Politics
Experts Named Key Issues to Influence Governorship Elections in Anambra State
A not-for-profit research group — the Centre for Democracy and Development — has revealed a special report dedicated to the upcoming election is Anambra State.
The experts named the main key issues, which can resolve the elections in the state, which will take place in November 2017.
The key issues are power rotation, godfatherism, intra-party disagreements, and the campaigning for the breakaway of Biafra State.
Anambra State is traditionally considered the commercial, social, and economic center of the south-eastern region of Nigeria. That is why Governorship elections in Anambra State have always been burdened with controversies.
Experts of the Centre for Democracy and Development studied elections in the state starting from 1999. They concluded that together with the old-going conflicts, new and even more severe problems are now added to that dangerous political cocktail in the state.
Power rotation
The study says that the rotating of important political positions to various geographical locations within Anambra state is another key factor that may have an effect on the outcome of November elections. Such a zoning was the biggest political determinant in the state at the dusk of the tenure of the immediate past governor, Peter Obi.
The significance of zoning in the election is underlined by the fact that all the candidates of the three major competing parties in Anambra state (T. Nwoye – the All Progressives Congress, APC; Mr. Obiano – the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA; and Oseloka Obaze – the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP) represent the North of the State.
“No agreement has been officially made on zoning amongst different political parties. However, their leaders are supposed to be silently investigating the issue, each trying to zone the election of their candidates to Anambra north, – the report declared, – and it has already become clear from the finished primaries of the APC, PDP, and APGA, that the State election will be directly contested amongst the top-3 biggest parties and candidates from the Anambra North senatorial region. What will influence the final winner, will narrow down to zoning, religion, party affiliation, rural–urban base and federal power,” concluded the report authors.
Indigenous People of Biafra and the attempt to boycott the November Election
Political analysts are sure that the call of IPOB (Indigenous People of Biafra) to boycott the elections may be the key problem for the upcoming elections. The group had already declared that no elections in the state would be held by the time the government of the country agreed to the breakaway referendum in the state of Biafra.
According to the newly released report, such an active call for elections boycotting might immediately boost violence in the state, which could grow into the region militarization. Owing to this, people could get frightened. Therefore, the turn out will be low during the poll.
“Such a danger by the IPOB head may inspire fear in the voters’ minds who might not appear to vote on the day of the governorship election,” the authors of the report write. Moreover, the result of the turnout will definitely show the real level of Mr. Kanu’s influence and IPOB’s reputation in the south-east of Nigeria.
Intra-party conflict
At the same time as most important political parties in Anambra state are thinking about how to win the November election, their odds may be hindered by the unsettled intra-party crisis. According to the study, the catastrophe bedeviling the ruling APGA began just after the party’s National Executive Committee led by Martin Agbaso voted for no confidence in the party’s chairman, Ike Oye, and suspended him and two other national officers for misbehavior.
“The crisis keeps on being unsettled with two factions, led by Chief Martin Agbaso and Victor Oye. Each of them announces different dates for the primaries for the nomination of APGA candidate for the election. The primaries have finally been conducted, and candidates have come out with current Governor Willie Obiano,” the Centre for Democracy and Development`s report declared
Correspondingly, the discordant primary of the APC between Mr. Nwoye and Mr. Uba can negatively influence the party’s odds during the November election.
Is the Independent National Electoral Commission ready for the Elections?
The electoral commissioner for Anambra state, Nwachukwu Orji, should do his best to organize the election. Since July 7, 2017, he only has 130 days to make everything work properly during the elections. He has confessed recently that proper logistics was the fundamental trouble of INEC during the forthcoming elections. According to the report exports, it means that late commencement of voting and accreditation, and the delayed delivery of electoral materials may occur because of the poor logistics only.
Among the other INEC future problems are the multiplicity of candidates and voter registers, the threat of violence, and litigation.
Politics
Alia Denies Calling For Ganduje’s Resignation
Governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia, has denied calling for the resignation of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje.
This was contained in a press statement issued on Wednesday in Makurdi by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Mr Tersoo Kula.
The Tide source reports that the CPS was reacting to some media reports that the governor had called for the resignation of the APC national chairman.
