Winners and Losers in Anambra Governorship Election

CICERO/Report

While many are celebrating the victory of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in the just concluded governorship election in Anambra State, others are licking the wounds of their political indiscretion and counting their losses, Ejiofor Alike and David-Chyddy Eleke write

Though 18 political parties fielded candidates in the just concluded governorship election in Anambra State, just one of the political parties, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and its candidate, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo emerged victorious.

Many believe that APGA would have gone into extinction if it had lost the election.

The party, which by next year when Governor Willie Obiano leaves office would have held away for 16 consecutive years, has shown its dominance in the state.

The state chairman of the party, Mr. Norbert Obi once stated that the party has all it takes to dominate the state for 50 years.

However, the victory can be shared among several other people, who identified with APGA and contributed significantly to the victor of Soludo.

But APGA, Soludo and the incumbent governor of the state, Chief Obiano, top the list of the winners.

Obiano, who was handed power by his predecessor, Mr. Peter Obi, has also demonstrated his political sagacity by passing on the baton to a successor from his political party.

Hi legacy would have gone down the drain if he had not influenced the choice of his successor.

The members of the state House of Assembly elected on the platform of the party, who refused to be lured into the All Progressives Congress (APC), like six of their counterparts also emerged victorious in the governorship election.

The good people of the state, who ignored the security concerns in the state to come out and cast their votes, are perhaps, the greatest beneficiaries of the election.

The people of the state deserve award for choosing a globally-acclaimed technocrat as their leader.

Some rural women in Ebenebe community in Awka North Local Government Area, who reportedly chased away some agents of a political party (not APGA) in their community when they attempted to induce them with money to vote for their party, are also winners.

The women who refused to accept N5,000 each to vote against their conscience, were seen in a viral video chanting songs against a particular political party and its agents.

According to the Chief Press Secretary of the governor, Mr. James Eze, the women of Ebenebe are the true heroines of the Anambra election, having turned down a princely N5,000 bribe money, brazenly given by the said agents at a polling station.

The women, who were said to be emphatic in their rejection of the bribe, left no room for negotiations and voted for APGA, according to their conscience.

“They are poor rural women, ravaged by wants like all rural women, but they put up extraordinary courage in the face of inducement and took the moral high ground. And that’s why I celebrate them today! These women are remarkable. They could have taken the bribe and still voted according to their conscience. But they didn’t want a stain on their conscience. The motto of The Guardian newspaper describes conscience as an open wound which only truth can heal. The women of Ebenebe held onto truth…their healing truth,” Eze explained.

Ebenebe, a sleepy town in Awka North Local Government Area, is not Nnewi or Ihiala or Orafite or Osumenyi where most of Anambra’s billionaires come from.

While other billionaire-politicians were lured with money to abandon APGA, the poor women of Ebenebe refused to be induced.

Another winner is a distinguished son of the state and Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who despite being a chieftain of the APC, refused to indulge in any action or inaction that could truncate the wishes of his people or influence the outcome of the election against the people’s desires.

As a true democrat, Ngige has since congratulated Soludo, having known that the election outcome was the true reflection of the wishes of the people of the state.

According to a statement signed by his Media Office, the minister said the victory of the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was a well-deserved one.

Ngige in the statement said: “Ndi-Anambra have spoken with this resounding victory. Having contested in 2010 with Soludo, who was then the PDP candidate and myself in ACN; an election in which I was ‘awarded’ the second position even though I won outright and Soludo third, I knew that with his tenacity of purpose and drive, he would one day make it to the seat of the Governor of Anambra State.”

“It is a case in patience and endurance, an aspiration nurtured to serve the people with all his strength, I seriously believe. Ndi-Anambra I know, will hence, entertain no excuses. Much has been given, hence the expectation is very high. Knowing Soludo as I do, however, I have no doubt that our people have made an excellent choice by voting him.”

“At this auspicious juncture, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari deserves a glowing national tribute. I put on record, that Mr President had on three different occasions, assured through me, that the Anambra governorship election would be free and fair.

“Not only did the President ensure a level playing field for all the political parties, but he also directed all the security agencies to deploy into Anambra to protect and secure voters and electoral workers. A promise kept!” Ngige explained.

The National Chairman of APGA, Dr. Victor Oye also used the victory to demosntrate his political acumen.

For the governor-elect, Soludo, his victory is not just for himself, but has broken a 12- year-old jinx that has trailed him since 2009, when he first declared his intention to govern the state.

His victory may have also shamed a lot of cynics, who taunted him as being only an academic giant, who is devoid of political knowledge.

Despite the initial glitches, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as well as its regular and ad hoc staff members, particularly NYSC members, are also winners for their courage to conduct the election under such tension-soaked environment.

The threats of separatist groups in the South-east and the senseless killings of innocent people in the state had made it impossible for the candidates to campaign before the election.

Three police officers guarding Soludo lost their lives when an attempt was made on the life of the APGA candidate by unknown gunmen.

Security agencies also emerged victorious for providing a peaceful atmosphere and for their professionalism during the election.

The Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army, Department of State Services (DSS), and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) deserve special commendation for the exemplary conduct of their personnel during the Anambra State election.

Not left out is the commendable role the judiciary played in the election. Recall that after some political parties in the election held their primaries, aggrieved candidates turned to the courts to truncate and destabilised the election. But all through, the judiciary stood firm and discharged its role commendably for all to see.

The Losers

Losers in the election cannot be said to be only the other 17 political parties and their candidates who contested and lost in the election.

Aspirants who lost their parties’ primaries, party chieftains who wanted to be godfathers candidates and some politicians who abandoned APGA at the last-minute of the campaigns to join other political parties, in anticipation of a loss by their former political party, are all losers.

Though the former governor, Obi has congratulated Soludo on his victory, many still see him as one of the losers in the election.

This is because since he parted ways with his successor, Obiano, he has tried unsuccessfully to establish his supremacy in the state.

He had on two occasions wrestled power with the governor and failed.

When Obi left APGA and defected to the PDP, many had believed that his defection was a death knell to the party since he became the face of the party after the death of its founder, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.

But Obiano won his re-election bid and also succeeded in installing a successor, despite the strong Obi-led opposition by the PDP.

The duo of PDP and APC can also be said to be losers in the last Saturday’s election, having tried unsuccessfully for years to sack APGA from the state.

But the worst losers in the election are the deputy governor of Anambra State, Dr. Nkem Okeke and all the six members of the state House of Assembly who defected to APC in the run-up to the election.

It was believed that the fortunes of the APC in the November 6 election would receive a boost when Okeke and six members of the House of Assembly on the platform of the APGA, defected to the APC.

The lawmakers are: Nonso Okafor representing Nnewi North, Timothy Ifedioramma representing Njikoka 1, Cater D. N. Umeoduagu representing Aguata 1, Lawrence Ezeudu representing Dunukofia, Arthur Chiekwu representing Idemmili North and Edward Ibuzo representing Onitsha North 2.

Unfortunately, Okeke and the six lawmakers demonstrated their lack of political value as APC ended up losing their areas.

The shameful outing of the APC in their areas showed that they did not bring any value to their new party.

They have lost in both parties because whatever promise APC had made to them would not be fulfilled since they failed the party. National Chairman of APGA, Oye has revealed that most of those who defected were already begging to return. What a shame?

Ojukwu’s wife, Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, is also a loser in the election. Though she did not leave the party, her body language, press interviews all showed that she did not support the party her husband left behind.