With political parties for the November 18 governorship election virtually through with their primaries, OKEY MADUFORO looks at the strengths and weaknesses of candidates of the leading parties
Earlier in the year when aspirants surged out from different political parties for the Anambra State governorship election, many raised concern on the sheer number of those that had declared interest in the race.
But even as the figure increased almost on daily basis, informed analysts had maintained that it was merely a matter of time that the real contenders would be separated from pretenders.
The picture started becoming clearer when the leading political parties started conducting their primaries that produced candidates for the November 18 poll. While the flag-bearers emerged, there were pockets of protests in some parties, on account of alleged irregularities over the processes that threw them up.
Aside the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) that returned Goddy Ezeemo as its gubernatorial candidate without fuss for the second time, other parties battled it out to produce their candidates.
The contests threw up issues that would play significant roles in the election. They also opened up a new vista in which young and fresh names upstaged regular gladiators in the state’s politics.
Anambra North and zoning formula
Before now, there had been strong contention between politicians from Anambra North and their counterparts from Anambra South on the issue of zoning, ahead of the November poll.
While the North had insisted that it should complete its tenure of eight years, which had commenced with the Governor Willie Obiano administration, their Southern counterparts had contended that the eight-year tenure of former Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju was cut short following the emergence of Chris Ngige from Anambra Central Senatorial District, in 2003.
The South, thus, contended that the North cannot lay claim to another four years in office, insisting that it should complete its truncated tenure of eight years before the North.
But in what appears pandering to the sentiments in the North, three major political parties in the state produced their candidates from the zone.
The ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) returned Obiano, from Anambra East Local Government Area, Anambra North Senatorial District, as its candidate. The All Progressives Congress (APC) in one of the most dramatic turn of events in its primary election, settled for Tony Nwoye, also from Anambra East LG. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) elected former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Oseloka Obaze, from Ogbaru Local Government Area, as its flag-bearer.
Though the United Peoples Party (UPP) has former Aviation Minister, Osita Chidioka, from Obosi, Anambra Central Senatorial District as its candidate, the impression by enlightened observers is that fate and mother luck may have, indeed, zoned the 2017 gubernatorial seat to Anambra North.
The unsettled argument, however, is if in the event of Obaze or Nwoye winning the election, whether the person would seek a second term when the North must have served two terms of eight years. Lawyers interpret the zonal arrangement as mere gentleman’s agreement that is not constitutionally binding on the parties, since the law allows an incumbent to go for a second term, if re-elected.
Another leg of the argument is that if Obiano gets a second term, the issue of zoning would, technically, have been settled on the part of Anambra North, while Anambra South gears up for its own turn of eight years.
Trends in the November poll
The emergence of Nwoye and Obaze, indeed, showcased the paradox of Anambra politics.
In APC, Andy Uba was highly touted to pick the ticket of the party, but the erstwhile short-lived governor and two-term senator found himself virtually retired from the state’s politics by Nwoye, a member of the House of Representatives.
Incidentally, Uba is touted in some quarters as Nwoye’s mentor.
It could also be in line with the new trend that the likes of Labour Minister, Chris Ngige, who had nursed the intention of going into the race, later re-considered his position and dropped, while George Moughalu, who had contested under the then All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in 2003, did not further his ambition.
In PDP, frontline aspirants such as Alex Obiogbolu, Ifeanyi Uba, John Emeka and Senator Stella Odua were floored by Obaze, a new breed, in picking the ticket of the party.
Going by the development, the likes of Ngige, Peter Obi, Nicholas Ukachukwu and their generation seem to be giving way to younger kids on the block in a manner that is indeed dramatic and evolutionary.
Many expect the new gladiators of Anambra 2017 election to change the old order of politicking in the state.
The parties and the candidates
But the challenge before the five known governorship candidates of UPP, PPA, APGA, PDP and APC seems enormous.
Willie Obiano (APGA): The major drawback Governor Obiano may encounter in his re-election agenda remains the face-off between Victor Oye and Martin Agbaso over the leadership of the party. Supporters of the governor accuse some politicians who failed to have their way in his administration as sponsoring the impasse to get him distracted.
They, however, enthuse that he would overcome the challenge and go into the main election fully prepared.
Even with the reality of his sharing votes from his zone with Nwoye and Obaze, there is this feeling that the governor may not really have much to bother about.