Kula said the governor at no time called for the resignation of the APC national chairman.
He said the governor enjoyed a good relationship with the Ganduje-led leadership of the APC.
“It is imperative to clarify that at no point did Governor Alia assembled, attended and sent a representative or participated in any meeting to discuss the removal or call for resignation of Alhaji. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
“The Benue State governor remains firm in his support and allegiance to the leadership of the National Working Committee of the APC, under the leadership of Alhaji Ganduje.
“Furthermore, at no point, whether publicly or privately, has the governor advocated or expressed any desire for the resignation of the national party chairman”, he said.
He said the governor was focused on positively changing the fortunes of the state.
“He is alive to his responsibilities as the leader of APC in Benue State and is doing everything legitimate to reposition the party for future victories,” Kula said.
Politics
LP Re-Elects Abure As National Chairman
The embattled national chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Julius Abure, has been re-elected for a second term by a unanimous affirmation of delegates despite the protests by the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
The Chairman of the National Convention and Deputy Governor of Abia State, Mr. Ikechukwu Emetu declared him the winner during the party’s national convention that held in Nnewi, Anambra State, on Wednesday.
Other serving officers of the party were also returned unopposed.
Recall that the NLC had called for Abure’s resignation as party chairman and the immediate constitution of a caretaker transition committee to organize an all-inclusive national convention for the party.
Meanwhile, a factional chairman of the Labour Party in Anambra State, Mr Peter Okoye has boasted that the Nnewi national convention will not stand.
Describing the convention as a sham, Okoye said: “This is not a convention. We are on top of the matter. It’s purely illegal.
“There was no ward congress, no local government congress, no state congress, and now who and who are the elected delegates that are electing the National Working Committee, NWC, members?
“The NLC was not there, TUC was not there, the owners of the party and members of the NEC and BOT members were not there too. So, who is holding the convention?”
Politics
Suswam Blames External Forces For Problems In PDP
Former Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is being undermined by external forces which have rendered the party ineffective as a viable opposition.
Senator Suswam stated this during a live television interview on Wednesday.
He lamented that the party had since after the 2023 general elections failed to live up to expectations of Nigerians as a viable opposition.
Senator Suswam, who blamed the current PDP leadership for the ineffective state of the largest opposition party in the country, said unless there is an overhaul of its leadership, the party would “go nowhere” because the current leadership has lost focus.
He said, “I think there are subterranean forces inferring in the party and they are determining what is going on in the party. And the leadership is acquiescing to it.
“Subterranean suggests that people are trying to control the party from the outside. They are controlling the party from the outside and they are keeping the party in a comatose state.”
The Benue senator accused the party of refusing to call a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting to help resolve some of the issues arising in the party.
He regretted the inability of the party to resolve the fallout of the 2022 presidential primary election which saw a group of five governors work against the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election.
He added that the inability of the Iliya Damagum-led leadership to discipline erring party members worsened the situation.
Senator Suswam said it was wrong for the party not to have sanctioned the G-5 governors and their allies who openly declared that they would remain in the party and work against its interest.
“They were not sanctioned which made others become emboldened to act anyway they wanted. PDP has been weakened since then,” he said.
He said no serious organisation does that, stressing that, “A serious organisation would apply sanctions” based on the laid down rules as contained in its constitution.
He further accused the acting national chairman of the party, Ambassador Iliya Damagum, of occupying the position which belongs to the North-Central zone, following the removal of the substantive chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, who hails from the zone.
Amb. Damagum, who was the Deputy National Chairman (North), hails from the North-East zone but was, as permitted by the party’s constitution, made acting chairman after Ayu’s removal by a court order.
The party’s law provides that the deputy chairman from the same region as the chairman takes over in the event of the latter’s removal from office.
Senator Suswam further lamented that “PDP is comatose now, and nothing can happen now,” adding that it was regrettable that politicians are now preferring to hold talks with smaller parties and not the PDP.
Noting that the PDP was at the precipice, Senator Suswam said, “Until we provide that leadership, PDP will not be a viable platform. We need to overhaul the leadership of the party. There is no pretence about it, everybody in PDP knows it. Without discipline and reconciliation, the party goes nowhere.”
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