Tinubu and Soludo, two master strategists, are building an all-inclusive grand alliance that will redefine Anambra politics
Politics, they say, is not for the faint-hearted. It is for those who understand timing, alliances and survival.
Following the strategic appointment of Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR, the Solution Governor of Anambra State, as Coordinator of the Presidential Campaign in Anambra, events have moved with clinical precision. One of the Governor’s deft moves is the joint stakeholders meeting of APGA and APC slated for November 1, in Awka, a meeting that is already being described as the consummation of a historic alliance.
It is not just APGA and APC. Two or more other political parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which twice governed Anambra, are joining the alliance. Accord Party has also signaled interest. What is emerging is not a mere handshake; it is a grand, all-inclusive political coalition designed to achieve two objectives at once: deliver President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the presidential election and preserve APGA’s dominance in Anambra State.
To understand this alliance, one must understand the two men at its centre.
Two of a Kind
President Tinubu and Governor Soludo are political twins separated by generation but united by method. Both are master strategists who understand that politics is a game of structure, not sentiment.
Soludo has just bagged his re-election with an unprecedented 73% of total votes, winning in 320 out of 326 wards – a record that has never happened in Anambra’s political history. Tinubu seeks re-election to match Soludo’s feat and possibly surpass it. To achieve this lofty dream, deep strategy is needed, and Tinubu remains the most experienced politician alive in Nigeria today – a man who spent 30 years building a political machine that finally carried him to Aso Rock against all odds.
Soludo, in many ways, is following the Tinubu playbook: performance first, then structure, then alliance.
He has his work cut out. He has to unite two historically rival parties – APGA, the spiritual home of Ndigbo, and APC, the ruling party at the centre – as well as other parties willing to join the alliance. It is a delicate balancing act, but one Soludo is uniquely positioned to pull off as National Leader of APGA and now Tinubu’s coordinator in the state.
Why the Alliance is Existential
A strong alliance is called for because the threat is existential.
The presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Peter Obi, is from Anambra and a former governor of the state. The NDC is not just fielding a presidential candidate; it is fielding candidates for the State House of Assembly, House of Representatives and Senate. In other words, NDC is not just gunning for victory in the presidential election; it wants to take over all the seats and supplant APGA as the dominant force in Anambra.
The question then is: since NDC is going for all the seats, leaving nothing for APGA or any other party, what should APGA do? Sit down and pray that NDC fails?
No serious political party does that. APGA and its members have seen the existential threat posed by the ambition of NDC and its presidential candidate and are battle-ready to retain their overarching influence and grip on Anambra.
Any other response would be political suicide. Governor Soludo as National Leader cannot afford to let APGA die in his hands. The party has been the identity of Anambra since 2006; its fall would be the fall of a political tradition and mark the death of APGA as a political party. Another taking over in Imo State ended APGA in that State. That’s what NDC and Mr Peter Obi has plotted for APGA in Anambra as well.Â
A History of Alignment with the Centre.
Those criticizing Soludo for aligning with Tinubu and for working against the NDC either do not know APGA’s history or are being mischievous.
APGA, since the days of Mr. Peter Obi himself, has always adopted the government at the centre. That was the party’s official policy of strategic alignment.
When Obi was Governor and National Leader of APGA, he worked with President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP. He even served as Presidential Adviser and Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum under Jonathan while still flying APGA’s flag. Nobody accused him of betraying APGA then.
His successor, Chief Willie Obiano, followed the same policy and worked seamlessly with President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC. He attended APC functions and supported Buhari’s programmes in the state.
Governor Soludo is only sustaining that same time-tested policy by working with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It is in further consummation of that policy that he accepted to serve as Coordinator of the Presidential Campaign in Anambra. There is nothing novel about it; it is APGA’s DNA.
What is unkind is the suggestion that Soludo should fold his arms and allow APGA to be toppled by NDC in the House of Assembly, House of Representatives and Senate just because Obi is from Anambra. That would be abdication of leadership and absurdity in political calculations.
The Strategy: Deliver Tinubu Without Hurting APGA
In this strategic alliance, therefore, Governor Soludo has his job clearly defined: forge a formidable alliance to deliver President Tinubu in the presidential election without hurting APGA’s interest in the legislative elections.
It is a matter of right strategy, and Soludo has shown he understands it. He has already deployed what insiders call the “arrowhead model” – picking reliable coordinators ward by ward, LGA by LGA, rather than relying solely on mercenary politicians who, as many in the field know, sell to the highest bidder and are unwilling to even display Tinubu on their social media profiles.
The fear, which many grassroots operators have expressed, is that many politicians will work for APGA candidates and abandon Tinubu on presidential election day. The alliance structure being built – with ANSEC members, core loyal politicians and members of APC, PDP and Accord as co-arrowheads – is designed to close that loophole and ensure fidelity and accountability.
Can Obi Be Beaten at Home?
Sceptics say Peter Obi cannot be beaten in Anambra. History says otherwise.
If Jim Nwobodo, the charismatic Governor of old Anambra State, could be defeated in 1983 by the NPN’s C.C. Onoh despite Nwobodo’s incumbency and the open backing of the great Zik of Africa, then any political giant can be beaten with the right strategy.
The recent governorship election already gave a foretaste. Peter Obi, his candidate and his party lost in all four wards in his own community, Agulu. In contrast, Soludo and APGA won in 320 wards out of 326 in the state. Some of the six wards APGA lost did not even return results due to irregularities.
That was not a fluke. It was a statement: Anambra has moved beyond emotional politics to strategic politics.
The November 1 joint stakeholders meeting will therefore be more than a meeting. It will be the formal unveiling of a political machine that has been quietly built for months – a machine that merges APGA’s grassroots dominance, APC’s federal might, and PDP’s old structure into one fighting force.
The NDC may have social media noise. The alliance has structures. And as Tinubu and Soludo have shown time and again, structure beats noise.
Anambra is about to witness a masterclass in political strategy.
*Dr Law Mefor is Commissioner for Information & Value Reformation, Anambra State
