This weekend, I head to Dallas as
World Igbo Congress(WIC) convenes.
The last time the convention was held
in Dallas was in 2000. I still remember
the debacle of that convention when
some leaders of WIC tried to smuggle
in Abubakar Rimi to headline the
event. But those were WIC’s good old
days.
As I prepare to return to Dallas, my
mind is however on the 2004
convention in New Jersey. Two
important things happened at that
convention. One was Chris Uba’s
confession that Dr. Chris Ngige did not
win the Anambra State governorship
election of 2003. I reported it in the
piece, “An Evening With Chris Uba.”
“In a matter-of-fact manner, Uba
stood up and astonished all that were
present when he said, "We did not win
the election. I have gone to church to
confess. The election had no
document. I called the result before
12 midnight. I gave INEC the money
and asked them to call the result." The
revelation caused uproar in the hall.
"The person we took his thing is
here," Uba said, pointing at Peter Obi
who was sitting in the audience. There
was thunderous applause as people
looked at Peter Obi and some began to
call him governor.”
The other thing that happened which I
did not report was a private meeting
that a group of us had with the then
APGA chairman, Chekwas Okorie, at
the New Jersey convention. Chekwas
gathered five of us into his hotel room
to tell us how after the 2003 election,
he went to President Olusegun
Obasanjo to complain that APGA was
cheated. Chekwas said he told
Obasanjo that APGA won in at least
four out of five states in the East.
According to Chekwas, Obasanjo
agreed with him. The president asked
him to go and choose three states that
he would like to see handed back to
APGA. Chekwas told us he left
Obasanjo’s office excited. After
consulting with APGA leaders, he
sought an audience with Obasanjo.
Chekwas said he could not get an
appointment until few days after the
election results were announced.
When he finally did, Obasanjo told him
off. “Go and do your worst,” Obasanjo
told him.
Chekwas reflected on the incident and
told us how Gov. Bola Tinubu handled
a similar situation. He said that when
Tinubu of Lagos state heard that there
was an effort to rig the election and
declare PDP the winner in the state,
Tinubu called Obasanjo and told the
president that he had 10,000 OPC
members in various parts of Lagos
state with gallons of petrol waiting to
set the state on fire if Iwu’s INEC
dared to announce PDP winner in
Lagos state. According to Chekwas,
Obasanjo immediately called Iwu and
asked him to leave Lagos state alone.
In Chekwas’ estimation, Obasanjo
tricked him by calming him down with
a false promise. After buying time and
seeing that the people of the eastern
states were not on the streets
expressing their anger over their
stolen mandate, Obasanjo called
Chekwas’ bluff.
Another election is set in Anambra
state. The dynamics have not changed.
Just like in 2003, the presidency is
interested in who wins in Anambra
state. For the ruling PDP government
in Abuja, if APGA wins in Anambra, it
is as good as PDP. But if APC wins in
Anambra state, PDP is finished – not
just in Anambra state but probably in
a big chunk of the country.
For the ruling APGA party in Anambra
state, the challenge is different. If
APGA wins in Anambra state, APGA is
finished. If APGA loses in Anambra
State, APGA is finished. Gov. Peter Obi
has famished APGA so much that what
the party is doing in Anambra state is
a last dance. For all practical
purposes, it has folded its tent into
the PDP. After this election a formal
announcement of the death of APGA
will happen.
On the candidates, nothing has
changed. There are always the same
four candidates running for governor
in Anambra state: a trader pretending
to be a thug; a thug pretending to be a
trader; an intellectual pretending to be
a thug; and a thug pretending to be an
intellectual.
The people of the state are the most
disconnected from their government
anywhere in Nigeria. That was how
former governor Mbadinuju could
close down schools in the state for
one year and nobody cared. Gov. Obi
closed down government hospitals in
the state over doctors pay for one
year and people went about their lives
as if nothing happened. The people of
the state are therefore susceptible to
all kinds of inducements and
manipulations as they have little or no
ownership in the government that will
finally emerge.
Here are the candidates: Willie
Obiano, former chief executive of
Peter Obi’s bank, Fidelity. He was
Peter Obi’s joker in the whole process.
His primary job is to cover up Obi’s
tracks against the peeping eyes of the
EFCC. Obi had to abandon the elected
delegates for a handpicked list of
delegates made up of his aides and
party chiefs to get Obiano victory. In a
general election, Obiano, a new comer
in politics, hopes that low voter turn
out and Obi’s recent willingness to
share government largesse will see him
through.
In the PDP corner are former NANS
president Tony Nwoye and Andy Uba
running concurrently from the two
factions of the party. Nwoye was a
young graduate made the PDP party
chairman in the state when Andy Uba
ran for governor in 2007. Nwoye is
supported by Arthur Eze and his gang,
long exiled from power in Anambra
State and eager to get their hands
back into the tilt. Uba has Obasanjo
and his gang and is being used as a
chip in the Jonathan’s 2015 game plan.
Unless the national party steps in, the
decision on who’s the legitimate
candidate for the PDP may be decided
by the courts long after the election.
It gives the PDP an undue advantage
of running with two candidates and
gathering votes across two
constituencies. It worked for Andy
Uba in the senatorial election that saw
him in the senate. Because the
winning margin will be low, whoever
gets the nod of the courts, (wink wink,
Andy Uba) may end up getting enough
votes to win.
In APC is the wounded Chris Ngige.
Ngige still holds sway in Idemili South
and North but that will not be enough
to win the state. According to political
operatives on the ground, the Lagos
state deportation affair is not a factor
in the village level of the electorate.
But the Anambra political elite are not
excited about Ngige. His ability to
sway voters across the state depends
on the machinery the APC is willing to
deploy in the election. If they
overwhelm the state, they could easily
get the 25% needed in other parts of
Anambra state. In 2009, Maurice Iwu
personally vowed that Ngige would not
win the election because it would
amount to handing over a major Igbo
state to a Yoruba party. He declared
Obi winner with just 97,000 votes
when there are 1.8 million registered
voters. What will Jega do?
Finally, there is the Chairman of
Capital Oil and Gas, Ifeanyi Uba of the
Labor party. Rather than an
aberration, Ifeanyi Uba is well at home
in Anambra political space. He comes
in with accusations of involvement in
oil subsidy scam and a bank loan fight
with Coscharis Group’s Cosmos
Maduka. Worthy of note is that Uba
has taken his campaign to the markets
in Lagos, People’s Club halls in
America and Pubs in Europe. He
campaigns with a hunger that tells
observers that he needs the
governorship stool more than any
other candidate. Why is that?
Already INEC has discovered over
93,000 ghost names in Anambra state
voters’ registration list. There are
more. And the intrigues have not yet
started. No doubt, those campaigning
at home and abroad with borrowed
money and bellicose godfathers will
also be campaigning in Okija shrine
and all the dark places where elections
in Anambra state are typically won.
The Anambra people have no tool with
which they can shine their eyes. They
have been overwhelmed by mediocrity
and low expectation that they are
already a loser irrespective of who is
announced winner on November 16.
Discounting the dead and those who
have moved out of Anambra state
since the voters’ registration was last
conducted, party workers are
estimating that there are over 800,000
ghost voters in the state. I project that
the winner of this election is the man
who controls these ghost voters. And
your guess is as good as mine.

