With this development, it is now easy to predict that before the Anambra State House of Assembly resumes later this month, the APC may become the majority party in the Assembly; moving from zero to becoming the majority. This is the magic of politics.
As at the last sitting of the members of Anambra State House of Assembly before proceeding to recess since last month, the Assembly has not a single member of the APC. Originally, the House was divided between PDP and APGA with six and twenty-four members respectively. This reality has now been altered following a move by six members of the Assembly into APC. Among the six are Hon. Nonso Okafor and Hon. Crater Umeh, who purchased APGA gubernatorial forms but was disqualified unceremoniously, and since then, the party has not made any concrete effort to resolve the differences, which has now reached a breaking point.
With this development, it is now easy to predict that before the Anambra State House of Assembly resumes later this month, the APC may become the majority party in the Assembly; moving from zero to becoming the majority. This is the magic of politics. While one takes a vantage position for granted, oppositions are willing to negotiate and take advantage of that error or failure. Normally, the tension and discontent in the House of Assembly have reached a point of no return, it would appear, so this can only get worse for APGA and better for APC. Now, there is serious doubt that windows previously kept open by aggrieved House members for possible negotiation and subsequent agreement with the government of Anambra state and the leadership of APGA, may have been shut against APGA and the government. Rightly, no political window is kept open forever. The point really is that APGA and the government took their political mileage for a ride and the defection we now see is a direct consequence of APGA and the government’s political failures. On the other hand, the APC saw the gap, both political, leadership, and governance gap, which, admittedly is nearly the same in all the parties. But for APGA, a party that thrives in brotherhood and empowerment of its members, toying with this critical creed was a wrong too many.
Since APGA failed to engage its members who feel wronged, well, that was the chance APC needed to make its point and they did. Although many people in the Southeast still feel emotionally detached from the APC, the reality suggests that the APC is at a stage in the Southeast where it can no longer be referred to as a strange or alien political party in the zone. In fact, in Anambra state today, APC is about the most sellable party, with the right amount of selling points for any serious buyer to consider. Any serious and ambitious politician understands this. Recently, Sen. Stella Oduah of Anambra North joined the party. Many other Anambra North stakeholders and political heavyweights have joined APC. A former Speaker of Anambra House of Assembly is on her way to APC, so also a former member of the House of Representatives under APGA. The import of this development is that there is something the APC is doing and they are doing this only because APGA failed to do what it should have done.
For the House of Assembly members, joining APC from APGA was not only a strategic political decision. It is equally a move that will bring competition to Anambra’s democratic experience which has been dominated by APGA for nearly twelve years now and since then, the politics have not been rigorous and this is not without consequences on governance. A critical and objective observation of governance in Anambra state will show that APGA has not been the very best otherwise, in what ways has APGA developed Anambra state that other parties in other states have failed to do? Yet, the emotional attachment of many people to APGA or PDP against APC is understandable, and this has been largely because, since Peter Obi’s come back after the impeachment and also returned for a second term, there was a deliberate move in conjunction with the media, which projects APGA as Igbo people’s party and with Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s influence, it was not difficult to get the people to buy into that belief. Conversely, because Dr. Ngige who once was the most influential politician in the Southeast failed to demonstrate the kind of leadership Bola Ahmed Tinubu demonstrated in Lagos, Ngige simply disappeared. His disappearance has consequences on the APC. Although he remains an arrowhead in APC, he has however lost his influence and followership and could not stand up to the propaganda machinery of APGA and PDP, against the APC.
Since APGA failed to engage its members who feel wronged, well, that was the chance APC needed to make its point and they did.
This is an accurate assessment of the situation. In Imo, former governor Rochas Okorocha was not a good enough brand to market the APC to the Southeast. In essence, the assumption that APGA is an “Igbo party” and that APC is a “Hausa party” is all politics and the endpoint is the political interest of those elites that are championing it. A little trip to memory lane shows that upon return from exile, the Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu was expected to align with Nigerian People’s Party –NPP, the major opposition and regional party then whose presidential candidate was Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, but to the disappointment of many, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu instead joined the ruling National Party of Nigeria-NPN, insisting that the war has ended and that Igbo people should align to the centre. For context purposes, let us take NPP as “Igbo party”, say APGA, and NPN as “Hausa party”, say APC.
To its credit, the APC has continued to make effort to penetrate the Southeast and this here maybe its chance offered on a platter by APGA; a party previously positioned to win the coming governorship election in Anambra with a landslide but lost its entire goodwill in only a few months. The assumption by APGA or some people that APC cannot win an election in Anambra is flawed because it is borne out of emotional attachment and not out of reason or political strategy. As can be observed, it has not deterred the APC from moving to take advantage of the gap left by the ruling party in the state. What this means is that we are now at a place where the coming governorship election in Anambra will be won by APC before November 6. In a very simple language, the APC, going by the level of mobilization and strategic engagement is poised to win the Anambra gubernatorial election in a free and fair contest. Though I suspect that while many may not be willing to admit this political reality, well, how some people feel will not change the fact that when APC successfully close in on aggrieved and displaced people in APGA alone, then add some from PDP, the APC will be rewarded with Anambra Government House on November 6, for showing leadership where other parties failed to.
♦ Ebuka Onyekwelu, strategic governance exponent, is a columnist with the WAP
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