PDP elders in early groundwork for Anambra 2021

Sam Egburonu, Associate Editor, reports that leaders of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have commenced early moves to win Anambra State’s governorship election in 2021 even as stakeholders give conditions for unity

Although the next governorship election in Anambra State is over a year away, chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state have commenced early consultations in a bid to ensure the party’s victory in the 2021 governorship election.

An insider told The Nation that a group of concerned Anambra PDP elders met recently and resolved to reach out to major stakeholders and aggrieved members in order to reunite the party in the state.

“The meeting was predicated on the common knowledge that PDP has more members and supporters than any other party in Anambra State. Forget that the party has failed to produce the governor of the state in the last 16 years. Informed observers know that All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has always taken advantage of avoidable disagreements amongst top PDP chieftains to win elections in the state. This time around, concerned PDP leaders are anxious to unify the party in the state and appease aggrieved members early enough so that by the time the campaigns for the 2021 elections will kick off, no party will dare PDP in Anambra,” the source said.

PDP’s travails in Anambra

PDP’s misfortunes in Anambra State dates back to 2006, when the former governor of the state, and PDP’s Vice-Presidential candidate of PDP in this year’s national elections, Mr. Peter Obi, who was then in APGA, sacked Dr Chris Ngige who was then a PDP governor. It was a development PDP was not prepared for. Since then also, APGA has managed to retain the plum seat in the Southeast state and PDP has remained unable to put its house in order enough to regain power in the state.

It would be recalled that in 2007, the party fielded Senator Andy Uba as its candidate. The irony of the hard fate that befell PDP then could be seen in the fact that though Uba was initially declared winner of the election and actually sworn-in as the Executive Governor, he and his party lost out when the court ruled that Obi, who as at then had spent only one year into his term as governor, ‘had the right to complete his four-year mandate.’ As a result, PDP’s Uba was removed after 17 days as governor.

The party’s second desperate effort to regain power in the state was in 2010, it fielded Prof Chukwuma Soludo, a former Central bank Governor, as its governorship candidate. Soludo contested against the then Governor Peter Obi, who was seeking a second term in office on the ticket of APGA. Though described as ‘very popular,’ Soludo lost the election to Obi.

Informed analysts attributed PDP’s failure then to two major factors, the power of incumbency factor which Obi and his party enjoyed and the infighting in the state chapter of PDP. Perhaps, more than the incumbency factor, it has been observed that internal wrangling actually affected the fortunes of the party in the state. The disagreement that literally split the party ahead of the election was primarily a result of opposition by some chieftains over the alleged handing over of the governorship ticket of the party to Soludo. Soludo’s opponents within the party, who later worked against the party during the election, complained that he was then a newcomer in PDP.

To resolve the matter, we gathered that post-election fence mending meetings were held in Awka, Lagos and Abuja. These were part of the efforts to regain power in 2013.

But despite the several meetings, the party, which fielded Dr Tony Nwoye as its governorship candidate, lost the election to the candidate of APGA, Willie Obiano. Like what happened in 2010, insiders confided that Nwoye’s defeat was aided by internal tussle in PDP, as some top PDP stakeholders were fingered as being responsible for the party’s loss. Nwoye’s trouble, The Nation gathered, could be traced to allegations by some PDP leaders in the state that the party’s ticket was literarily handed over to him by the National Working Committee of the party after other aspirants were allowed to waste huge resources. As a result, some disenchanted members allegedly worked against the party.

But if disenchantment of members, arising from controversy over the emergence of the governorship candidate was responsible for PDP’s defeat in 2013, it may not be directly blamed for the party’s misfortune in 2017, when its governorship candidate, Mr Oseloka Obaze, a former UN diplomat, reportedly won the primary election without any significant controversy.

Also, though Obaze was then supported by former governor, Peter Obi, who had then left APGA and had joined PDP, he still lost election to Obiano.

Given these travails, PDP leaders in the state and at the national level are eager not to lose the 2021 governorship election in the state. For the national leadership of PDP, the quest to win Anambra is considered very important considering that the state is the only Southeast state that is currently governed by PDP.

Leaders set new rules, plans

We gathered that one of the recurrent demands in some of the special meetings so far held by the party leaders ahead of the 2021 governorship election is the need to go beyond reconciliation of aggrieved stakeholders but to abide by the rules that will discourage impunity.

In the meeting was held sometime in August, the state party chairman, Mr Ndubuisi Nwobu, told members in attendace, which included former aspirants, former ministers and top-notches that the main essence of the meeting was to start early to make plans to win back the governorship position of the state in the governorship election scheduled to hold in 2021.

Senator Ben Obi was quoted as calling on members of the party to join hands to raise resources for the party as leaving it to billionaires would mean bringing the party on its knees.

Earlier reports said the Southeast National Vice Chairman of the party, Mr. Austin Umahi, attended another of such meetings which held recently.  Nwobu had reportedly assured Umahi at the meeting that “The party will not do any form of merchandising in the forthcoming election. All those interested in contesting the governorship election should go and seek the support of the people and not hope that they can induce the party to hand them the ticket on a platter of gold.

“Our zonal chairman, may I tell you that Anambra PDP is very easy to govern. I found out since I became the state chairman of the party. All you need to cage an Anambra man is to keep telling him the truth. As elections approach, I want to say that there will not be any form of merchandising during this election. The primary election of the party would be very transparent,” he said.

Reacting, Umahi said “We’re happy that Anambra PDP today is one family. There is no faction in the party in the state today, and I want to assure you that under my watch, no one man can hijack this party. My wish is that under my watch, Anambra will join PDP. I am not in doubt that you have the capacity to do this. You have people in Anambra who are capable and the party in the state also has the resources. When we started working to win Imo State, I was always going to the state on a weekly basis, and it was like a joke, but today, Imo is a PDP state. We hope that Anambra will be the fifth PDP state in the Southeast and when I am handing over, I will do so with happiness,” he said.