In my earlier article on this same subject of the forthcoming
Anambra gubernatorial poll titled, “Anambra Gubernatorial
Madness”, I had lucidly brought before the eyes of readers
of this column, the madness mistaken for political
permutations that has become the norm in the buildup to the
widely reported Anambra election which takes off few days
from today.
In that publication, we looked at the judicial battle that sunk
the Ejike Oguebego camp and the Chief Ken Emeakayi
faction of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the
uncertainty as to who is the bona fide flier of the PDP flag
after two separate primaries fielded two separate
candidates in the persons of Chief Andy Uba whom we
referred to as the Abraham Lincoln of Anambra politics- not
for his political savvy, perhaps never as we shall be
belittling the reputation, albeit post humously of one of
America’s finest politicians. But rather we took on that
analogy basing our comparative analysis on account of
their misfortunes at elections. People who have trailed the
political voyage of Andy Uba will agree with me that he has
failed and failed and failed again at different polls. Even the
current senatorial seat of Anambra East he sits on today,
was brokered in a sham election and flawed judicial
process that followed it at the election tribunal.
Ahead of that, we looked at the marathon court judgments
and pronouncements, that trailed the selections many called
primary elections which in many cases had a parallel
congress, Maxi Okwu’s insistence on being the All
Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) National Chairman,
Willie Obiano’s sudden emergence out of the blue as
APGA’s gubernatorial candidate, Ifeanyi Ubah’s alleged
importation of foreigners into the state to garner votes to
achieve his political ‘daydreaming’ and finally, Godwin
Ezemo’s decamping from the All Progressive Congress
(APC) to the Peoples Progressive Alliance (PPA) to test his
popularity after the shoddy dealings at the APC ensured that
Dr. Chris Ngige became the party’s flag bearer. In the end a
clear headed reader or observer or even the gods will not
hold us liable for metaphorically describing the whole
jamboree as a “Gubernatorial Madness”. Anambra ronu!
While the political waters gets more intense as the V-day
(in the words of Jimanze Alowes of the ‘turf-game’) draws
nigh, a keen observer need not be told that the whole tussle
will be settled in favour of either of the two big fishes in the
continental shelf of the ocean of the fast approaching
political ‘tsunami’ viz: Mr. willie Obiano of APGA and Dr.
Chris Ngige of the APC which many people have hurriedly
reduced as a Yoruba party despite the mantra of calls from
the arrowheads in the party to disregard such description of
the party as the imagination of naysayers who wish no good
for the party and who have no better plans for our nascent
democracy. All said and done, the power of the ballot shall
be doing a better part of the talking when Anambrarians,
finally exercise their franchise come Nov. 16th.
Having established the fact or for the sake of the Thomases
of this world, the hypothesis that the election will be a two-
way street between Ngige/Obiano, we have given today’s
column to dissect in our pseudo-theatre and show why
majority of the votes will be going the way of the former
chief Internal Auditor at Texaco Nig. Plc. Mr. Willie Obiano
and not those of Dr. Chris Ngige, the senator representing
Anambra Central senatorial district and a former governor of
the state whom during his three year stint brought back the
lost hope of Ndi Anambra of ever having a feel of the cliché
‘Dividends of Democracy’ after the horrible days of
Chinwoke Mbadinuju (who has since gone into political
extinction) brought tears to their eyes despite acting on a
stolen mandate which later saw the incumbent Peter Obi
(who in recent past has been in the eye of the storm for
having the temerity to impose a candidate on Anambrarians
thereby, rekindling the flames of godfatherism in the state
which once brought it to a near standstill) restored as the
driver of the ship of state after the Court of Appeal judgment
on March 15th 2005,upheld the decision of Justice
Nabaruma of the Federal High Court to the effect that Obi
was the elected governor. How time flies indeed, Obi has
enjoyed and is about to end his constitutional two tenures
and here we are trying to see who takes over the helm of
affairs at the Awka government house come March 2014
when the would-be elected governor will be formally sworn
into office.
Before we ride on, it is of paramount importance, that we
make it clear, or what in my latino-legal lexicon is called a
Caveat that this is not some form of campaign strategy for
either of the candidates jostling for the plum job as we have
never come across any of them either directly or indirectly
not even in our dreams, but rather just an effort towards
calling a spade a spade and not bathing ourselves in the
pool of any illusion or hiding away from the obvious and
also to prove critics who always think column writing
comes with some honorarium from the coffers of those in
whose ‘interest’ it is written, wrong.
In politics just like in any other life adventure, it is trite that
first impression lasts long. It is based on this premise that
Dr. Chris Ngige has earned the good will that continues to
drive him far in all of his political adventures. His three year
stint between 2003 and 2005 was enough to give him all the
political CV he needs to tread on any political terrain.
Despite being held by the jugular by his political Godfathers,
Chris Uba, Olusegun Obasanjo and co, the irrepressible
governor refused to be daunted. Instead he stood on the
side of the masses and was able to achieve a lot in so short
a time before the Court of Appeal nullified his election and
brought to an end a political transformation of Anambra
state that was never seen since the inception of New
Anambra. Our only consolation was the fact that Peter Obi,
who was then a neophyte in the turf of politics, on getting
his mandate, also continued from where good Ngige has
stopped. Thanks to Ngige’s strides in those three fast years,
I was again able to travel from Onitsha to my country home
of Umunze, in Orumba South LGA in just about an hour
against the previous 4-5 hours due to the bad roads that
permeated the axis. Just like the ‘Onwa’ he is often called
in traditional circles which literally means ‘a flashing light’
or if you like, the ‘Sun’, he shone across Anambra state and
until today, his legacies continue to speak well for him but
the good man committed a political blunder when he chose
to come back to the Government House Awka, through the
wrong door by flying the (APC) flag. Even the gods will not
allow that to happen. It is a practice alien to Nigerian
democracy and will not be institutionalized in Anambra
state at least not now.
