Anambra Guber: Royal Rumble as 30 aspirants battle for PDP, APC tickets

AS the Anambra governorship election draws closer, no less than 30 aspirants are expected to take part in today’s primaries of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), where the standard bearer of both parties for the November 6, 2021 poll will emerge.

Our investigation revealed that while 16 aspirants that include three women will slug it in the PDP, 14 others will battle for the ticket of the APC.

Two candidates will emerge from the process to join the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, who, last Wednesday, picked the ticket of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Today’s contest in the PDP and APC will further narrow down the crowded aspiration for the number one seat in the state.

However, the PDP aspirants are going into the primary with their fate hanging in the balance as a result of the credibility challenge being faced by the Chief Ndubuisi Nwobu led executive conducting the process.

A Federal High Court in FCT Abuja, presided over by Justice Olukayode Adeniyi, had on June 9, sacked the Nwobu-led state executive of the party and pronounced Ejike Oguebego as the authentic state chairman.

When the faction of the executive went to vacate the order last Wednesday, it met stiff resistance from the court, which added to its burden by nullifying the June 10 and 11, 2021 elections it conducted to elect ward delegates that will vote at the primary today.

The June 9 judgment, which they sought to stay its execution, was based on a suit marked HC/CV/774/2021 filed by Samuel Anyakolah.

The current feud in the party resulted from the state congress conducted on November 28 and December 1, 2017, under the supervision of Sir Chukwudi Umeaba as Acting Chairman, State Caretaker Committee.

Nwobu and Oguebego have continued to lay claims to the state chairmanship position since then.

As a result of the wrangling, Umeaba was appointed and sworn-in by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party shortly after Prof. ABC Nwosu, who was Chairman of the state Caretaker Committee, resigned after the 2017 governorship election, which the party lost.

A chieftain of the party, Obinna Okafor, told NaijaTimes that there was a grand plot to derail the party and deny it the chance to reclaim the Anambra governorship seat it lost to APGA several years ago.

He maintained that the party has an avenue to appeal the judgment of the Federal High Court.

“Since the plan to stay the judgment was not granted, the party will definitely appeal and go on with the primary. What it means is that we have returned to the era it was left to the court to decide the fate of the party,” Okafor said.

Meanwhile, the APC on its part, has maintained some level of sanity, despite its array of contestants. The hope is that the party would remain intact after today’s primary.

Responding to the allegation that the party might be fuelling crisis in other political parties to enable it win, its state Publicity Secretary, Okelo Madukaife, said: “We are paying attention now to the fine details of APC primary in Anambra, so that we will not fail like APGA, as we may not be able to find scapegoats to pour the blame on.

“Part of responsibility to society is for political parties or any other corporate bodies to own up to their pitfalls and work to remediate them.”