Anambra state and the 2010 election

In 2003, Anambra State politics took a different turn when Dr. Chris Ngige took over the reigns of power in the State under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was subsequently removed in 2006 by the Court of Appeal which held that his election was rigged by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party […]

In 2003, Anambra State politics took a different turn when Dr. Chris Ngige took over the reigns of power in the State under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was subsequently removed in 2006 by the Court of Appeal which held that his election was rigged by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in collusion with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and in his place, Mr. Peter Obi of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) was sworn-in as governor. While the case lasted at the Tribunal, governance was made difficult for Ngige because of pressures from his political godfather, Chris Uba. The Obasanjo government and Chris Uba allegedly made Anambra State ungovernable to the extent of using a contingent of the Nigerian Police to abduct the governor. However under Mr. Peter Obi as governor, the State again appears divided with the Executive branch being largely APGA and the legislators PDP. Governor Obi was impeached; it took the grace of the court for him to be reinstated. His deputy Dame Virgie Etiaba who ordinarily should act in his absence, ill-advisedly assumed full power. She however remained deputy governor even though they remain two strange bedfellows.

Ahead of the February 2010 gubernatorial election in the State, the polity for the umpteenth time is awash with diverse political issues and intrigues that have raised the political temperature of the state. The spate of thuggery and politically motivated kidnappings has increased. Mr. Andy Uba who ran for the governorship election in 2007, supposing that the seat was vacant under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and was sworn in briefly before the Supreme Court decided that Mr. Peter Obi had not exhausted his mandate, went to court to seek redress. Recently the Appeal Court ruled that he had no claim to being the governor-in-waiting, since he ran for an office that was not vacant. Undaunted by the prevailing circumstance, Andy Uba is poised to contesting the 2010 elections in the State under the platform of the Labour Party (LP).

What is more worrisome now is the challenge created by the ruling peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over their candidature. Ahead of the elections, no fewer than forty aspirants bought the Anambra State nomination form. The outcome of the exercise that eventually produced Prof. Chukuma Soludo, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria as the PDP candidate has inadvertently polarised the Peoples Democratic Party in the State. Soludo had early in December 2009 flagged off his campaign having received the nod of the party’s leadership in Abuja and subsequently handed the party’s flag as its flag bearer in the 2010 election, only to be stopped by the Appeal Court sitting in Abuja. The action of the Court scuttled PDP’s ability to meet up with INEC’s deadline on the submission of its candidate for the election. As it stands, INEC has closed its doors against Soludo and by that the ruling PDP do not have a candidate in the February 2010 election. However, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan had said that it is not possible for the PDP not to have a candidate in the Anambra election. How possible this will be when INEC has shut its doors, only time will tell.

The state right now is closely watched in the run up to the February 6, 2010 gubernatorial election. The election is coming at a most critical time where issues of electoral and constitutional reforms are in the front burner in the country, which of course makes the conduct of the election unique but then the process and the outcome will determine if the Nigerian nation and Anambra people in particular have learnt any lessons from the state’s past irritable politics. Nigerians and the international community are watching how INEC will perform especially now that it has just one state to contend with. INEC must deploy to Anambra a credible and genuine State Resident Electoral Commissioner. Ensure all resources are deployed to make the election free and fair reminiscent of the June 12, 1992 elections that were unfortunately annulled by the military junta.

Osasah is Project Officer African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development, Abuja