It is no longer news that electioneering activities have kicked off in Anambra state in preparation for the Nov. 6th governorship election. Particularly, the three major political parties in the election: the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive Congress are campaigning vigorously to carve a niche for themselves in the hearts and minds of the people in other to win the election.
Currently, Soludo, the substantive flag bearer of APGA is visiting all the communities in Anambra and holding town hall meetings with their leaders to reach what he is describing as social contracts on what he will do for these communities if elected. He is concurrently holding the same type of meetings with different organizations including women groups, student bodies, churches, etc. All this is an effort to convince Ndi Anambra that he is going to run an inclusive and a government that is people oriented.
The flag bearer of the PDP, Val Ozigbo is almost running the same type of campaigns. Like Soludo, he has been visiting communities, pressure groups and civil society organizations. Few days ago, he was at Nimo and it was a sea of people that came out to make him and his entourage welcome. Recently too, Ozigbo awarded a number of scholarships to indigent students across institutions in Anambra state.
Many, especially those who have benefitted from these series of meetings and awards see them as signs that Soludo and Ozigbo will make good governors if giving the chance. However, there are some who feel these attitudes are just well orchestrated plans to woo the people into voting for them and then, it would become business as usual.
Do you blame the people who feel this way? They have been fooled too many times. Using the masses as a ladder to climb to power and then flinging them away have been the tradition among Nigerian politicians. When any election is around the corner, you see these politicians eating roasted corns by the roadside, chatting and conversing with the people, and doling out bundles of cash to poor market women, but once the election is over, they become absolutely inaccessible to the people until the next election when they would return to eat corns.
However, whichever way one wants to interpret it, there is one central message that can be gleaned from Soludo, Ozigbo and their campaign teams, namely: they still feel they need the people to win the Nov. 6th governorship election. This feeling is very important. Whether rightly or wrongly, it appears, that the feeling is the only leverage Nigerians have over their politicians. Because even when they plan to rig the election, as they often do, they know they still need the people to do that. Therefore, it will be a tragedy any day Nigerian politicians begin to feel that they no longer need the people to win, ‘oh no, I mean rig the elections.’ This seems to be what is cooking in Anambra state and if it succeeds it will be a sad day for Ndi Anambra and Igbo land in general because once it succeeds in Anambra it can easily be extrapolated to other states in the Southeast.
This brings us to the case of the APC candidate, Sen. Andy Uba. How is Sen. Uba running his governorship campaign; like Soludo and Ozigbo is he involved in community and civil society mobilization? Unfortunately, Sen. Uba is not doing any of these. He believes he has no reason to bother with campaigns because ‘the powers that be’ has already anointed him the next governor of Anambra state.
Few days ago an interactive section was organized in Awka by a civil society organization where organization invited the governorship candidates of the various parties to present their manifestoes. Every invited candidate was present except Sen. Uba. When contacted through his campaign DG, the response was shocking. He says that “elections are no longer won in Anambra but in Abuja.”
The claim of Sen. Uba and his campaign team is clear: they don’t need Ndi Anambra to win election in Anambra. Sen. Uba feels he has been anointed by the ruling party, APC, who he thinks will use their Federal might to stampede and ruthlessly run roughshod over everybody to put him in power by all means.
Some politicians seem to have reached this conclusions too, otherwise how do you explain to flurry of defections to the APC, a party that has almost zero support in Anambra state.
The defection of Sen. Stella Oduah was still a shock to many. Although some are linking Oduah’s defection to the lingering misunderstanding and rivalry between her and Sen. Ekwunife and the fact that the later was made Ozigbo’s campaign DG which Oduah sees as a spite to her person, it still shows that something is going on underground.
Also, few days ago, a video was circulated on the social media, where top APC politicians, Sen. Uzor Kalu, from the Southeast were seen celebrating and dancing to their victory in Anambra governorship election. It appears that like what happened in Imo state, plans are already concluded among the highest rank of the APC to make Anambra an APC state. Sen. Uba knows this; that is why he is not bothering about campaigns; some politicians in Anambra are also privy to it and that is why they are jumping into APC.
But what is wrong in an APC candidate winning a governorship election in Anambra state? Absolute, there is nothing here when Ndi Anambra are the ones making that choice, after all, like the other candidates, Uba is also a son of the soil.
The wrong in it comes when that choice is made in Abuja and imposed on the people because it deprives the people the right of choosing their leaders which is the hallmark of democracy. Above all, these leaders are unanswerable to the people. They take their orders from Abuja and that is the worst thing that can happen in a democracy.
Uba and the cabals in Abuja have made the forthcoming governorship election a high stake election because what is at stake now is the heart and soul of Anambra state and Igbo land. This is why Ndi Anambra and every Igbo man must stand up and use whatever civil means available to them to resist this evil imposition from the Hausa-Fulani Oligarch that wants to control every inch of Nigeria land from Abuja.
The fact is that this is not the first time the Hausa-Fulani Oligarch has tried to install their stooge in a Southern state. They tried it in Rivers in the last 2019 general election but were fiercely resisted and defeated by Governor Nyesom Wike. Anambra must not be allowed to fall to the caliphate. Every attempt to do that must be resisted by Ndi Anambra and all men of goodwill using every means necessary.
