By Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The victories by the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the various off-cycle governorship elections conducted after the 2023 presidential poll were part of the eloquently celebrated achievements that the leaders of the ruling party hyped during its recently concluded National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja.
While enumerating the party’s victories in the Imo, Kogi, Edo and Ondo governorship elections, the party’s national chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, also boastfully disclosed that the focus of the party has now shifted to Anambra and Osun states.
And to match words with action, the party, in compliance with the timetable and schedule of activities released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), kicked off preparations for the conduct of Anambra primary election, fixing April 5, as the date.
“As you are aware, we won the governorship elections in Imo, Kogi, Edo and Ondo, but, unfortunately, lost in Bayelsa State. Our focus is now on Anambra and Osun states. And in compliance with the timetable released by INEC, we have already begun preparations in earnest for the conduct of the primary elections in Anambra, scheduled for April,” Ganduje said.
However, it will certainly not be a walkover for the APC, judging by the concerns raised by Ganduje. He had warned repeatedly that it will no longer be business as usual, if the APC is actually ready to dislodge APGA after the November 8 poll.
Appraising the chances of APC making any impact in the election, Ganduje said: “It is unfortunate that we lost our brother Senator Ifeanyi Ubah. Previously, we have had stakeholders’ meeting with the sons and daughters of Anambra State, including those heavyweight, rich politicians.
“I told them that Anambra is an important, strategic state in the South- East geopolitical zone and Nigeria. But Anambra, in contributing to sustaining democracy, should assist in providing conducive atmosphere for a peaceful election in the party.
“If we are to have a good primary and main elections in the state, all our major stakeholders must be born-again, because all of them are guilty. Litigations and unending court orders should not be part of the build-up process. We have made it clear that business should not be as usual. We must sanitise the system by cooperating with one another.
“Quite okay, we know that they are very rich people with a lot of money, but they should not use the money to scatter the state. They should rather use it to build the state and the APC so that we can succeed. In fact, I will be highly impressed if they can peacefully produce an acceptable candidate during the primary.
“I will lead members of my NWC to urge Mr. President to give them national award if Anambra stakeholders can unite and produce a candidate through consensus. We are, however, assuring you that we will organise a credible, transparent, free and fair primary ahead of the election,” Ganduje declared.
And building on the chairman’s promise in line with its determination to win Anambra, a traditional All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) stronghold, APC leadership knew that it required dexterity and careful diplomatic approaches. With that in mind, they revealed last week, that they have also arranged a stakeholders meeting involving the party’s state exco members, chieftains, and the aspirants among others, for this week at its national headquarters in Abuja.
The party’s National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, in making the disclosure after the weekly NWC meeting in Abuja, said: “in order to carry along all stakeholders, a meeting with the state working committee, state caucus and the aspirants will hold at the national headquarters of the party on Tuesday to carry them along. And correspondence to this effect will be made to the INEC. Of course, there will be public sensitisation as to the mode of primary and the adjusted new timetable in line with that decision,” Basiru
Expectedly, at the end of the deadline for the sale and submission of the completed Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms, only seven aspirants have fulfilled the statutory requirements to contest the party’s primary.
The seven aspirants, the least number since the party started fielding candidates for the governorship election in the state, are apparently, forces to reckon with. The list is a combination of perpetual contestants, old and fresh defectors from other political parties, money and brain bags, and surprise entrants into the contest.
They include former National Auditor of the party, Sir Paul Chukwuma, chairman of United Nigeria Airline, Prof Obiora Okonkwo, former Labour Party leader, Valentine Ozigbo, Johnbosco Onunkwo, Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu, Rt Hon Chukwuma Umeoji, and Edozie Madu. The aspirants are heavyweights in their own rights and have distinguished themselves in their various fields, ranging from business, investment, academia, philanthropy, among others.
Naturally, all of the aspirants, predictably, centred their campaigns basically on the escalating insecurity in the state, giving assurances of arresting the development few months after being sworn in as the state governor.
From Paul Chukwuma to Johnbosco Onunkwo, there has been no end to the sentimental claims of how much they have sacrificed to sustain the party in the state and at the national level to justify why they should be considered as the anointed candidate, as reward for their selfless sacrifices to the party.