No matter how people shy away from the truth, it is always
there for them to seek whenever their sanity or conscience
is restored. Anambra politics is the centre of Ndigbo
Politics. Enugu State may have been the former capital of
Eastern Nigeria but in contemporary Igbo Politics, Anambra
remains the hallmark of the political journey of Ndigbo
towards greater heights little wonder many have described
the ruling political party in the state as an Igbo Party that
advances the cause of the whole people of Eastern Nigeria
even though it is taking forever for its tentacles to spread
across neighboring states of Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia. But if its
tentacles have refused to cut across these states, it is the
more reason why it must not lose Anambra to another
political party just the way, it seems to be losing Imo state
under Rochas Okorocha to the progressives. Hence Ndigbo
must hold on to the mandate that advances their cause not
just on the pages of newspapers or campaign grounds, but
most importantly in their heart. I expected Dr. Chris Ngige
to be well acquainted with these salient details before
declaring to contest in this election but he goofed not
knowing it will deal the coup de grace to his political
career. If it worked for him, at the senatorial level way back
in 2011, it was because Prof. Dora Akunyili incurred the
wrath and the ire of many Igbos when she took to the
demolition of the Head bridge drug market notorious for the
sale of all sorts of bad drugs and narcotics during her spell
as the Director General of NAFDAC and thus the only way for
them to get their pound of flesh was denying her their votes
at the polls not because Ngige has got anything better to
offer but the people of Anambra Central had to give a blind
eye to the fact that Ngige was calling for their votes under a
wrong platform just to make sure, Madam Dora does not go
home smiling. Yes, in politics, there are no permanent
enemies but interest and even after the run-off that became
necessary to decide who wins the day, Dr. Ngige could only
win by the whiskers.
For the avoidance of any doubt, Dr. Chris Ngige, no doubt,
is the best candidate for the job. He has got the experience
both technical and practical, the onions, the intellectual
savvy and the nuts to occupy the office but are you the only
one in ‘Israel’ who does not know that things are done
differently in this part of the world? True, Willie Obiano, may
have spent a good number of his professional career within
the precinct of one corporate organization or the other,
attending press-conferences, auditing accounts and every
other routine that comes with the job of an accountant
extraordinaire and may not have gotten the requisite
administrative skills that is required for the office he is
seeking to occupy, but apart from being in the right political
party at the right time (even though many have said that he
is a stooge of the incumbent governor), it is not hard to see
that a person of his professional stature, will have much
difficulty with regards to directing the affairs of Anambra
state. His wealth of experience will do him a lot of good if he
ever gets into the office through the instrumentality of the
ballot come Nov 16th. Another factor that puts him in the
positive light is the fulfillment of Peter Obi’s promise to
make sure a candidate from Anambra North senatorial
district succeeds him after his tenure. With this feat, APGA
has also achieved an operational balance by electing a
candidate from the Northern senatorial district. in this, they
have beaten all the other political parties except PDP but
who doesn’t know that the PDP has spent much of their
time at the courts slogging out who their candidate would
be even as the clock of electoral battle is about to chime
hence losing the critical time to be in contention. Therefore,
I was not surprised hearing Alhaji Bamanga Tukur the
National Chairman of the Party which has been mired in
controversy since after the National Convention expressing
his doubt as to PDP’s chances in the gubernatorial election
in a recent interview he granted the Leadership Newspaper.
All said and done, it is very difficult to see how Chris Ngige
weathers this particular storm to the skies. He has a history
of pulling himself out whenever he is boxed up in a corner
and his confidence never fades but a concomitant of factors
which every observer of the political space must have been
abreast with does not seem to be going his way. The
‘Ndigbo deportation’ saga, the Ofala festival tell-tale, the
phrase making the rounds and very easy to gulp that “APC
is a Yoruba party”, the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu
Ojukwu (Ezeigbo Gburugburu) declaration of APGA as his
last will, will no doubt; affect his chances at the polls. But
come Nov 16th which co-incidentally is the birthday of Dr.
Nnamdi Azikiwe whose defunct eastern political platform
National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroun (NCNC) had
the insignia of a Cock and which APGA has also replicated
we shall see how that one pans out. But clear headed
pundits will not need a Prophet Isaiah to tell them how the
election will be decided.
During the 2011 presidential elections, a particular phrase
became popular among the teeming electorates who
preferred the candidacy of President Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan to that of GMB to this effect, “I am not voting for
the PDP; but on the contrary for GEJ” and at the end of the
day, GEJ emerged the president on account of the votes
cast in his favour. Come November 16th, will Anambrarians
vote for the candidate of their choice or will they vote for the
political party of their choice? The latter option seems
convincing to me, what about you? Let Anambra decide
wisely. I will sit at my vantage point, and see in whose
favour the pendulum swings.