F the on–going crisis in the Anambra State branch of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over who should be its flag bearer for the November 16 election is not resolved in the next few weeks, the party would have made itself a less contender in the impending governorship race. For now, supporters of the party in Anambra State are confused and it is therefore not surprising that many of them have become willing tools for swelling campaign rally grounds of other political parties. A typical example was the flag off of the LP governorship campaign in Onitsha on Thursday where many former members of PDP were seen adorned in Ifeanyi Ubah’s uniforms and caps and directing affairs. While the other major party contenders namely, All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, All Progressives Congress, APC, and Labour Party, LP, are seriously mobilizing for the election with their candidates making great inroads in the state, supporters of PDP are behaving like the sheep without the shepherd. Many of them say they have become more confused with the unfolding scenario, especially with two candidates – Tony Nwoye and Senator Andy Uba – laying claim to the ticket of the party. The latest in the PDP drama is that a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Thursday declared that Senator Andy Uba remains the PDP candidate for the November 16 election and that his crony, Chief Ejike Oguebego should remain the state chairman of the party. The court ordered the Prince Ken Emeakayi-led PDP in Anambra State to maintain the status quo, pending the final decision of the court. In the ruling handed by Justice H.A Nganjiwa, the court also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to identify with the Oguebego group that produced Uba as the authentic governorship candidate of the PDP. Permutations After the primaries of the various political parties, the picture was that Tony Nwoye from Anambra North senatorial zone emerged for PDP in the primary supervised by the national leadership of the party, Willy Obiano also from Anambra North emerged for APGA, while Senator Chris Ngige from Anambra Central and Chief Ifeanyi Ubah from Anambra South emerged for APC and LP respectively. Senator Andy Uba, another contender for the PDP ticket is also from Anambra South. When the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur leadership of PDP declared Nwoye as the party’s flag bearer, the fear in the camp of Willy Obiano of APGA was that unless the people of Anambra North were persuaded to dump the PDP candidate on election day, votes from the area are likely to be shared between PDP and APGA, thereby giving Ngige and Ifeanyi Ubah some kind of advantage as they are the major candidates in the other two senatorial zones. However, if PDP dumps Nwoye and gives the ticket to Senator Uba, the people of Anambra North would heave a sigh of relief that their block votes would go to their own son, Obiano. On the other hand, if eventually Uba gets the ticket for PDP, the worry would shift to Anambra South as himself (Uba) and LP’s Ubah are likely to share the votes from the area. Uba is from the Aguata section of the senatorial zone, while Ubah is from Nnewi section of the same zone. While it would seem that Senator Ngige is in the world of his own in his Anambra Central, the truth is that he has Governor Peter Obi to contend with in the zone. From all indications, Obi is not just waiting to hand over to anybody that would emerge winner after the November 16 election, but he wants to make sure that he hands over to a trusted person who would not rock the boat after his eight years of picking the bits and pieces of what was left of Anambra State after the unfortunate years between 1999 and 2006 when intra party crisis in PDP led to the destruction of lives and government property worth millions of naira
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 20:26:40 +0000
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