Symphonies of discord are the lots of
governorship aspirants in virtually all the
political parties that will contest the
governorship election in Anambra State in
November, this year. This factor appears to be
making the state the hottest political bed in
Nigeria at the moment, write Idowu Samuel and
Sylvanus Eze.
Anambra has always proved a hard nut in any
electoral contest in Nigeria. This tendency is
currently being exhibited as the state matches
towards another governorship election
scheduled to hold in November 16 this year.
Three parties, namely the ruling All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) and the All
Progressives Congress (APC) are to slug it out
for the governorship seat. Nonetheless, less
than two months to the governorship election,
none of the rival parties can stand out with near
perfect plans to address the confusions that
have been trailing their parade of numerous
aspirants for same election.
With this manner of politics, Anambra has been
an exhibit of an extreme brand of republicanism
which the entire South-East Nigeria has been
known for since ages. Lack of cohesion and
consensus building in leadership selection from
time immemorial have been undermining the
chances of the zone on election matters. It is
believed that an average Igbo political office
seeker believes he is independent and strong
enough to stand alone in an election, while he is
never inclined towards yielding the ground for
the other aspirant, no matter the opponents
strength.
Even though Anambra is a test case for all the
contending parties, being the ground for
gauging the strength of each of them on the
larger political battles in 2015, no one can place
the fate of each party against the backdrop the
long list of aspirants for the November
governorship race. Compounding the problem
is the preparedness by each of the aspirants to
match the other money for money, connection
for connection, intrigue for intrigue and
treachery for treachery.
APGA, being the ruling party in Anambra,
commands an instant attention in the
governorship contest. Yet, the party appears
rooted in crisis the moment it disqualified five
of its governorship aspirants, top of who were
Professor Charles Soludo. The reason offered
by APGA for disqualifying Soludo and others
was that they all failed to prove their financial
capabilities beyond doubt. That excuse has
indicated that money is the yardstick APGA
depends on to determine who gets the ticket to
contest elections on its platform.
Others excluded from the APGA primaries
included Mr. Emmanuel Nweke, Ogbuefi Tony
Nnaechetta, Mr Chinedu Francis Idigo, Dr.
Chike Obidigbo and Mr. Oseloka Obaze. With
the turn of event, the long list of aspirants in
APGA has been pruned to seven, including, Mr
Chukwuemeka Nwogbo, Mr Paul Odenigbo,
Lillian Ekwunife, Chief Willie Obiano, Mr John
Nwosu, Mr. John Emeka, and Nwachi
Obianwu.
The prospect of a fair contest of APGA
primaries in Anambra still remains elusive as
expected. The reason is based on allegations
that the badly factionalised party was working
in concert with the state governor, Mr Peter
Obi, to anoint an aspirant at the expense of
others, a possibility likely to create an
incendiary effect among party members.
The story is not different, if not worse with
PDP. Granted that the party would be holding
its state congress by August 24 to elect a
candidate for the election, the list of aspirants
has continued to lengthen by the day.
Aspirants so far cleared by the national
headquarters of the party include Chief Obinna
Uzoh, Mike Okoye, Akachukwu Nwankpo,
Ugochukwu Okeke, Josephine Anenih,
Emmanuel Anosike, Senator Andy Ubah, and
Honourable Jerry Ugokwe.
Others are: Nicholas Ukachukwu, Tony
Nwoye, Patrick Ogbomo, Kramer
Ifunanyachukwu, Alex Obiogbolu, Charles
Odunukwe, and Walter Okeke.
The PDP is not operating like one family
towards the election. The party is factionalised
with two factional chairmen, Chief Ejike
Oguebego recognised by the PDP National
Secretariat and Chief Emeakayi, who also
claimed to have the support of the national
secretariat struggling for the soul of PDP in
Anambra.
Notwithstanding the discordant tunes emanating
from the party’s ranks owing to the problem of
factionalisation, the aspirants are battling with
vague chances, while each of them is believed
to be contributing to the seemingly intractable
crisis in the party. The crisis in Anambra PDP is
even making the national headquarters to be
helpless. More that twice, the national chairman
of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, held meetings
with all governorship aspirants from Anambra.
The resolutions at the meetings were anchored
on necessity for a level playing field for all. The
aspirants called for transparency in the conduct
of the election with a request that PDP should
set its rules for the primaries straight. With the
agreements sealed notwithstanding, the coming
PDP primaries are not expected to hold with
maximum cooperation from all parties.
From indications, the APC which appears like a
starter in the Anambra scheduled governorship
election has its own pressures too. While APC
is still battling to gain a strong foot hold in the
state ahead of the election, the number of
aspirants seeking its ticket to contest in the
overall election has been on the increase.
Although seven contestants had been identified
so far, those in strong contention are the former
governor of the state, now a Senator, Dr Chris
Ngige, and Chief Godwin Ezeemo. Members in
APC believe that the contest may be limited to
the two given their experiences, grassroot
support and the wealth they command.
Ngige is said to depend on experience and the
structures he had laid since his days as the
governor of Anambra. He could not have been
a pushover, being a serving Senator
representing Anambra Central Senatorial zone,
while the popularity he has been commanding
in the state remains his source of strength. On
the other hand, Chief Ezeemo is reputably a
money bag known for philanthropy. That the
people of Anambra see him as one of the
highest employer of labour in the state makes
his case very instructive. He has been funding a
charity trust that has spanned over 10 years
with a lot of beneficiaries, including widows,
students, physically challenged and orphans.
APGA is still factionalised, while its inability to
address the case of litigation on the status of
each faction is a veritable problem that the party
will carry as a cross towards the election. It
remains to be seen whether the governor who is
a main pillar of support for APGA would be
able to deploy his power of incumbency as it
were, to aid the party to win the election in the
state.
From now till November, all eyes would be in
Anambra in anticipation that a free and fair
conduct of the election would up the great
expectations of Nigerians on the coming 2015
elections. In that case, Anambra faces a great
challenge creating avenues for Nigerians to see
it differently, this time around.