The year 2026 is indeed yet another prelude to the conduct of general elections across the country and OKEY MADUFORO reports on the current campaign of Renewed Hope Ambassadors towards the reelection of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu in Anambra State.
APC and Soul of Anambra
Since the formative stages of the All Progressives Congress (APC) till date, most voters in Anambra State have gone to town with the strong belief that the party is anti-Igbo and of course the entire South East.
During the regime of the President Muhammadu Buhari, the party fought strongly to convince the electorate on the need to be part of the centre by supporting Buhari during those elections.
But the traducers of the APC in the state sustained their campaigns against both Buhari and the party, contending that is is a party of religious fundamentalists that have subjected the area to so much marginalisation.
Though the party secured 23 percent of votes as against the statutory 25 percent as against what was planned by the traducers of the party, most Anambra voters are still of the belief that the party has not done much for the state.
During the last general elections, the Obidient Movement further sustained the thinking that the the party and its Presidential candidate Ahmed Bola Tinubu are anti-Igbo which almost ruined the fortunes of Tinubu in the said election.
Against all odds, Tinubu is the President of the country, and all and sundry are subject to his administration including the opposition parties.
The APC couldn’t win the last gubernatorial election in Anambra due to the alliance and marriage of convenience between the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and APC which was made manifest during the visit of President Tinubu to Governor Charles Soludo that, “The Progressives Are Working Together.”
Enter The Renewed Hope Ambassadors.
The fall of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State is viewed by political watchers as the gains of APC going by the development on the ground.
While what is left of the PDP had joined APGA, others are currently in the APC with an army of grassroots political gladiators who are today the Anambra Renewed Hope Ambassadors. Leading the Ambassadors is the former South East Executive member of PDP Chief Okey Ezenwa who was recently inaugurated by the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma.
The Renewed Hope Ambassadors in the state appears not to have any challenges given the fact that the ruling APGA government has no intention of fielding a Presidential candidate since the Progressives are working together.
The Ambassadors however have the task of battling the rising profile of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Anambra State led by the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in 2023, Mr Peter Obi among others. The battle indeed promises to be tough giving the already erroneous belief among the opponents of APC that the party is against the fortunes and interest of the masses.
Similarly the life jail term handed to the leader of Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is yet another huddle that the Renewed Hope Ambassadors need to fight before coasting to victory. It is being said that had Kanu been discharged by the courts, Tinubu would have a straight and unchallenged win in Anambra State.
Renewed Hope and its Arsenal
But the body has since refused to back down, contending that both President Tinubu and the APC as a party have indeed delivered as promised those basic dividends of democracy. The State Ambassador Chief Okey Ezenwa in a chat with this reporter insisted that it had never been so good for the state and the South East in the time past than now.
“The President is a progressive. He is bold and visionary leader who is not afraid to take necessary decisions for the long term benefits of the country and her citizens. You can’t fault that. “Such a visionary leader deserves our collective support to enable him to accomplish his laudable programmes for the people,” he said.
Agenda setting on Infrastructure;
One striking issue that has remained a matter for debate is the state of road infrastructure in the South East and Anambra in particular. Opponents of the President are of the view that the issue is not given the right attention to the disagreement of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors.
They lamented that during festive seasons , heavy duty and commuter vehicles would practically spend the night on top of the ancient River Niger Bridge due to the gridlock that would last for days along the Onitsha – Asaba highway.
Continuing, they lamented that from Aba- Umuahia to Ikot Ekpene roads, leading to Akwa- Ibom State has been a sorry and gory sites as vehicles would swim past the muddy flood and rough edges of what is left of that highway built several decades ago, and after such a long excruciating trip, the drivers would visit the panel beaters who smile to the bank daily.
Deepening the trouble for road users is also the Enugu – Okigwe- Umuahia – Abs – Port Harcourt highway which had ultimately sent so many vehicles off the road permanently. But the Ambassadors see falsehood in the allegations of their traducers.
They recall that at the inception of the President Buhari administration, efforts were made to save the situation which resulted in the completion of the second Niger Bridge embarked upon by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration; but was embroiled in so much controversies over the cost, size and design of the project.
Similarly the Enugu – Okigwe- Umuahia – Aba- Port Harcourt Road was visited and work started on that long stretch of the road but could not be completed.
Succour For South East
The 2025 Christmas and New Year celebrations were yet another season of fear and trepidation for the people of the South East and South South as the nightmare of bad roads came calling.
However, there appeared some relief for the people of the area as heavy duty machines were at all those places, pulling out all stops to save travellers from yet another season of anxiety.
“I think this year is far better than last year, and this part of the road was hell on earth, but we have so far enjoyed very smooth passage through those portions as against the case before,” a driver, Mr Obed Chidebere said. Similarly, Roland Anietie a driver with the Eastern Mass Transit Company narrated that, “The fear of going to Ikot Ekpene is the beginning of the survival of your buses but today it is a different experience, and that is what we expect government to do for us and nothing else.”
At a recent project tour of Federal Highways in the areas, the Minister for Works Engr Dave Umahi announced that approximately N1.5trn road projects were ongoing in those areas, adding that so far most of the roads are at advanced phases of completion.
According to Umahi, roads such as Enugu – Port Harcourt Express way which is Aba – Umuahia road of 56 km has about 48 km of Aba – Ikot Ekpene road to AkwaIbom at advanced stages. Similarly the Enugu – Onitsha Expressway had been completed through the tax credits of MTN communication company as well as the second Niger Bridge access road of 17. 5 km dualisation at the Anambra section of the road with a flyover. Also the Lopka- Enugu Road which is about 6.1 km is being dualised including the Abakaliki – Afikpo flyover in Ebony State.
