Anambra governorship election: Billionaires, political lords tussle again

BY ISRAEL OJOKO

More than the lavish display of riches and the flaunting of cars, jewelries and other sophisticated items at the burial of Obi Cubana’s mother, attention has been shifted to politics in Anambra state.

Many people enjoyed the perfunctory distraction brought by the occassion now awarded ‘burial of the year’ in some quarters. Others, mostly residents and business owners in Oba, the host city, continue to count their blessings.

The state is an encyclopedia of political drama among its influential players for more than two decades, especially when it comes to governorship election.

The Anambra state governorship election scheduled for November 6, 2021, has been perforated with controversies, like past gubernatorial elections in the eastern state.

Just recently, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) listed names and political parties of some governorship candidates qualified to contest the election on its website. INEC published names of House of Representatives member, Chuma Umeoji under APGA, Senator Andy Uba as All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, but temporarily dropped the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Valentine Ozigbo.

Professor Charles Soludo, who is also running for the number one seat of the state under APGA, was drop as the commission sighted court orders as the reason for the ommision of candidates.

While Soludo, a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, has since insisted he is the right candidate to contest under APGA, PDP is also battling internal crisis on who to bear the party’s flag on November 6.

The drama got more interesting, leaving some of us to grab some popcorn when Obiora Nwabunike, judge of an Anambra state high court, declared Ugochukwu Uba as the PDP candidate for the governorship election. But that declaration came few hours after Hyeladzira Nganjiwa, judge of a federal high court in Awka, ordered INEC to publish the name of Valentine Ozigbo as candidate of PDP for the same election.

This is not the first time elections in Anambra state will be engrossed in controversies. Chris Ngige of the PDP had already won the 2003 governorship election but after nearly three years of litigation, Ngige’s victory was overturned by the Court of Appeal on 15 March 2006 and Peter Obi took oat of office on 17 March 2006.

Obi was impeached seven months later and replaced with his deputy Virginia Etiaba. He successfully challenged his impeachment and was re-instated as the governor on 9 February 2007 by the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu.

Three months later, Obi left office after Andy Uba won the seat in the general elections, but he returned to court to argue that the four-year tenure he had won in the 2003 elections only started to run when he took office in March 2006. Peter Obi won the case and was returned as governor on 14 June 2007 by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

A more intriguing scenaro could play out if what is presently happening is anything to go by. The judiciary in Anambra state is experiencing one of the busiest periods of the profession, party candidates are at loggerheads with eachother, judges are busy with their glasses on, while lawyers are having a field day cashing out big time. Why not? Afterall politicians have the big money to spend.

The situation in the state is very bewildering that it will take a keenly interested and patient person to understand the perplexity of the whole drama.

While APGA is facing the danger of losing power in the November 6 election, they may not need to lose too much of sleep as other opposition parties are also fighting internal battles.

APC is not left out of internal wranglings, the party held one primary election on June 26 through direct means, with Uba emerging the winner but not without acrimony as other aspirants disowned the election, claiming it never held, casting aspersion on Governor Dapo Abiodun-led committee.

To further legitimise the claim, one of the aspirants, Dr George Moghalu, sued Uba and APC. The matter is in court and there are fears the aggrieved APC aspirants may work against the party if they are not placated.

The ruling APGA has since split into factional groups with all three presenting their candidates for just one ticket slot contestable for the party, though former CBN governor Soludo may have gotten the nod from outgoing governor Willie Obiano and Victor Oye, the two other two factions led by Jude Okeke and Chief Edozie Njoku, rely on court rulings in their favour.

No matter how many factions a party split into, INEC can only accept just one for an election. So why the ‘bruhaha?’

One may want to ask – what image does this ‘do-or-die’ politics portray about Anambra State? Why can’t there be a consensus within each political parties to present just one candidate. With the obvious desperation of politicians, can one really say the goal is for the amelioration of the people of Anambra?

Your answer is as good as mine. Anambrans and Nigerians in general are waiting to see if the court will once again determine who the next governor will be or whether they will be spared all the stressful drama brought by politics in the state.

Israel is a Nigerian journalist and can be reached via [email protected]