Obi, Soludo In Supremacy Battle For Anambra House

With the dismal performance of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections, IKENNA OBIANERI writes that the state Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, and his party are in a fierce battle for the control of the Anambra State legislature with the Labour Party.

There is no doubt that the happenings in the political circle in the past few days in Anambra State have narrowed down the battle for the control of the state legislature ahead of the rescheduled March 18 governorship and state houses of Assembly poll to two political heavyweights and two political parties: The Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance and a former governor of the state and presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi.

Anambra is one of the states in which the governorship election will not be taking place on Saturday.

And to underline the importance of the Assembly poll, these two gladiators – Soludo and Obi – have both campaigned vigorously for their various candidates and parties for the control of the 30-member state legislature on Saturday.

Currently, APGA occupies 19 seats, followed by the Peoples  Democratic Party with seven, the All Progressives Congress has three and the Labour Party has one.

Following the performance of the Labour Party at the February 25 presidential and national assembly polls, where it swept over 95 per cent of the votes, clinched two senatorial seats and also won six out of the 11 slots in the House of Representatives seats in the state, it is obvious that this unexpected feat by the party changed the narrative and dynamics and also sent jitters down the spines of other opponents ahead of the March 18 polls.

Although other political parties are still in the race, the battle has effectively become that of the LP against the others, particularly APGA. With what the Labour Party did during the presidential election, it became obvious that the effect of the “OBIdient” family as Obi’s supporters are known cannot be ignored.

APGA has been the ruling party in Anambra since 2006, going with the slogan, “Anambra is APGA land – Nka bu nke ayin”. By this, the state governor, who is the leader and the only governor on the party’s platform, is under intense pressure, not only to ensure that the status quo is maintained but to also make sure that APGA is not defeated on March 18, as it is widely believed that doing so, will definitely make the party go into extinction.

Soludo has at different campaign grounds and fora, continuously maintained that the people of Anambra should vote for APGA in the state Assembly poll, as according to him, APGA-dominated legislature will not only ensure stability in the state but will also continue to engineer the current “developmental strides” his administration has embarked upon in the state.

Although, stakeholders in the state are of the view that APGA-dominated legislature will usher as an ‘insurance cover’ for the governor’s re-election in 2026.

Fortunately for the governor, he has only the Assembly polls to concentrate on on Saturday, as the governorship election will not be in the state. Therefore, it has afforded him more opportunities to fine-tune the chances of his party and its candidates. It is also believed that this move has become apparent as getting majority seats in the state Assembly would avert any impeachment move against him.

Soludo, whose party failed to win any of the senatorial seats in Anambra or deliver the state to its presidential candidate, Prof Peter Umeadi, during the February 25 polls, knows he has to double his efforts if he intends to get the majority in the state assembly, which is hanging in the balance considering the voting pattern in the last election, where the LP and Obi dominated in all the 21 local government areas of the state.

Perhaps, one thing that has remained on the lips of many after the February 25 poll has been what is referred to as the “Obi tsunami” factor. A factor that came with the Labour Party sweeping victories across the country, a feat which was highly instrumental in effectively ending the dominance of some political heavyweights and throwing up relatively unknown players in the saddle.

For instance in Anambra, the dominance of the duo of the PDP senatorial candidates, Uche Ekwunife and Stella Oduah, who have become perennial customers at the Upper legislative house ended with the emergence of LP candidates Victor Umeh and Tony Nwoye respectfully. This feat by the LP candidates, no doubt, was made possible by the “Obi tsunami”. It, therefore, became a case of “the fear of Obi” becoming the beginning of wisdom” in Anambra and for Soludo.

Source: The Punch

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