From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Awka, the Anambra State capital, was practically a beehive of political activities over the weekend with the conduct of primary elections by the three frontline political parties, squaring up for the Agu Awka Government House ticket in the state’s November 8 governorship election.
The conduct of the primary elections by the state’s ruling party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the Labour Party (LP), and the All Progressives Congress (APC), dominated political activities as the parties engage in the exercise to elect candidates to compete against each other in the main governorship election.
While APGA’s primary, seamlessly organised to endorse Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, who expectedly contested unopposed, was a mere formality, LP, had a relatively peaceful, free and transparent primary which produced Dr George Moghalu as its candidate. But the APC, which eventually produced Nicholas Ukachukwu as its candidate, apparently conducted the most intriguing poll among all.
In both LP and the APC, one constant factor was the accusations of surrogacy, external sponsorship manipulation in high places and financial inducement from both the state government, and certain political personalities to ensure that supposedly weak candidates emerged to compete against the incumbent governor.
There was a minor intrigue in the LP with the reason for the voluntary withdrawal of one of the aspirants, John Chuma Nwosu, but the APC’s primary, in all ramifications, lived up to the expectations of many stakeholders and political observers, following its volatility.
High-level political intrigues, horse-trading, mercantilism, endless scheming, subtle threats to lives, allegations and counter allegations of comprise by the national leadership, accusations of betrayal, fascinating battle of financial war chest, outright resignation of membership of the party, multiple withdrawal from the race, and many more, had characterised the APC’s primary.
There is no doubt that the seven aspirants that paid the mandatory N50 million to purchase the APC’s expression of interest and nomination forms are political heavyweights in their own rights, and ably qualified to hold the party’s ticket. However, feelers indicate that the primary was clearly marked by intense manoeuvring and manipulation, monetary inducement allegedly from the aspirants to both the party’s national leadership, and other stakeholders.
The seven aspirants that initially obtained the nomination forms include Obiora Okonkwo, Johnbosco Obinna Onunkwo, Valentine Ozigbo, Paul Chukwuma, the winner Nicholas Ukachukwu, Chukwuma Umeoji and Edozie Madu. However, by the eve of the primary, three of the aspirants had either withdrew from the race or outrightly resigned from the party.
While frontline aspirants, Obiora Okonkwo and Umeoji withdrew from the contest, claiming that their decisions were in good faith and due to threats to lives of their supporters, founding party member, Paul Chukwuma, had resigned his membership of the party outrightly through the chairman of his Umueri Ward 2.
In the resignation letter he personally signed, Chukwuma, a formal National Auditor of the party, wrote: “I write to formally notify you of my resignation as a card-carrying man of APC.
“My decision finds expression inquest to connect Anambra State to national politics by building a broader and an all-encompassing political movement within Anambra State in support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ‘Renewed Hope Agenda.’
“While thanking you for your leadership over these years, be rest assured of my continued support to our shared progressive ideas, as I will devote more time to pursuing the realisation of a safe and prosperous Anambra of our dream. Kindly accept the assurance of my highest regards,” the letter read.
Similarly, Obiora Okonkwo, equally, made a last-minute withdrawal from the APC primary, claiming that he did not want to risk the lives of his supporters.
In a withdrawal letter he wrote to his supporters, he noted that the decision to withdraw from the race was a “difficult but necessary” one due to some developments, he noted were inconsistent with his principles and values
“After a careful evaluation and reflection, on the current state of the APC primary election process in Anambra State, I have decided to withdraw my aspiration for the party’s governorship ticket. This decision to withdraw from the race was a difficult but necessary one because of some developments that are inconsistent with my principles and values. The project is not worth risking the lives of my supporters among other reasons,” Okonkwo stated.
Earlier, before his withdrawal, Umeoji, had in a statement by the APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, announcing his withdrawal, noted that; “this decision was made in good faith following consultations with my supporters across the state.
“Our great party thanks Umeoji for his aspiration and dedicated support of the party in Anambra state and nationally. It is our hope that Umeoji will do all in his power to support and work for the victory of the eventual gubernatorial flag bearer of our great party in the November 8, 2025 Anambra State gubernatorial election,” the party said.
But confirming the main reasons for Paul Chukwuma’s resignation from the party, a very close source had expressed anger and resentment against the party’s leadership in a chat with the Daily Sun, claiming that he resigned due to the injustices the national leadership of the party meted out on him.
“The actions of the national leadership are pure injustice against Chukwuma. He spent his resources to build the party, gave the party offices in his ward and state only to be shoved by the side in favour of Ukachukwu who just joined the party. The national leadership of APC cannot be trusted,” he lamented.
