Top on the issues is what has been described as Soludo’s Conclave Politics. The number of aspirants for the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) primary election to nominate a candidate ahead of Anambra South Senatorial District bye-election was indeed intimidating, with six gladiators angling for the party’s ticket.
At some point the party was polarized by all manners of interests which indeed deepened the already over heated polity. Making matters worse, was the not golden silence of Governor Charles Soludo who earlier announced that he had no preferred candidate for the party as according to him, they are all his friends.
But Soludo could not help but to break the prolonged silence at the peak of glaring confusion that was eating deep into the party by compelling the six aspirants to go into conclave.
“I know that some people are gearing up for business during this primary election and it is not advisable for this to be a money thing. So, I urge the aspirants to conclave amongst them and nominate one person.
“Should that fail, they should give me the powers to nominate who our candidate would be or we go for a primary election. Whoever emerges as candidate of the party would be binding on the party, and if any of you would not accept the nomination, such person has to leave the party and then meet me on the election day, because APGA would surely win this bye-election ” he stated.
While the party awaited the verdict of the conclave of six aspirants, three more aspirants joined the race which further created deep cracks on the walls of the party and ultimately overturned the perspective.
Conclave’s failure
True to the nature of Anambra party politics the aspirants could not produce a consensus candidate and it was not confirmed if they ever met for once or if there was any meeting of the conclave.
Governor Soludo on whose table the bulk stops intervened and the contest was narrowed down to three aspirants which indeed produced Chief Ebuka Onunkwo as the aspirant that scored the highest number of cumulative votes at the two mock or semi conclave election.
In those three contests six out of the seven local government party Chairmen voted, Onunkwo pulled three votes, Paschal Agbodike got one vote while Emma Nwachukwu scored two votes but the Chairman of Orumba North Local Government didn’t participate in the election
Before the Electoral College primary election the party Council Chairman, Paschal Agbodike, had presented a resolution claiming to have been signed by the seven party Chairmen that he had been endorsed but Governor Soludo insisted that the Chairmen should repeat the primary election before him.
The aspirants were asked to vote for any of their fellow aspirants apart from themselves. The result of that voting was that the aspirants got one vote each, apart from Hon Agbodike, who got none. Emma Nwachukwu got two votes. It became the turn of the local government party Chairmen and local government Mayors to vote but one of the mayors was unavoidably absent hence six persons voted.
At the end of voting, Chief Ebuka Onunkwo won by garnering five votes, followed by Hon Agbodike with four votes, Emma Nwachukwu got two votes and Mr Orajiaka got two votes as well. When the two processes were added to the aspirant’s voting exercise, Chief Ebuka Onunkwo led the process with six votes in total
The voting by the local government chairmen and party chairmen merely confirmed what was already common knowledge in the party on who the candidate for the by election would be.
In response, Governor Soludo said that with the outcome of the primary election, he would use it as a working document for the party to finally nominate who would be the candidate of APGA for Anambra South Senatorial District by election.
The three aspirants included Ebuka Onunkwo, Emma Nwachukwu and Paschal Agbodike who later stepped down for Emma Nwachukwu urging his constituency members at Ihiala local government area to vote for Nwachukwu.
While party delegates envisaged a full-blown primary election to choose among the trio, they were oblivious of the governor’s next line of action. The primary election was slated to hold at the Aguata Local Government headquarters with the duo of Onunkwo and Nwachukwu in the race but alas it was for the affirmation of Emma Nwachukwu as the candidate of the party. Efforts made by Onunkwo to participate in the primary election failed as he chose to withdraw from the race and Nwachukwu became the candidate of the party.
Onunkwo; Travail of a crown Prince
It indeed came as a surprise and indeed a shocker to most party faithful who had gone to sleep with the impression that Onunkwo is a done deal. Pressure was mounted on Onunkwo to dump the party and contest under another party platform which he turned down and chose to remain with the party.
Onunkwo said: “I did not step down for anyone neither was I pressured to withdraw from the race and I only withdrew from the race as a sacrifice to the peace of the party Despite what happened at the primary election, I still remain a member of APGA ‘
“Whatever happened, I cannot abandon APGA because my supporters know what we did before during the primary election. I didn’t not withdraw out of weakness but I withdrew out of sacrifice for peace ” He maintained that whatever decision made by the party is final and binding on him adding that the party is supreme.
“The party is supreme and I cannot fight the party and may be God said this is not my time to go to the Senate. I also urge my supporters to remain calm and they should not lose sleep over the turn of events at the primary election.
“What is significant is that I have thrown my heart into the political field and there is no going back anymore. He who fights and retreats lives to fight another day and that is what politics is all about.” He dismissed claims that Gov Soludo erred by allegedly imposing a candidate on the party insisting that;
“As for our working governor Prof Charles Soludo, we shall continue to support him and God would continue to strengthen him as he delivers the good governance to the people of Anambra State and he is a human being just like all of us and we must support him in the November 8, gubernatorial election in the state “he noted.
Post-primary election fever
Apparently, the bye-election is not just an election for APGA as a party or Emma Nwachukwu as a candidate but the election of Governor Soludo who is from Anambra South Senatorial District.
The party and Soludo have to battle other political parties and their candidates at the by election proper and observers are of the opinion that the election would be a litmus test for the November 8 gubernatorial election in the state.
That could explain why most party members are still nursing their fears about the capacity of Emma Nwachukwu to deliver the District to Soludo, hence protesting the withdrawal of Onunkwo from the race.
Similarly, Nwachukwu is from Nnewi South Local Government area same with the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate, Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu, and it is expected that Nwachukwu should show capacity in ensuring that the APC does not win in his council area.
Ukachukwu is a veteran when he comes to the politics of Anambra State and is far on ground than Nwachukwu but for the presence of Soludo as governor of Anambra State, Nwachukwu do not seem to have the strength to battle Ukachukwu in the election. However, it is said that Nwachukwu has to first win the by election which would be the parameters to confirm his capacity in the field.
APGA’s move to sustain precedence
Soludo before the emergence of Nwachukwu had announced that after the one year and six months tenure of Nwachukwu, the party would adopt the rotation process hence stating that in the next general election the ticket of the party would go to another political zone in Anambra state.
Against this backdrop Nwachukwu’s days at the Red Chambers appears to have been numbered as he would no longer be nominated as candidate of APGA in the 2027 general election.
Consequent upon this position pundits are of the view that after a year and six months, Onunkwo should be nominated given the fact that he brought peace in the district by not going to rock the boat.
Party members are insisting that the unwritten agreement of rotation should be respected, warning that they would resist any attempt for the party to jettison the new power shearing template which would surely spell doom for the party in 2027.
Not to be ignored are the challenges of the bye-election proper. Interestingly Nwachukwu would be facing tough candidates from other parties such as Chief Chris Uba won pf the People’s Democratic Party PDP Chuma of the Labour Party, Donald Chidi Amamgbo of the African Democratic Congress ADC and Chijioke Onyekaonwu of Action Alliance AA. What Nwachukwu has going for him is that Soludo is a member of the district hence would surely throw his weight behind him on the election day.
