“Ubah has largely lived up to his promise to stamp out insecurity from Nnewi and Anambra South zone, eventually.” —Ebuka Onyekwelu
Election bids feel different for the incumbent and the opposition. Therefore, an early election bid feels different for a serving governor and a contender for the same office. This is because, although the same position is in the contest, what is at stake for both parties is different. More importantly, the path to the desired goal also differs. Based on these, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah’s early bid for Anambra Government House in 2025 might be considered a major task for a serious opposition contending with an incumbent. This is because starting early could be an advantage for an opposition.
Arising from a very successful outing in 2023 which he repeated during the two House of Representatives re-run in Anambra State, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah has proven his political and election-winning proficiency beyond doubt. Ubah used an unknown YPP to win a senatorial election for the first time in 2019 and successfully returned for a second term in 2023. Then, he helped to return two members of the YPP to the House of Representatives as well as three members of the party to the Anambra State House of Assembly, all within five years. This feat is on the borderline of magic. It is important, therefore, to dispel all doubts regarding Senator Ifeanyi Ubah’s political credibility. But governorship is always different and yes, it is, for many reasons. Legislative elections are constituency elections, but governorship is a state-wide election. Also, different constituencies have diverse political behaviours.
…The burden of funding is usually carried by the contender nearly exclusively or sponsored by godfathers
In any case, with Sen. Ubah’s early bid, what should we expect? First of all, politics is a very expensive venture especially in Africa, for obvious reasons. Yet, the burden of funding is usually carried by the contender nearly exclusively or sponsored by godfathers. Therefore, any politician in Nigeria who is making an early bid to a political office will face a very heavy financial load. So to avoid this load, political office seekers do not make early bids. But for an incumbent governor for instance, it is different. This is because, he can simply exploit the benefits of his office, such as various appointments to keep his political machinery running. In other instances, he might just use government contracts to curry or maintain his machinery. That’s why politics is the predominant consideration of most African governments, leaving very little chance for governance. Given these peculiarities in our clime, there is little doubt that an incumbent has an advantage of in political contests because of its firm control of state apparatuses and structures which are channelled to the service of the incumbent’s political interests. But an opposition does not have such luxury. Thereby naturally loses grounds, wastes time to start making a proper political bid and finally when the bid has been made, it is already late and unable to catch up with the incumbent or match the incumbent’s resources deployed long before and during the election, to control the entire space.
What this speaks of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah is that, as an experienced politician who knows what it takes to oil political machinery in readiness for an important election, he knows exactly what he is doing. In other words, he is ready to take on the incumbent. That he has stood out as a major contender against the incumbent is a clear pointer to the investments into his early bid, which blended seamlessly with his proven political credence. It remains a fact that an early bid for the opposition comes at a very high cost. However, it is a necessary prize that a capable and serious contender must pay to stand a real chance of unseating the incumbent.
Ubah’s entry into the APC has further heightened the possibility that funding might not be a challenge in his quest to the Anambra State Government House if the APC gives him their ticket. As a sitting senator, Ubah if he emerges as the APC candidate for Anambra gubernatorial election in 2025, will enjoy the support of APC senators and that of APC governors. In monetary terms, this support would mean that funding will never be a challenge to the extent that he might be disposed to out-spend the incumbent. But on the flip side, Ubah’s early bid has raised the stakes for the senator because he is now playing in a mainstream political party where there are many big and vicious fishes. The stake is high for Senator Ifeanyi Ubah on two fronts; internally within his new party and against the incumbent. However, so far, he has maintained a strong focus on both fronts.
In terms of performance, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah scored very highly on security. Since his timely intervention on the Nnewi security situation which was becoming dangerous before his intervention, the situation has tremendously improved. To his credit, many communities across the State have called for Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah’s assistance in securing their communities, and in each case, he was handy to assist with gadgets and other security equipment. Ubah has largely lived up to his promise to stamp out insecurity from Nnewi and Anambra South zone, eventually.
Senator Ifeanyi Ubah is also huge on human capital development which is one of his biggest selling points. In addition, he is a well-known business figure, turned national politician. In other words, he has both the contacts of the business community and that of the big national players at the highest level in business and politics. This could count for him in terms of mobilization required for the race.
As it is now, if Senator Ifeanyi Ubah is removed from opposition in Anambra State, what will be left cannot be described as opposition. In the end, Ubah’s big fight remains to secure the APC gubernatorial ticket which will be a huge step towards his long-term dream to govern Anambra State.
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