Two of the things in consideration are the person of the candidate and which part of Anambra he or she comes from. For instance, Anambra North has the sympathy of many in the state because it has never produced a governor, which adds to Nwoye’s chances and detracts from Uba’s; but when the personality or clout of Nwoye and Uba is placed on the scale, Uba would far outweigh Nwoye. This is going by sentiments among numerous watchers of the unfolding drama in the state. Where this leaves PDP in the election, many believe will largely count for APGA.
Another thing of interest in the state is the All Progressives Congress (APC), which has been striving hard, and with a considerable measure of success, worm its way into the hearts of the people of the state. Its leaders have adopted two mantras: “Ojukwu would have led the Igbo to APC, the welfarist party” and “the broom is a sign of Igbo identity” to drive home their point that APC is neither a Yoruba nor Hausa party. It has also listed its nine national officers of the party as “unprecedented in political party activities in Nigeria,” saying this went to show that the Igbo is well-taken care of by the party.
Beyond this, however, it has also been flaunting a former governor of the state and the senator representing Anambra Central in the Senate, Dr. Chris Ngige as one of its stars in the South-East geopolitical zone and especially in Anambra State. Another popular political figure in the state, Senator Annie Okonkwo, had also left the PDP for APC with the intention of clinching the governorship ticket of the party but had Dr. Ngige to contend with. Okonkwo, however, conceded the ticket to Ngige, thereby leaving him with only the position of Deputy National Chairman (South) of the party to cling to as his consolation. But this too, Sunday Tribune interactions with some elements in the merger party revealed, could count against the party, with one member of the party saying: “So, Ngige is both the senator and the governorship candidate, as if he were the only one in the party.” And this, it was gathered, was the sentiment expressed by some people at the grand rally held by the APC last Friday to present Ngige as the candidate of the party.
While APC rallied at Emmaus House in a part of Awka, with Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State; Senators Okonkwo, Osita Izunaso and Ngige in attendance; Mr. Godwin Ezeemo, another chieftain of the party held a separate rally in another part of the town the same day. That told discerning people in the state that all is not well with the APC. After the well-publicised rally was reported, especially the part that Ngige was adopted as its candidate, the APC denied that it had adopted Ngige as its governorship candidate in Anambra State and announced that it would hold its primary election on September 2. But again, concerned members of the party and many people in the state wondered why it fixed its primaries for the same day that is the deadline for the submission of candidates for the election. “It means that the name of Ngige has already been submitted and they only want to conduct the primaries to fulfill all righteousness,” an observer stated.
With these developments in the new party, observers noted that they are pointing to existing ripples in the party in the state, even contending that “it is a ploy to ensure that the party never really gets off the mark.” Thus, APC appeared to have arrived in Anambra with its bags with just two months to the election, leaving many to wonder how it will be sort itself out and unseat the ruling party in the state.
The Labour Party is in the same category with APC, it was gathered, with Chief Ifeanyi Ubah just strolling in from APGA, where he lost out in the power play, to pick the LP governorship ticket. How Ubah would work through the political labyrinth would be seen in the coming weeks.
While these three parties have been battling with internal cohesion and acceptability issues, the already-established APGA could not be said to be without its own problems but they don’t seem to be as unnerving as those of the other parties, especially PDP and the new APC. To put it straight, APGA could not be said to have fallen victim of polarization though there were hot reactions to the congress that produced the party’s standard bearer, Chief Willie Obaino, with some of the aspirants disparaging the congress, saying it was fraught with untold irregularities.
An aggrieved aspirant said: “What APGA did was not a congress but a rape of democracy and a disgraceful display of power and manipulation.” But the anger was dismissed as “the cries of those who lost out in the politics of APGA as they would not have expected the governor not to play a serious role in who would succeed him.”
However, after the exchange of hot words, the party’s gladiators have come together. One of the aspirants, Chief (Mrs.) Uche Ekwunife, addressed her supporters after the primaries and after decrying the exercise, urged her supporters to remain in APGA and “work for the party’s victory in the election because this is very important for us.” All the other contestants for the ticket expressed the same sentiment as Ekwunife, earlier seen by many as the most likely to clinch the ticket until the table turned against her. Chief Paul Odenigbo, Mr. Chukwuemeke Nwogbo and Patrick Obianwu were unanimous in their stand for a united party ahead of the election, with two of them, Obianwu stepping down in the race along with a former Minister of State, Mr. John Emeka.
While a former Secretary to the State Government under Governor Obi, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, had earlier been screened out of the election along with Professor Soludo and others, he issued a statement saying he had reached out to his co-contestants from Anambra North for a collaborative Anambra North in the race. “Such a collaborative front will strengthen our common cause and ensure our zone emerges victorious in election. My commitment to the Anambra North senatorial zone producing the next governor remains unshaken,” he said in the statement, reflecting how APGA had been able to manage its disagreements unlike the other parties, a development which political watchers maintain could make it stand out in the polls.
Obi had made his desire to hand over to someone from the northern part of the state and Obiano appeared to have suited him and the leaders of the party.
Apart from internal cohesion, another advantage said to be counting for APGA is the belief among people in Anambra State and in the South-East that it is a party not resting on any known godfather but is buoyed by its grassroots membership and support. “The moneybags are all in the PDP and they decide to go to any of the political parties during elections when they cannot get what they want from the PDP,” a source noted.
These advantages, coupled with the achievements of Governor Obi in all parts of the state and all sectors of its economy as flaunted by his Commissioner for Information, Chief Joemartins Uzodike as well as the support of the presidency which Obi had won as a result of his loyalty, have been said to be capable of aiding him in his quest to make another history in the state with APGA.
With the mother of all battles in the state just around the corner, the stage appears set for the four major political parties to slug it out but many watchers of Anambra politics have stated that APGA could employ its popularity at the grass roots as well as the internal balance to exploit the weaknesses in the other political parties.
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