Analysis of his performance profile suggests that Obiano, in his three and half years in the saddle, has not failed the people. TheNiche, in fact, gathered that even when his opponents talk about his stewardship, they do not criticise him for not working, but essentially kick against his strategy in governance, which they say is very flamboyant.
There is also the likelihood that Anambra North electorate may prefer supporting Obiano, who is already in the saddle to finish a two-term tenure, than gamble with Obaze or Nwoye.
Similarly, Anambra South and Central senatorial zones may be comfortable voting for Obiano, hence ensuring that the North serves out its two tenures of eight years, thereby creating room for the South to have its turn after the governor.
His feat in regular payment of salaries to workers in the state’s civil service and meeting with pension obligations to retirees is another consideration that may work for the governor.
The administration is also credited with attaining giant strides in security of lives and property and creating the enabling environment for trade and industry in the state.
Tony Nwoye (APC): The 42-year-old House of Representatives member and former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state has experience and grassroots contact going for him.
He represents Governor Obiano’s constituency at the National Assembly. Both are from Anambra East. His supporters say that he is more popular than the governor himself in their locality – a claim that Obiano’s admirers dismiss as mere hogwash.
Nwoye’s antecedents in politics, they insist, is enough to unsettle any of his rivals in the race, going by his track record and mileage in politics.
The House member, they recall, has great acceptability and followership in Anambra zone and had in the past, as PDP chairman, recorded some successes for the party.
It is these considerations, our reporter learnt, that sent the PDP and APGA to the drawing board following Nwoye’s emergence.
Analysts sympathetic to Nwoye, in fact, argue that in the event of the governor underrating him, it would be too late for him to recover from the shock that may follow.
Nwoye’s critics, however, describe him as a face of the old and discredited system of Anambra politics that allegedly held the state down for years. Seen in some quarters as being breezy, Nwoye is simply seen as a resurgence of the loathed godfather politics that Ngige had banished from the state.
For instance, days before the primary, a certain controversial document had flown about, alleging that he had gone into a pact with a particular godfather to help him win the election with some terms that would harm transparent governance if he eventually becomes governor. Though his camp stoutly put a lie to the document, the insinuation sticks, considerably.
Oseloka Obaze (PDP): He was the SSG during the administration of former Governor Peter Obi and was seen as a likely successor to the latter, before Obiano came into the picture.
Obaze, from Anambra North, made a successful career in foreign service as a diplomat.
Many see him as a level-headed bureaucrat, who has remained without blemish – a particular attribute that most of his opponents do not possess.
What could have counted against him by way of disconnection from the grassroots in the past had been remedied by his stellar performance as SSG for six years, the experience of which has boosted his acceptability among the electorate.
He is equally expected to reap from the goodwill of his younger brother, Dubem Obaze, who, as Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, also in the Obi era, enjoyed the fraternity of the electorate who he lifted by impacting on the communities in the state.
The resurgence of unity and understanding in his PDP may also work in his favour.
But then, he is seen in some quarters as a product of godfather politics by Obi, despite his emergence from the party’s primary.
In addition, the disquiet in his PDP is also not completely over. Even after his emergence as the candidate, there were insinuations that the likes of Senator Oduah and Obiogbolu, who abandoned the contest midway, were literally forced out by the high level of intrigues that characterised the exercise.
Business tycoon, Ifeanyi Uba, who also contested the primary, had reportedly cried foul over the process leading to the primary and eventual outcome. There were fears, last week, that he would be heading for the courts to seek invalidation of Obaze’s candidacy.
If this turns out the case, or the other disenchanted aspirants turning against the party or sabotaging it, the former SSG’s ambition will bite the dust.
Godwin Ezeemo (PPA): The renowned industrialist is making his second attempt at becoming the next governor of Anambra.
The attributes that easily work for him include being a philanthropist and heavy employer of labour in Nigeria at large.
Besides, his party, the PPA, which he has in the last five years nurtured and financed, is reputed to be without crisis.
What is, however, counting against him is his Anambra South root. But his supporters insist that reducing the governance of the state to a mere representative position is not what is required to take the state to the next level.
They, in fact, insist that with the current air of uncertainty in PDP and the confusion surrounding APGA leadership, Ezeemo may spring a surprise at the poll.
