Musings on Anambra election and other matters

Anambra gubernatorial election has come and gone. All the doomsday predictions that they will be bloodbath and body bags in the election didn’t come to pass as the election is adjudged one of the most peaceful and fairest in recent times.

The Indigenous Peoples Of Biafra( IPOB) who had earlier threatened that the election would not hold listen to the voice of reason and called off their sit-at-home protest. Maybe the appeals by Ohaneze, elder statesmen, or the massive deployment of security swayed their decision. It doesn’t matter anymore, they called off their protest and the people were allowed to choose who will govern them.

Expectedly the candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Charles Soludo, won the election not because of him but primarily because of his party.

The thing is, with his outstanding credentials, if Soludo has contested in another party he would have lost abysmally. Before this, APGA has won the last three gubernatorial elections in the state and everyone expected them to win this one no matter the candidate. The people turned up for their beloved APGA and once again, democracy won. It’s just like the People Democratic Party ( PDP) expecting to win the gubernatorial election in Zamfara, Borno, Yobe, and the Lagos states, you know it’s almost impossible.

The candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Andy Uba, has rejected the results saying he will contest the results in court. Uncle, perish that thought. There are times to cut your losses and move on and these are one of those times. The lawyers advising him to go to court just want to eat his money as we say in local parlance.

Even President Muhammadu Buhari the leader of the APC has congratulated  Soludu. Andy Uba doesn’t need a soothsayer to know that even the president has moved on. The voting pattern clearly showed he was clearly rejected by the people. He didn’t even have the courtesy of winning one local government. So which election does he want to contest in court?

As a respected son of Anambra, he should just congratulate Soludu and wait for the next four years to contest again or in 2023 return to the senate and target to be a principal officer in the senate. Anambra gubernatorial election is done and dusted.

One matter that broke my heart was the death of Tordue Salem, a journalist with Vanguard newspaper,  who was found dead on Thursday after he had been missing for almost a month. We were colleagues before and when I heard the news of his death, the only sound I keep hearing in my head was his voice “the great Jones” that was what he always calls me and it has been reverberating in my head since the news. May his soul rest in peace.

Another issue that also trended this week was the controversy over direct and indirect primaries. While the governors both in APC and PDP were against the direct primaries, the lawmakers were on the same page on direct primaries.

The lawmakers endorsed direct primaries, not because of any altruistic reasons but to safeguard their nomination and election. Suffice to say, the direct primaries will considerably reduce the influence of governors in the state in determining who succeeds them and who gets the nod to contest the national assembly elections.

Indeed the direct primaries will make our politicians to be accountable and know that if they don’t perform they won’t even get the ticket of their party. Despite its imperfections, I think the direct primaries are the way to go which will go a long way in deepening our democracy.