The unending political intrigues and manipulation had started shortly after the conclusion of the sale of the APC nomination forms with the speculations that the aspirants want to outdo each other to penetrate and influence members of the national leadership.
There were allegations of spending humongous amounts on purchase of expensive car gifts, landed property and houses, in addition to use of influential persons from the presidency, among other things to scheme for the party’s ticket.
Clearly, the build up to the primary was also characterised by bottled-up anger and boiling resentment over allegations of certain clique in the national leadership who allegedly hid the final delegates’ lists, to the point of polarising the party, thereby creating and widening the crack in the relationships among them, a development that resulted in some of them refusing to participate in the exercise.
Another furious source close to the party’s leadership told Daily Sun in confidence that certain persons, who were bent on ensuring that an anointed aspirant was delivered either “by hook or crook” created the problem, which almost destroyed the primary.
“Can you imagine that the National Chairman deliberately kept many of the national officers completely in the dark over the delegates’ lists? He kept the lists to his chest to the point that even the organising department were unaware of the genuine lists. Some of the national officers refused to be part of the exercise in protest due to how the build up to the primary was handled by certain cabal in the NWC,” our source noted.
However, the allegations and counter allegations were a child’s play, compared to the speculations that the Anambra State Government had penetrated some members of the national leadership of APC to field a weaker candidate to ensure that the incumbent, Soludo, retains the governorship.
“In whichever aspects you evaluate the aspirants, Ukachukwu may definitely not rank third or fourth among them in terms political sagacity, credentials, support, and loyalty to the party, yet the leadership of the party apparently anointed him for reasons best known to them,” an aggrieved APC member told the Daily Sun in confidence.
Interestingly, regardless of the political intrigues that trailed the build up to the APC primary, the emergence of Ukachukwu may have quietened the ragging storm of anger, resentment and protest among the aspirants and stakeholders with his pledge to unify the party in Anambra and take it into the November elections with renewed strength and focus.
He, in his acceptance speech, said: “This is not just my victory; it is a victory for all members of our great party and the people of Anambra who desire a new direction. I salute my fellow aspirants for their sportsmanship, and I call on them to join hands with me as we move into the general election season.”
He, however shocked many pundits with his comment that he has transformed from “a godfather to the father of the father.”
“We shall deliver Anambra to the APC. One thing I want to say here — nobody has won the governorship of Anambra without my support; it has never happened before. I have been playing godfatherism, but now I want to be the father of the father — no more godfather,” Ukachukwu said.
Similarly, LP primary was not also devoid of dramatic intrigues, especially with the withdrawal of Chuma Nwosu and the reasons he gave, including the status of the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure, after the recent Supreme Court judgment.
However, describing himself as the best man for the job, Moghalu, the former Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) promised to restore the confidence which the people of the state have lost in the current administration.
According to him; “The election we are going into on November 8, in the football parlance, is the Premier League which requires our first team. We need the best candidate for the main election. Running an election against an incumbent is not a tea party but it is doable and for us to do it, we must put the first foot forward. I want you to put your confidence in me and I will not betray you because I don’t have such track record.”
Restating his mission, Moghalu said: “We are going into this election determined to change the narrative. The trajectory today is such that Anambra State needs a rejig. Our security and basic infrastructure have all failed and something has to be done. I must acknowledge that there are areas they have done very well, but there is need for improvement and we will definitely do those improvements for the benefit of our people.
“The most important and critical thing that has taken flight in the politics of Anambra is that the people have lost confidence in their government and my mission is to restore the confidence of our people in their government and that can only be possible by offering them good governance. Restore your confidence in me and I will justify it and change the narrative.
“I have never started a project I did not complete. I represent the light that will bring glory for the name of God Almighty and for the benefit of NdiAnambra,” he assured.
The victorious have every reason to savour their victories but they certainly have a hard nut to crack in the battle against the incumbent governor, Soludo in the main election this year.
The governor alluded to it in his acceptance speech when he boastfully claimed that he will sweep all the 21 Local Government Areas (LGAs) during the main poll.
“When I took oath of office, I promised not to let Anambra down, not to let my supporters down, not to let my family down, and not to let APGA down. We are working 24\7 to ensure that.
“Many people have said we do not have any opposition, but I say that we will not only win all the 21 Local Governments, but also the 326 wards. Someone said we should even aim for all the polling units in the state. We want to make a statement,” he declared.
The victories for the candidates that have so far emerged may appear seamless. But there are strong indications that they would have to battle litigations before facing the final battle in the governorship poll in November, where they would need to go round the grassroots to sell their manifestos to the Anambra electorate that would ultimately decide their fate in the end.