The Anambra State off-season gubernatorial election scheduled for Saturday, November 6, 2021, will be won and lost on ego, sentiment, and not on the basis of robust ideology of the political parties and their candidates, BusinessDay can authoritatively report.
The first, being the ego factor, will pit the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) against the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
This factor will see the drivers of the two leading parties – Peter Obi and Governor Willie Obiano – bet anything and everything to win the election for their parties just to prove they are better loved and accepted by the people, than the other.
The Obi factor is so strong in the state that the PDP, which the former governor is supporting, is fully depending on his political astuteness and his acclaimed popularity to win the election.
Obi, who is seen as an enigma of sorts in the state, has maintained a robust relationship with the Catholic community in the state, while in office and now. His donations to the Church in the state have continued, and he is being described as the father and face of real democracy in the state.
Of course, the former governor’s sustained benevolence is imperative because Catholic Church controls a large number of the voting masses, and it is said that whoever wins its support, wins the gubernatorial election in the state, any day.
Obi boasts of his popularity and wide acceptance in the state. He constantly talks about his superlative performance while in office, which many also attest to.
His “integrity personified” posturing has also made him a likeable fellow, even outside the state.
On Tuesday, November 2, 2021, while speaking on Arise Television, he challenged Governor Willie Obiano to a “popularity walk.”
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“I live in Onitsha. Let Governor Obiano come with your cameramen, let’s go out to the streets of Onitsha without one security and walk around, and then you will know,” Obi said.
For PDP, the former governor has done so much for the state that it is only human that the popular proverb “one good turn deserves another” should take its course.
On the other hand, Obiano will also fight tooth and nail to retain the state for APGA.
The second factor is sentiment. There is the entrenched belief that the
APGA has come to stay in Anambra in the spirit of “Nkea bu nke anyi” (This is our own).
The state used to be under the ruler-ship of the PDP; under which Chinwoke Mbadinuju, Chris Ngige and Peter Obi governed, but since Odumegwu Emeka Ojukwu, the late Ikemba of Nnewi, adopted APGA and gave his blessings, many indigenes have come to believe that the party should be sustained and the state should also continue to be governed by an APGA government as a mark of respect for Ojukwu.
The sentiment is so strong that any attempt to remove APGA from the power seat in Anambra is viewed as courting the wrath of the late Ikemba of Nnewi.
There is also the sentiment that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is an “alien’ party that is trying to bulldoze its way into Anambra for some “ulterior” motives.
Until recently, APC had not got a foothold in the state, despite the fact that some indigenes of the state are in the APC government at the federal level.
However, with the gale of defections that hit PDP and APGA in the run up to the gubernatorial election in the state, the party is trying to entrench itself as a formidable association.
The sentiment is so strong that some indigenes openly say that they would resist the takeover of the state by the APC.
A resident of Nkpor Agu was quoted recently as saying that the people of Anambra would come out for the November 6 election to prevent the Federal Government from “stealing” the state.
“We heard that the Federal Government (APC) has perfected all plans to impose their candidate on the Anambra people the same way they did in Imo State, but my people are wiser; we shall come out on Saturday and vote for the candidate of our choice,” he said.
Although candidates of the parties have continued to engage with the people in various ways, including organised debates, importance is said not to be attached to whether the manifestoes are quality enough or not, but what the people had already made up their minds to do.
Meanwhile, Bishop Hassan Matthew Kukah, convener, National Peace Committee, has urged the Anambra electorates to avail themselves of the opportunity of electing the candidate of their choice, emphasising, “No matter the number of people that come out on Saturday, it would be seen that the election has been held.”
Kukah, who spoke on Wednesday on Channels Television interview programme, urged the security agencies not to give the wrong impression that they were in Anambra for contrived reasons.
“Nobody needs to lose his/her life. That’s the most important parameter to judge the election as being peaceful and successful. As former President Goodluck Jonathan said, that his ambition is not worth the life of any Nigerian; that should be the philosophy of every politician,” he said.
