Politics is a hard game, and its vagaries can swing any ambitious mortal from one pole to the other. As a result, politicians learn to ‘pitch tents’ rather than build permanent structures.
Having done business in and around Anambra state for over one year, I have observed that the entire state is just one big market square. I say that in a positive way. There are those who manufacture or import some commodities which they sell to others who do secondary sales. The banks and bankers are there to regulate funds transfer and the police are there to appeal to the people to maintain some semblance of order. These traders do not care so much about politics because they know the politicians are just businessmen like everyone else. They are rather more interested in who will ensure they have a better environment within which to trade their wares, irrespective of the party platform.
Chris Nwabueze Ngige understood this when he was made Governor of the state in 2003 on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Within a few years he had endeared himself to the people by embarking on major road construction projects across the state. He also built schools and health facilities and brought attention to the inhuman pillaging of the state’s resources by political godfathers. This was in spite of his political travails which culminated in his decamping from the PDP.
Politics is a hard game, and its vagaries can swing any ambitious mortal from one pole to the other. As a result, politicians learn to ‘pitch tents’ rather than build permanent structures. They maintain no permanent friends or foes, only permanent interests. Ngige’s cross-carpeting from the PDP, a party which gave him prominence, to the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and, consequently, the All Progressives Congress, APC, therefore should not affect his chances in the November 16 elections but for a few factors.
Dr Chris Ngige is his own enemy. His campaign is totally built on the strength of his previous performance. This previous performance however was judged against his predecessor Chinwoke Mbadinuju’s performance. And Mbadinuju’s tenure is one which a lot of people would rather forget. Right now Governor Peter Obi has raised the bar much higher. Ngige is also not considering that there are so many who did not vote in 2003 due to being under-aged and who are of age now and there are many others who are presently resident in the state who were not there between 2003 and 2006 so have no idea of what Ngige did back then. This is not 2006. The voters are different. The voters are also more politically aware than they were between 2003 and 2006.
The deportation of Igbos from Lagos is another blight on the APC’s chances in Anambra. Ngige, being a ‘good party man’, supported Lagos governor, Babatunde Fashola, and the APC-led Lagos State government’s actions, forgetting that he will be seeking the votes of the same people on whom the internal deportees were dumped. The deportation saga only made the APC appear anti-Igbo, a fact not helped by the party’s relative unpopularity in Anambra state, Buhari’s seemingly unassailable hold on the party’s presidential ticket, Tinubu’s assumed desire to extend his empire and playground to Igboland, and APC chieftain, Femi Fani-Kayode’s sustained insult of Igbos in general and former Anambra governor C.C Onoh’s daughter, Bianca Ojukwu, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain, proud daughter of Anambra and wife of late Eze Igbo Gburugburu, Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, in particular.
Willie Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance’s triple ‘C’ campaign of Continuity of Governor Peter Obi’s projects, Completion and Commissioning of these projects may appear too simplistic but this communicates more to the people because they can all see what he is talking about. Obi has, among other things, through the Anambra Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS), completed hundreds of kilometres of roads, built and renovated hospitals all over the state and have had these accredited, invested over 14billion Naira in Orient Petroleum Refinery, revived dead industries, and improved the previously appalling security situation of the state. A continuation of all these and more is what Ndi Anambra have been promised if they vote Willie Obiano. And this is seriously working against the APC’s chances.
For emphasis, let it be stated again, the Anambra voter cares more about the candidate than the nomenclature of the political party. This is why people are talking more about Ifeanyi Ubah than they are about his Labour Party. This is why the PDP’s lot will improve better if the party can do something about its suicidal tendencies and just make a decision on who the party’s actual candidate for the election is. This is why Ngige and the APC should not be too confident yet. This is why Willie Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, will most likely become Governor-elect of Anambra state as from November 16.
Collins Uma is a trained Sociologist with a bias for Developmental Sociology. He is a public affairs analyst and commentator.
