“From 2019 till his death, Ifeanyi Ubah distanced himself from the ruling APGA in Anambra State.” —Dr. Ebuka Onyekwelu
The Late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, whose shocking death occurred mid-last year in London following a cardiac arrest, exited the stage at his prime. At just 53 years old, Ifeanyi Ubah has transformed himself multiple times, from a successful business mogul to a political legend, particularly in Anambra State. Not only getting twice elected into the Nigerian Senate on the platform of the then unknown YPP, but also getting two members of the House of Representatives elected on the party’s platform, as well as three members of the Anambra State House of Assembly elected on the party’s platform. No politician in Anambra State has demonstrated such significant political dexterity in recent memory, except perhaps Peter Obi in 2023, and his was for a different reason.
In Anambra State, serving governors find it challenging to see their preferred candidates successfully through to the House of Representatives. When added to the fact that YPP had no real identity aside the fact that Professor Kingsley Moghalu was running his presidential campaign on the party’s platform in 2019, before Late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah joined the party and used it to win his first senatorial bid in 2019; then, this may give a sense to the enormity of Ubah’s imprint in Anambra’s politics.
Ubah, who died while actively campaigning to replace Anambra’s incumbent APGA governor, has left his legacy like a shadow hovering around diverse political assemblies, now associated with the YPP or his then-new party, APC. From 2019 till his death, Ifeanyi Ubah distanced himself from the ruling APGA in Anambra State. After trying his hand in a few parties, such as LP and PDP, Ubah returned to APGA with the hope of possible reforms within the party. But when he left APGA after he was denied the chance to participate in the 2019 Anambra South party primaries, Ubah embraced his YPP, which he branded and built from scratch, demonstrating that the party has what it takes to win a consequential election and is capable of emerging as a competent force in national politics. With YPP as a credible competitor to APGA, Ubah had no use for APGA, even if it were offered to him for free. Senator Ifeanyi Ubah has always had eyes on national politics. This was the opportunity the APC presented to him, and he took it, while still nurturing his YPP, having seen the level of treachery that has become normalized in our politics.
Yet, just about a year after his demise, the same APGA that he had rejected and was determined to retire by forming a parallel competitor in YPP has now gained a fair share of Ubah’s base. If the dead can see! Only on Wednesday, a former President General of Ozubulu Town Union and YPP candidate in the 2023 General Election for Nnewi North, Nnewi South, and Ekwusigo Federal Constituency, declared support for Soludo and APGA. Interestingly, this was a man who, during the 2023 General Elections, lost his polling unit to APGA, but was heavily supported by Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, leading to massive votes from Nnewi, which he leveraged to eventually win the runoff election, and was returned elected as a member of the House of Representatives. What is even more unfortunate is his denial that his party, YPP, or to put this in a better perspective, his benefactor’s legacy party, YPP, has no candidate. According to Hon. Peter Uzokwe, speaking on the APGA campaign stage in Ekwusigo, “YPP is not contesting any election. Do you hear me? I am the leader of YPP. My supporters are here. In my constituency, I have told them to collapse to His Excellency Chukwuma Soludo,” while being cheered by Governor Soludo. This is despite Sir Paul Chukwuma, the YPP governorship candidate, having demonstrated himself to be the most credible opposition candidate in the upcoming election. Hon. Peter Uzokwe, the member of the House of Representatives for Nnewi North, Nnewi South, and Ekwusigo Federal Constituency, elected on YPP’s platform and whose election was overseen to a successful and stable conclusion by Late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, stood on a stage and called YPP a non-contender in next week’s Anambra governorship election. This was a man whom the current APGA, in all its shape and form as presently constituted, fought with everything to stop him from going to the House of Representatives after the court ordered a runoff between the YPP and APGA. It was Senator Ifeanyi Ubah who fully mobilized to breach the firewall erected by APGA against Uzokwe and delivered him to the Green Chambers with votes from Nnewi, Ubah’s base. What if Senator Ubah, who at the time had secured his own victory, had aligned with APGA and Soludo to sabotage his runoff election? On the face value, Hon. Uzokwe’s comments might look like he was trying to get at Paul Chukwuma, for unclear reasons, because, by all accounts, Paul Chukwuma has given an excellent account of his scholarship and readiness for governance in this election cycle. But in trying to play his script, Hon. Peter Uzokwe, for a moment, forgot that YPP is Ifeanyi Ubah’s legacy, and such behavior from him was not only a spite on himself, but also a public ridicule of the same Senator Ifeanyi Ubah and his legacy. History is watching.
People reserve the right to associate with any political party they prefer. However, those who are products of political legacies, such as Peter Uzokwe, must be guided by a moral burden and a code to protect the legacy that created them, or at least respect that legacy. Senator Ifeanyi Ubah’s political legacies should at least be respected by his benefactors.
♦ Ebuka Onyekwelu, PhD, journalist and trained political scientist, is a writer and columnist with the West African Pilot News
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