Almost two years before the end of Governor Peter Obi’s tenure, the race over his successor has begun in earnest, reports Remi Adelowo
The political scene in Anambra State seems quiet on the surface. But that may just be a façade after all if the intense jostling presently going on underground over who takes over the Government House in Awka in 2014 is anything to go by.
The stakes are indeed high. For the incumbent governor, Mr. Peter Obi, nothing short of having his anointed candidate as his successor would be good enough. Some weeks back, the revered Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, had, during a visit to his palace by the governor, reportedly said that Obi deserves to have a major say on who succeeds him in 2014.
But for other stakeholders in the state, both within the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and opposition parties, the traditional ruler may just be playing to the gallery. The governor, they have resolved, must be stopped on his track before he ‘foists’ his anointed candidate as the next governor of the state.
Elected on the platform of APGA, Obi got into office in 2006 in a blaze of glory. For over three years, he was in and out of courts to retrieve his mandate from Dr. Chris Ngige, the then candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who was declared winner of the 2003 Anambra governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
His tenure was briefly terminated in 2007 when the Maurice Iwu-led INEC organised another election, which produced Dr. Andy Uba, the former Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, as winner.
Following the intervention of the Supreme Court at the request of Obi, who claimed that his tenure started on the day he was sworn into office, Uba entered the Guinness Book of Records as the first elected governor in Nigeria who lasted in office for only two weeks.
Obi’s alleged ‘sins’
Sources alleged that soon after Obi became entrenched in office, he fell out with majority of APGA chieftains and ‘foot soldiers’ who assisted him during the election and the struggle to reclaim his mandate in the law courts.
Obi, his critics alleged, refused to appoint APGA members into his cabinet, preferring non-members not known in the party.
This development was reportedly brought to the knowledge of the former leader of APGA, late Dim Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who allegedly prevailed on the governor to redress the situation. But Obi, now elected for a second term in 2014, allegedly reneged on the agreement.
Prior to his second term election, the governor had fallen out with the pioneer National Chairman of APGA, Chief Chekwas Okorie, who had accused him of alleged dictatorial tendencies and failure to fund the party.
The Nation gathered that the treatment meted to Okorie left APGA badly fractured, with many of its members decamping to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). The party has not recovered ever since.
That APGA has lost steam in the last five years is evident in the strong showing of the ACN and the PDP both at the 2010 and the 2011 general elections. Presently, out of the three senatorial seats in the state, PDP has two senators-Andy Uba and Mrs. Margery Okadigbo, while ACN has one in the person of Ngige.
Battle for APGA ticket
With the personality crisis between Obi and the current National Chairman of APGA, Chief Mike Umeh yet unresolved, there are strong indications that the party may face the next governorship election as a divided house, according to sources in the party.
But the question of who wins the party’s governorship ticket for the 2014 election appears to be the major concern today. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Obi is allegedly looking beyond the party to choose a candidate. And if feelers in the state are anything to go by, the Chairman/CEO, Capital Oil and Gas, Chief Ifeanyi Ubah, may get the governor’s nod for the ticket.
Other candidates in contention
Other notable personalities alleged to have serious interest in the race include former Minister of Information, Professor Dora Akunyuli and a member of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Uche Ekwunife.
Akunyuli, who lost the Anambra Central Senatorial Seat to Chris Ngige in last year’s general elections, is not giving up on her political career, according to a source close to her. The Nation gathered that the former Director-General, National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) now spends more time at her hometown, Agulu, in an attempt to consolidate grassroots support.
However, another source disclosed that it is very unlikely that Akunyuli will contest against Ubah, whom she is quite close to if the latter shows interest in the race. Ubah, according to the source, is a close family friend of the Akunyulis.
Ekwunife, who is serving a second term at the National Assembly, is said to have an outside chance to win the APGA ticket in spite of her close political ties with the governor.
Another candidate, whose name is being mentioned in whispers within the Anambra political circles, is Chief Chuma Nzeribe, who lost the Anambra South Senatorial election to Andy Uba last year.
Who wins PDP ticket?
Though serving his first term in the Senate, Andy Uba is still said to nurse a burning ambition to rule Anambra State. Alleged to have a deep pocket to prosecute the campaign, Uba, according to insiders, has in the last one year been working behind the scene to actualise his dream. “The bitter experience he had in 2007, when he served as governor for two weeks, has not discouraged him,” said a source close to the former presidential aide.
The major challenge Uba may face, according to sources is likely to be from forces loyal to President Goodluck Jonathan, who is alleged to have frosty relationship with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, widely acknowledged as Uba’s godfather.
But despite the fact that the Anambra State chapter of the PDP is controlled by supporters of Uba, sources revealed that many of the top party members are not rooting for Uba’s candidature.
Some members of this independent group are instead canvassing for the drafting of former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, who was the party’s candidate in the 2010 governorship election, into the race.
“The snag in the proposal is that Soludo is allegedly wary of committing his time and resources to another energy-sapping campaign”, said a source who added, “The man (Soludo) was betrayed by many PDP members both at the state and the national level. He wants to be given solid assurances before he throws his hat into the ring again.”
Also set for the PDP governorship battle is Lagos-based businessman and philanthropist, Dr. Obinna Uzor, who contested for the ticket in 2003 and 2007.
ACN not left out
He personifies the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Anambra State. Across the state, Chris Ngige’s image looms large. His entry into ACN from the PDP has made the party a force to reckon with in Anambra State politics.
In a recent interview, the first-term senator pooh-poohed the agitation of some stakeholders on the need for a power shift to Anambra North senatorial zone, which has not produced a democratically-elected governor of the state since its inception in 1991.
Ngige had stated that since indigenes of the zone had contested for the governorship seat with people from other zones in previous occasions, it is only through a democratic process that the next governor of the state will emerge and not through a zoning formula.
This statement, some analysts contend, is an indication that Ngige may contest the governorship race for the third time.
As the countdown to the 2014 election begins, nothing for now looks certain on who takes over the Anambra Government House from Mr. Peter Obi.
