We're Confuse, We Don't Know Who's Holding Our Flag —APGA, PDP, APC Members Lament

By Izunna Okafor

It is no longer news that what could be best described as political brouhaha has befallen some major political parties in Anambra State, as the electoral proceedings for the 2021 Anambra gubernatorial election intensify.

This is evidenced by the fact that some of these political parties are torn by internecine crisis, leading to sprouting of faction and consequent emergence of no or multiple candidates and standard bearers from each of these affected political parties. These political parties include the rulling All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), the People's Democratic Party (PDP), and the All Progressive Congress (APC).

In APGA for instance, the once-united party that should be fighting unitedly to retain its rulership in the state, now has three factions, each of which has conducted separate primary elections and presented three different candidates. These factions are the Victor Oye-led faction, which conducted its primary election on Wednesday June 23 and presented Prof. Charles Soludo as its flag bearer; the Edozie Njoku-led faction, which held its primary on Tuesday June 29 and presented the Chairman (Edozie Njoku) as its flag bearer; and finally the Jude Okeke-led faction, which held its own primary election on July 1 and presented Chukwuma Umeoji as its standard bearer. In other words, APGA now has three candidates and flag bearers for the November 6 guber election.

In PDP, two factions exist, each of which has also separately conducted primary election and presented candidate for the election. These PDP factions are the Chukwudi Umeaba-led faction, which held its primary election on Saturday, June 26 and presented Ugochukwu Uba as its standard bearer; and the Ndubuisi Nwobu-led faction, which also held a parallel primary election that same day and presented Valentine Ozigbo as its standard bearer.

On his own part, although it does not have any known faction in the state, APC allegedly did not hold  primary election at all, as the one scheduled for Saturday June 26 did not hold, due to reasons best known to the officials concerned.

However, it was surprising to many, as the Chairman of the Primary Election Committee and Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun, on Sunday, June 27, declared Senator Andy Uba the winner of the party's primary election. This declaration did not only produce a chain of actions and reactions, it also stirred up fuss and kerfuffle in the party, as other aspirants and their supporters kicked against it and pushed for credible primary election. Till today, the primary election never held, and INEC's deadline for conducting primary election has elapsed on July 1. 

To cap it all, INEC has allegedly nullified the Andy Uba's purported candidacy, on the ground that the so-said primary election that produced him is nonexistent, judging from its findings that election did not hold in any of the 326 wards in the state on the said date, due to late arrival of electoral materials. What this implies is that APC does not have any known candidate for the November guber, which is about four months away from now.

In view of all these political melodrama being staged by these political parties ahead of the governorship election, some of the supporters of these affected political parties have registered their minds on the matters arising and cried out for being thrown into confusion.

Some of these ardent and jingoistic party faithfuls who spoke to our reporter when he sampled their opinions on the development, confessed that they were 'serious confused now' as they do not know who actually hold their respective party's flag, and who they are actually supporting or voting for, come November 6. They opined that these political ructions would jeopardise their respective party's chances of winning the election, as the candidacies of the affected parties are now questionable, while election is fast approaching.

When interviewed, an Awka-based APGA faithful, Mr. Marcel Okeke said, "I'm seriously confused now my brother. Before they told us it is Soludo; later, I started hearing Njoku; and just yesterday again, they are telling us it is now Umeoji. Could you imagine that? Who do we now believe or support? 

"I knew that most politicians are very confused and greedy set of people," he continued, "and they have succeeded in transferring their confusion down to us. Three candidates from one political party... A rulling party for that matter! Eeh? They don't understand the implications of this. But let's watch and see what will happen. To avoid unintentionally voting for the for the wrong person, my family and I have consequently decided the person we will vote for; but don't ask me if he is from APGA or another political party. However, I assure you that we will not vote for a failure."

In his own response, a die-hard fan and supporter of PDP, Dan Ogene said he had never witnessed such drama happening now since his over thirty years experience as a party man. He corroborated Okeke's claim that most politicians are greedy, selfish and inconsiderate of the masses' interest and well-being; hence they would go any extent to see to get what they are aiming for.

He said, "All these politicians you are seeing making noise up and down are greedy and selfish, and do not have our interests at heart. They can go any extent to achieve what they want, even if it warrants taking down someone's head. But I don't even care much about that one. What I'm more concerned about now is that these politicians are seriously getting us confused in the pursuit of their greediness.

Continuing, Ogene said, "Two factions now exist in our dear party and they have both conducted parallel primaries and presented two different candidates, thereby getting us confused on who actually holds our flag and who is actually the authentic candidate of the party. In fact, I'm more confused than ever now. Whether Umeaba and his candidate, Uba, or Nwobu and his own candidate, Ozigbo; INEC or court should tell one of them to go and sit down let us know where we stand and who we are supporting. Indeed, this people should be very very careful, if they don't want to make more fool of themselves in this election."

Mr. Ogene however warned the warning leaders to reconcile and reunite, for a successful and fecund political outing come November.

APC's Rosemary Ejike appeared to be more confused than others, as she said she was not even sure if the party is still part of the race or not, as they don't even have any candidate at all, let alone having double.

She faulted the circumstances surrounding Andy Uba's purported emergence as the party's candidate and warned the leadership of the party never to use Anambra as a test-running ground for their influence and political machinations. She also advised that "And Uba should stop denting his image in Anambra but make do with what he has already accumulated as a senator and through other political positions he has held, and allow others to also test their own fortunes, rather than hijacking things, because of his self-acclaimed influence and connectedness."

"I am even happy that INEC has even nullified his candidacy; only that I'm still very much confused on who now flies our party's ticket, because INEC's deadline has passed. And I don't think they will give any second chance for that. Well, let's keep our fingers crossed. Shebi nah all of us dey this state. We go see the end," she added.