Despite the seriousness of their desperation to pick the ticket as the party’s candidate, the pleasant news is their large heartedness and willingness to not only accept the outcome of a peaceful primary but also to collapse their political structures and work for whoever emerges as the candidate.
Responding to his fears, concerning the political heavyweights joining the race against him for the ticket, Paul Chukwuma said “Do I look like somebody who has any fear? On the contrary, when we started this journey, and I am happy that a number of people who started the journey are here with me, the plan was to have a new APC in Anambra State that people will find very attractive to express their desires to contest elections.
“I am very happy that we have succeeded in ticking the box on one of the items on the checklist envisaged while putting the plans in place three years ago. Instead of being afraid or having concerns, I am rather excited and happy.
“The fact remains that we are foundation members of the party, we built the party and we are excited to receive our brothers who are joining our party. After I have emerged as the candidate of the party, we will all work together to win the election,” he said.
On his part, Prof Obiora Okonkwo, while expressing confidence in clinching the ticket, said: “What I am assuring is that an earthquake will erupt in Anambra to remove the rudderless incumbent governor. We will win Anambra for the APC. We will bring the state and the South -East into the APC fold. I am the only aspirant coming from Anambra Central, the zone where AC and ACN held sway before the party transmuted into APC. Returning to APC is a home coming for me and I am happy to be home. God made it possible for AC and ACN to win elections in Anambra Central before, using me and other men of goodwill to actualise that.
I hope to lead the campaign and be on the ballot paper. We already have the advantage and with the support of the party and God Almighty, APC will win Anambra State governorship election. We have only gotten pain, sorrow and agony from Governor Chukwuma Soludo instead of his promise to reproduce Taiwan, Hong-Kong and Japan in Anambra. Why did it take him this long to start doing something about the insecurity in the state? It is medicine after many deaths and the spirit of those who lost their lives will not forgive us if we give Soludo second term ticket,” Okonkwo said.
As for Onunkwo, especially on how comfortable he will be if someone else grabs the ticket ahead of him after investing so much for the growth of the party, he said: “I am a party man. If I fail to win this primary, which I know I will win frictionlessly, but because God gives power, I will still work for whoever gets the ticket. I have never gone to any party outside the APC and I will not start it now.”
Regardless of where the pendulum swings, APC, in the reckoning of many pundits, appears to high chances of emerging victorious in the governorship poll considering its recent antecedents in off-cycle governorship elections.
Already, the poll is adjudged a three-horse race among the state ruling party, APGA, and the LP since the crisis-riddled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has practically fallen by the way side without any of its member desiring to waste their hard-earned resources in purchasing nomination forms.
Weighing in on APC’s chances of winning the election, the State Secretary, Mr. Kenneth Chidi Orji, confirmed in a chat with Daily Sun that his party will not only win but also humiliate the incumbent governor.
“APC is a beautiful bride in this coming Anambra State governorship election. But it will depend on our getting things right, candidate-wise. Everybody has rejected the incumbent governor; and even those who made him are no longer with him because of insecurity in the state. People are tired of APGA rulership of over 20 years in Anambra State. So, they want a change and the only credible alternative, visible change we can see, is the APC.
“There is no LP, no PDP. It is only APC that is standing well to challenge APGA in Anambra State, and every other party, both PDP and LP, are behind APC to make a change in Anambra State,” he said.
To arrest any unforeseen challenge that may constitute threat to the poll, INEC has warned the 12 political parties that submitted detailed schedules of their primaries to adhere strictly to their proposed schedules.
“By the provision of the timetable and schedule of activities for the election, the conduct of primaries for nomination of candidates by political parties commences on 20th March 2025 and ends on April 10, 2025. So far, 12 out of the 19 registered political parties in the country have submitted the detailed schedules of their primaries. The seven parties that are yet to submit the required information are hereby reminded to do so in earnest.
“Furthermore, we urge political parties to adhere strictly to their proposed schedules. Sudden changes to the dates, venues and modes of the primaries lead to avoidable demobilisation and remobilisation of our monitoring staff, thereby disrupting the Commission’s workflow. This also adds to the cost of monitoring primaries and the overall conduct of elections and electoral activities,” INEC’s statement reads in part.
