BY Victoria N. Ikeano victoriangozii@gmail.com 08033077519
Re-elected incumbent Anambra state governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma, APGA’s flag bearer, may rightly blow his trumpet about the firsts he and his party recorded in this election. Nevertheless, he should not be blind nor be deaf to the murmurings against his government. In my article on the then approaching poll, I concluded, “Soludo is miles ahead of his closest rival, Ukachukwu of the APC”. True to my projection the governor won with wide margins –422,664 votes to Ukachukwu’s 99,445. He won in all 21 local government councils. What is more, he was victorious in all wards, except six which is over 900 per cent success. Here are more historic statistics, Soludo won with a whopping 71 per cent of the votes cast. The highest for any previous re-elected governor of the state was 31 per cent. Last time in 2021, Soludo coasted to victory with a little over 100,000 votes.
 
Voter apathy had always characterised elections in Anambra and South east generally. Many people acquire a Voter’s  card essentially for identification purposes rather than for voting; especially as a form of identification is required to open a bank account, buy a SIM card for communication with loved ones, friends and associates or to get a lost, damaged SIM replacement, etc. And the attraction is that getting a Voter’s card is absolutely free in comparison to other means of identification like Driver’s licence, international passport and NIN that require some amount of money to get. In 2021 the turnout was just about 10 per cent of registered voters; this time around it rose to 21 percent, the largest so far, though more still has to be done in this regard.  This increase is not surprising given APGA’s massive campaigns that penetrated virtually all nooks and crannies of Anambra state.  The party deployed all four arms of governance for this, viz, the executive (all appointees of the governor), legislature (members of the state House of Assembly), local government councils (local government chairmen), community leaders (president-generals of communities in the state). Such grassroots penetration has led to the slogan ‘Anambra is APGA, APGA is Anambra’.
 
    As I stated in the opening paragraph, Soludo should not ignore the misgivings against his government despite the high votes. As a matter of fact the single most important factor that worked in his favour is that there were no viable opponents among all those that contested against him. Still, the fact that APC though a distant second, garnered  nearly 100,000 votes in this election (given the general disdain for APC here) is a pointer to what might have been if the opposition had a strong candidate. Although the APC candidate, Ukachikwu, is a successful businessman and has done a lot for his community, people, he is not well grounded politically in Anambra. The last election he contested (for a senate seat in the Anambra south zone ended in great failure for him. In fact his running mate for this governorship election, Senator Uche Ekwunife is considered a more tested and popular politician than him.   Actually  most people believe that if the roles were reversed with Ekwunife as the flag bearer, APC would have fared better in this election.
 
However, there is little doubt that if late Senator Ifeanyi Uba had been alive, the results would have been different. Uba is a popular, tested and experienced politician. He singly won a senate seat under a little known party, the YPP. He is the strong man of Nnewi politics, hence his boast, “I own Nnewi, Nnewi owns me”.  He decamped to the APC soon after the 2023 general election with eyes on becoming governor. He had been working systematically since then towards endearing APC to Anambrarians and further boosting his ambition, through various programmes.   However he died suddenly during an overseas trip.  It is worth noting that Chief Chukwuma who was in APC with him and reverted to YPP as its candidate when Uba’s name was no longer on the ballot was third in this election. It is believed that  Ifeanyi Uba as APC candidate would have given Soludo a run for his money; the contest would have been competitive and the results tighter, not the one sided affair it turned out to be because those that contested against the governor could not match him. Votes cast for APC in the election were more or less, protest votes against APGA.
 
   Many people are disenchanted with Soludo for one reason or other. Among them are those engaged in commercial activity of whatever kind. These feel done in by his tax system, complaining that they are being taxed “left, right and centre”. The recent report by BudgIT that ranked Anambra as the best of all the 36 states in terms of fiscal responsibility apparently strengthens his hands. Then, there are civil servants who lament that despite tripling of federal allocation to states and  a number of  state governments raising salaries  way above the minimum  wage, Anambra workers are still being paid “stipends” as take home pay. Third are plenty Igbos generally who are miffed that Soludo is always criticising  former Anambra governor and Labour party  presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi but never saying a word against President Bola Tinubu whom they perceive as marginalising Igbos.
 
Fourthly, many citizens are pissed by his “talkative” character, particularly his perceived penchant for “I koo onu”, that is, besmirching or mocking opponents. The governor accuses APC’s deputy governorship candidate of possessing fake, forged ph.D certificate which she denies. The woman thereafter, fired a salvo of her own at the governor and soon the matter degenerated into dirty exchange of words between Anambra’s First Lady and the APC’s deputy gubernatorial flag bearer, bordering on alleged infidelity. It was embarrassing to womanhood, unbecoming of women in high places. And all fingers pointed to the governor as having started this show of shame. Throughout the campaigns the governor continued to insist that those aspiring to govern Anambra should be people of sound intellect not those who did not make the required papers in their G.C.E. result (referring to the opposition). He stressed the need for current and aspiring leaders to be role models in character and learning.
 
And just some two days to the poll, the governor made a statement (in answer to the issue of alleged Christian genocide in the country) to the effect that Christians are the ones killing Christians in Anambra state. This angered a lot of persons as they interpreted it to mean that he supports the alleged genocide against Christians.  It was considered careless talk by him. Someone swore to me that if there were to be a Sunday service before the votes are cast, (after that statement), word would have gone out from the pulpit to disown the governor as a Christian at the ballot. That is to say that he would have lost the election. The church is powerful in this part of Nigeria.  Governor Soludo may do well to be sparing in his speeches, to weigh them before voicing them, to talk only when it is necessary and to shun  talks that cause disharmony.
Victoria N. Ikeano writes via victoriangozii@gmail.com  08033077519