The last gubernatorial election in Anambra State won by Governor Charles Soludo has once again reaffirmed the stranglehold of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) on Anambra State. OKEY MADUFORO reports how it came to pass, and the 20-year journey of the party in the saddle.

Storm gathers above APGA

Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu a former member of the Federal House of Representatives and top flight Anambra politician had won the Anambra South Senatorial District election in 2003 but couldn’t make it to the Red Chambers thanks to the controversial Enugu Appeal Court judgment.

He came into the All Progressives Congress (APC) and ultimately won the ticket of the party in an alleged controversial manner and resolved to send the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance and the incumbent Governor Charles Soludo to the dustbin of history. With him was one of the Amazons of Anambra politics Sen Uche Ekwunife as Running Mate and the duo appeared formidable enough to unseat Soludo and APGA.

They saw the party as one that enjoys a lone ranger status as it only has the control of one state and a few members of the National Assembly hence beating the party would be a piece of cake. The APC commenced its fight by receiving six members of the state House of Assembly who dumped APGA and other parties for the APC, and it was viewed as the beginning of the end of APGA’s hold on the state.

The party had boasted that it was a done deal with the might of Aso Villa and that President Ahmed Bola Tinubu could not market another product when he had his own product for sale which was the Ukachukwu/ Ekwunife ticket. Similarly, the Labor Party (LP) which prides itself as the propagator of the Obidient Movement saw the November 8 gubernatorial election in the state as the final push of the party to take over the Awka Government House. The party had in the last general election made a statement in the political landscape of Nigeria and hoped to repeat similar feat in Anambra with a defector from the APC as candidate, Chief George Moghalu.

The presence of former Governor and Presidential Candidate of the party in 2023, Mr Peter Obi, was indeed a great tonic while the election season lasted, and political watchers saw the party as likely causing a major upset in the election giving the strength of the Obi- dient Movement. The African Democratic Congress (ADC), though an old party, had suddenly be- come the beautiful bride of the Nigeria’s opposition, and going by the size and gladiators in that party it was believed that Governor Charles Soludo of APGA needs extra effort to remain in the saddle.

However the ADC, though, had a candidate that is known but had little or no structures to execute this battle and his party had never been on ground in the annals of party politics in Anambra State. Apparently, the other 12 political parties cut the picture of mere participation and not front runners in the race.

APGA’s Masterstroke

While other political parties were busy focusing on what they had in their arsenal, they lost sight of the new trends in Anambra politics introduced by the ruling APGA. The first trend was the polling units executives which had to do with every APGA member setting up executive committee with 10 canvassers per polling unit tasked with the responsibility of convincing and dragging at least three voters per polling unit.

With the total number of the polling units in Anambra State being 5,718, that was a number that had already secured quantum of block votes for the ruling party. Then there was the donations to the second term ambition of Governor Soludo by communities, local government areas, individuals, market associations and over 50 support groups.

Though it is not clear what the total sum was, it was gathered that it ran into several millions if not billions, and those that made donations were determined to protect their investments on the Governor’s ambition. Based on these things, the opposition never stood the chance of unseating Soludo and APGA and that explains the victory of 21/ 21 losing only seven polling units.

Battle of soapbox and pulpit

It has always been a wholesale purchase for every eventual winner of Anambra gubernatorial election, and this is made possible by the churches and faith-based organisations. The pronouncement of a Rev Father or Pastor of the Anglican Church is seen as a divine command, they decide who the congregation would vote for and defaulters are allegedly threatened by some bigots in the church with excommunication and denial from partaking in Holy Communion.

Before the election proper it was alleged that the church had severed relationship with APGA and its candidate Soludo hence the incumbent would not enjoy the bounty of the wholesale support of the Christian community. Same was true with the Traditional Institution where it was also rumored that traditional rulers were not comfortable with the brand of governance of Soludo, accusing him of being high-handed and showing disrespect to the Traditional Institution.

Apparently those arguments didn’t play out in the last Saturday’s election as the Christian Community called the principalities’ bluff and ultimately voted for Soludo; there were no clerics breathing down the necks of their congregations on who to vote for. In any case, Soludo prides himself to have political office holders and appointees who are knights and leaders of the churches, hence the wholesale vote couldn’t work at the end of the day. For the Traditional Institution, same was the case given the fact that the Anambra State government issues Certificate of Recognition to any elected traditional ruler and they risk loosing their certificates should they play the black leg.

Victory unlimited for APGA

Registered in the year 2001, the All APGA was a child of circumstance when former Vice President Late Dr Alex Ekwueme lost the Presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2003. Chief Chekwas Okorie began the process of registering a political party as a fall back in the event of the South East being denied the ticket of other parties.

The party made its debut in the 2003 general election in manner that cut the picture of a mass movement and it was argued that the party won all the seats at the National and State Assemblies across the South East as well as the gubernatorial positions but the then Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared PDP candidates as the winners of the said election. If not for Anambra State where Mr Peter Obi recoverd his mandate via the Tribunal, APGA would have been history as it were.

APGA at some point had three governors in the South East which included Chief Ro- chas Okoroacha of Imo State and Chief Theodore Orji of Abia State, and it was expected that the trio of Obi, Okoroacha and Orji should have galvanised the move to secure Enugu and Ebo- nyi states and possibly by now would have made forays into Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states. But this expectation got shattered when Okoroacha and Orji dumped the party for PDP and APC respectively, and the party failed.

But today in Anambra State, APGA has remained the party to beat, and last Saturday’s gubernatorial election went further to show that there is no vacancy for any other political party in Anambra. With Soludo’s victory after the party had been in charge for 19 years, APGA still has four more years to be in the saddle and it is not likely that another party will take over the political space in Anambra after Soludo, hence making the state the exclusive preserve of the party.