http://mobile.saharareporters.com/column/anambra-governorship-election-i-project-winner-rudolf-ogoo-okonkwo

Spot on, Andy Uba may just be coasting into Government house but at this point can win except Peter Obi's puppet and Tony Nwoye!

Please did anyone read that long crap from Sahara reporters? I couldn't waste my life reading what i know will be a jaundiced analysis, but i wanted to know what the APC goons were thinking.

My Comment is reserved until someone reads the long crap and tell us

cjrane: Please did anyone read that long crap from Sahara reporters? I couldn't waste my life reading what i know will be a jaundiced analysis, but i wanted to know what the APC goons were thinking.

My Comment is reserved until someone reads the long crap and tell us

It was a good read actually, 3 minutes max actaully- surely you can spare that as service to your people??

FreeGlobe:
On the candidates, nothing has
changed. There are always the same
four candidates running for governor
in Anambra state: a trader pretending
to be a thug; a thug pretending to be a
trader; an intellectual pretending to be
a thug; and a thug pretending to be an
intellectual.

http://mobile.saharareporters.com/column/anambra-governorship-election-i-project-winner-rudolf-ogoo-okonkwo

This paragraph can't be quoted enough.... classic.

samstradam:

It was a good read actually, 3 minutes max actaully- surely you can spare that as service to your people??

Thanks bro, ok let me read it.
I thought it was the usual tribal brouhaha about which people know and play clean politics vs. those who should be taught what is good for them and why they should vote APC as their Savior.