ColumnsOpinionPoliticsOPINION: Anambra’s Politics of Blurred Identity

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Nigeria’s party-based democracy has a distinct model that is perhaps, dominant in the Anambra state. Usually, when a candidate emerges from a political party for an elective position, support from party members is exclusive and never in doubt especially when the process of that emergence is not in contest. But Anambra state has left more to be desired.

For sixteen years and five months, the All Progressive Grand Alliance – APGA, has maintained its control of the Government House of Anambra state; from Peter Obi to Willie Obiano and now to Charles Soludo. Recently, Anambra’s Government House has become a near-no-contest for opposition political parties against APGA. Yet, for all these years, APGA has not produced a senator for any senatorial zone in the state. In the case of Sen. Victor Umeh, the election that took him to the senate was a rerun through judicial pronouncement, which left him almost unopposed in that election. For whatever reason, surprisingly, he could not secure reelection with APGA in 2019. This presents an interesting inquest into the brand of Anambra’s party politics.

For a start, why is it easy for APGA to win the governorship, but difficult for the party to clean up elective positions in Anambra State? The answer would be that there are so many power blocs that belong to different political parties in the state. They are powerful, rich and have their own followers, this naturally decentralized power sharing in the state. Similarly, the facts boldly suggest that the people themselves do not place a high premium on party affiliation. That could only be why Peter Obi was voted into APGA in 2003. In 2019, a similar thing happened when Ifeanyi Ubah was voted into the senate on YPP’s platform.

But then, why does it seem like anti-party does not exist within Anambra’s political ecosystem? The answer to this might not be unconnected to the fact that as the stakeholders’ party loyalty is divided, so also voters are non-partisan in their voting pattern. It is just about the quality of an individual. Only over the weekend, the APGA State Chairman cautioned APGA members to avoid anti-party activities. The same weekend, Governor Soludo hosted Peter Obi the Presidential Candidate of Labour Party, but it is unclear if the governor has hosted Prof. Peter Umeadi the APGA Presidential candidate. The Governor also met in the most cordial reception, Osita Chidoka, a chieftain of the PDP, who was also a member of the Governor’s Transition Committee,  a few months ago even as a PDP chieftain.

Historically, APGA’s presidential candidates have been only but a smokescreen. Peter Obi as APGA governor supported Goodluck Jonathan of PDP in 2011. Willie Obiano tacitly supported Mohammadu Buhari of APC in 2015 and 2019, even with APGA’s presidential candidate on the ballot. Given the prevailing circumstances, it is uncertain what Soludo would do differently. This might create the suspicion that maybe, other parties concede the governorship of the state to APGA, for other elective positions or that APGA is only interested in the governorship and securing the majority of seats in the State Assembly.

In any case, there is more. To buttress, in 2019, PDP won the senatorial seat of Anambra North and Anambra Central, while then unknown YPP won that of Anambra South. Notwithstanding that the National Assembly election comprising Senate and House of Representatives seats was held the same day; this is a snippet of how Anambra voters voted. In the North senatorial zone, they voted for Sen. Stella Odua of PDP, voted three House of Representatives candidates of PDP and voted for one APGA candidate. In Central, they voted Sen. Uche Ekwunife of PDP for senate, then voted two House of Representatives candidates of the PDP and one APGA candidate. Anambra South presented the most colourful of all with YPP senatorial candidate in the person of Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah voted, along candidates of APGA and PDP, with APGA securing three seats and PDP securing one seat.

In Nnewi North, Nnewi South and Ekwusigo Federal Constituency, YPP won overwhelmingly for senate. But PDP won overwhelmingly for the House of Representatives. Yet, the elections were held on the same day and simultaneously. In the same 2019, in Nnewi North, the voters voted YPP for senate, PDP for House of Representatives, and APGA for State House of Assembly.

Anambra election presents an interesting perspective on party politics. A typical instance comes to mind. A WhatsApp group created for a particular candidate in Njikoka local government in Anambra Central zone has an interesting development. In that group, supporters of APGA, PDP and Labour Party all post their candidates without any form of reprimand from the rightful owners of the group. Another interesting event is the emergence of Hon. Chris Azubogu as APGA candidate for Anambra South senatorial seat, after he worked for the APC against APGA in the November 2021 Governorship Election. Yet another event, the PDP candidate for the November governorship election has just joined Labour Party. No one in Anambra State has any issue with these developments, despite how awkward they may look.

In Anambra State, people mostly vote based on their assessment of individuals on the ballot, not on the basis of political affiliation. Even party members usually comfortably vote against their own party’s candidate and it is a norm. Anambra’s stakeholders who have divergent interests in diverse elective positions have contributed to this. Many, if not all of them are not members of APGA, but they have a vested interest in APGA. This understanding sometimes makes a sitting governor concede certain local governments to them as a mark of mutual respect during other elections. But on a general note, Anambra voters have attained a level of political sophistication that does not sit well with party loyalty, which then creates a different kind of challenge for Anambra political parties.

In the end, the 2023 General Election will not be anything different from across-party voting, with Labour Party, APGA, PDP, perhaps, YPP and even APC, becoming beneficiaries of Anambra’s blurred party loyalty.

Ebuka Onyekwelu (Staff Writer)
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