By Jude Atupulazi
The Primary Elections of the major political parties in Anambra State ahead of the November 8, 2025 Guber Election, were concluded on April 5, with three main political parties, the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA; the Labour Party and the All Progressives Congress, APC, all producing candidates. The People’s Democratic Party, PDP, later held and produced its own.
While the incumbent Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, emerged the candidate of APGA to vie for second term, the Labour Party and APC produced Dr George Moghalu and Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu respectively as their candidates, while PDP produced Mr Jude Ezenwafor who contested as the lone aspirant.
However, while the Primary Election of APGA went seamlessly, those of Labour and APC were steeped in controversies. In the Labour Party, one of the two lone aspirants, Mr John Nwosu, pulled out barely hours to the Primary Election of the party, citing irregularities and the Supreme Court Judgement that, he said, nullified the leadership of Comrade Julius Abure as National Chairman. John Nwosu claimed that with the Supreme Court judgement, any Primary Election conducted by the Abure leadership would be a nullity.
As for the APC, three major aspirants pulled out, with one, Sir Paul Chukwuma, even going as far as resigning from the party. The ones that pulled out from the Primary Election were Chukwuma Umeorji and Prof Obiora Okonkwo. They all cited irregularities and manipulation of the list of delegates to favour Ukachukwu, the eventual winner.
Another aspirant, Val Ozigbo, accused Ukachukwu of using thugs to bar delegates suspected to be supporting other aspirants from entering the venue of the Primary Election.
As for the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, its candidate is said to be just a placeholder for one big fish from another party who is expected to replace him later.
Implications
Now that that the primaries of the various parties have been concluded, let’s look at the likely scenario of the aftermath and how it will affect the parties.
Labour Party
Before the latest Supreme Court Judgement that nullified the leadership of Julius Abure, the bulk of the members of the party had fallen out with Abure, whose tenure, they contended, had expired.
They therefore held a national convention in which Mrs Nenadi Usman was elected as National Chairman. In this camp are the likes of the Governor of Abia State, Dr Alex Otti, who is the only governor on the platform of the Labour Party. Many national and state assembly members of the party also dissociated themselves from the Abure leadership, just as the leader of the party, Mr Peter Obi.
This means that the candidate produced by the sacked leadership of Abure, Dr George Moghalu, is virtually on his own, even if his candidacy finally stands. Should this happen, he will not enjoy the influence of the party’s leader, Peter Obi, who is expected not to campaign for him. Should this happen, one could say that Moghalu’s aspiration to govern Anambra is akin to dead on arrival.
As at press time, however, information available had it that LP would hold another primary on Thursday, April 10 under the leadership of Nenadi Usman, following the Supreme Court Judgement. Only Nwosu was said to be the aspirant and was expected to be produced by that primary.
It is expected that after this the party will have to resolve its leadership issues as the Abure group still claims to be in charge despite the Supreme Court Judgement against it.
This may be one distraction too many for LP as going into the election with a divided house may prove to be a mountain too high to climb.
APC
With all the other aspirants rejecting the candidate produced by the party, Prince Ukachukwu, on grounds of irregularities, the APC, a party that has never had it easy in Anambra State, may yet stumble.
Indeed, to many, the only way APC can get a foothold in Anambra State will be if it succeeds in rigging the election. This is not something that can be easily dismissed anyway, as the APC has shown capacity to thwart popular mandates.
It did it against all odds in the 2023 Presidential Election believed to have been massively won by LP’s candidate, Peter Obi; and it did it again in the Edo State Guber Election. Earlier, it had done it in Imo State, where a man who finished fourth was declared the winner in court.
Minus this scenario, APC may just be wasting its time in the November Election.
PDP
How art the mighty fallen! From the party to beat in Anambra State for which many aspirants literally fought to procure its tickets for the various elective positions, PDP in Anambra today has almost lost its identity. Could it be it is paying for its past sins against the state? It is today a party no one wants to touch.
Who could have believed that a time would come when the party would only have one aspirant? An unknown quantity for that matter? Even at that, the lone candidate of the party is believed to be holding brief for some big shot. This is the level the party has fallen and it is easy to conclude that the party is only in the guber race to make up the numbers.
APGA
This is the ruling party in the state and the serving governor is angling to return a second time. He had no challenger in the Primary Election of the party and emerged as its unanimous choice. Prof Chukwuma Soludo, the party’s standard bearer, is the favourite to win and it would indeed amount to a miracle if he didn’t. Soludo knows this, everyone knows this.
As earlier stated, only APC can stop him and that is through rigging. And that is also, if some people convince President Ahmed Bola Tinubu that taking the state would avenge his disgraceful defeat by Obi in Lagos in the last Presidential Election. They could also convince him that taking Anambra would weaken Obi’s base in the 2027 Presidential Election.
As I said, this isn’t what anyone in their right mind in Nigeria would wish away, as it can very well happen and there’s nothing anyone can do about it; absolutely nothing. The highest people would do is to rave and rant and probably head to court which would end up a grand waste of time and resources. But we pray this doesn’t happen. There should be an end to political brigandage.
Minus this, Soludo is already home and dry as the third man after Obi and Obiano to make second term. Should this happen, it will not be out of mistake. He has done well and will truly deserve his victory.
The controversy over naming of Airport Road after Obiano
Recently, Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, named the road leading to Chinua Achebe Airport in Anambra, Willie Obiano Boulevard. As some people cheered the development, some murmured against it, saying it wasn’t enough reward to Obiano who built the Airport.
Before now there had been reports that Obiano wanted the Airport named after him as the one who built it. Thus, some people, mostly Obiano’s acolytes, feel sore that it didn’t happen. One even said on his Facebook page that naming the road to the Airport after Obiano was an insult.
What kind of insult? I ask. The earlier decision of Soludo to name the Airport after Chinua Achebe was a very good one. It would have been pedestrian and selfish for Obiano to have named such a facility after himself even though he built it. That would have made him less of a statesman.
But then, we are in a clime where leaders are self-serving and wallow in self-glorification. It would actually not have been bad if Soludo named it after Obiano at a time Obiano was no longer in power. But then would it have meant that all other major projects built by former governors would be named after them? That would indeed be a chaotic scenario!
I had attacked Soludo for naming his projects after himself and nothing could have stopped him from naming the Airport Road, ”Solution Boulevard”. We will only shout and keep quiet. But it seems Soludo is now beginning to listen.
It is therefore, very much in order that he refrained from naming the road after himself. On the other hand, Obiano should accept the gesture by Soludo, after all, governance isn’t about self-glorification and shouldn’t be. Welcome, Willie Obiano Boulevard.
