By Ehichioya Ezomon
The press has derisively labeled the outcome of an election to pick a candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State as “Abiodun’s primary” that produced a “Facebook result.”
You wonder who’s “Abiodun” and what has he got to do with a primary in Anambra! Well, he’s Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, who chaired the APC primary election committee for the November 6, 2021, governorship poll in Anambra.
According to ensuing protestations by 13 of the APC aspirants for the governorship, there’s no election on Saturday, June 26, at the 326 wards in the 21 local government areas of Anambra.
The dissenters claimed that officials and materials for the exercise came late in the day, and thus no primary took place, imagining where Governor Abiodun got the figures he announced to declare Senator Andy Uba as winner of the election by a landslide.
Results from the open ballot (Option A4) mode of election show that of the reported 348,490 votes cast, Uba scored 230,201 votes to his closest rival, Johnbosco Onunkwo’s total of 28,746 votes.
Other aspirants’ scores are: Chidozie Nwankwo – 21,281, George Moghalu (18,596), Azuka Okwuosa (17,189), Godwin Okonkwo (5,907), Paul Orajiaka (4,348), Ben Etiaba (4,244), Ikoobasi Mokelu (3,727), Edozie Madu (3,636), Geoff Onyejeagbu (3,414), Nwokafor Daniel (3,335), Maxwell Okoye (2,540), Kwebuike Ifeanyi (1,466).
Governor Abiodun had described the results he declared at the Golden Tulip Hotel, Agulu Lake, early on Sunday, June 27, as emanating from a “transparent primary election.”
But 10 of the aspirants, their supporters and a large swath of members of the APC in Anambra dismissed the governor’s declaration as a “Facebook result” that had no bearing to what allegedly happened on the day of the primary.
Actually, Dr Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment and APC’s leader in Anambra, had informed Governor Abiodun of a statewide absence of officials and materials for the primary.
A statement by the Media Office of Senator Ngige, at his hometown of Alor, Idemili South of Anambra, minced no words in calling for postponement of the primary to Tuesday, June 29.
The statement reads: “Your Excellency, Prince Dapo Abiodun, the Chairman of the Anambra State Primary Committee, good day. As I write you now, 4:25 p.m., Saturday, 26th June, I’m in my home town, Alor, with two electoral wards and there is no sign of any governorship primary election.
“My inquiries and investigation show that the story is the same all around the 326 wards of the 21 local government areas in the state. As a result, most party members have left for home, having waited since 8:00 a.m.
“I discussed with your member, Distinguished Senator Ken Nnamani, and I’ll advise you call the panel members, to shift the exercise to Tuesday, June 29th, to also enable you tidy up some issues raised by aspirants.”
Those issues were similar to Ngige’s: alleged non-conduct of the APC governorship primary on June 26, contrary to Governor Abiodun’s declaration and return on same.
After a closed-door meeting in Awka, the capital city, the aspirants, led by Chief Moghalu, briefed the press, tabling their grievances, and the obvious consequences of the APC upholding the return of Uba as the party candidate in the November election.
Moghalu said: “There was no election in Anambra State last Saturday. Opportunity was not provided for our people to choose who they desire to represent them in the forthcoming election.
“Whatever you do in the primary election has a way of affecting the main election, and with what happened on Saturday, we are not sure what we are heading for.
“We are here because an election did not hold and the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, came out to announce a result and expects us to accept it. We are here to tell you that election did not happen anywhere in the state.
“You all will agree with me that we have been here in the last six months building support bases in the state and meeting our party members, and in the end, election did not hold.
“They started distribution (of materials) at after 3 p.m., and in some places 6 p.m., and… arrangements for electricity and security were not made; so how will the people vote?
“The result Abiodun announced is Facebook result. We are asking for free, fair and credible primary; but if it must be by consensus, then it must be with our agreement, not imposition of someone on us. We are going to report to the president (Muhammadu Buhari); he needs to know that there was no election in the state.
“There will be consequences if the NEC of our party refuses to listen to us. Election did not take place anywhere in Anambra State except Governor Abiodun wants to tell us that the election was held in someone’s bedroom.”
Though the aspirants didn’t specify the nature of “consequences” that might attend fielding Uba as the APC candidate, the party’s fiasco in Rivers and Zamfara in the 2019 general election was a culmination of the aftermath of congresses/primaries.
While the courts barred the Rivers chapter from fielding candidates for the Governorship and State and National Assembly positions, all but the presidential election won by the APC in Zamfara were awarded to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because it (APC) failed to conduct the primaries in line with the laws.
As Uba shops for “hallelujah groups” to back his candidature, with “APC Patriots” already declaring solidarity for him, some aggrieved APC aspirants are taking the legal route, such that doomed the party in several strongholds across the country in the 2019 polls.
The poser: What would it have caused the APC committee to refer the grievances of the aspirants to the party headquarters, to secure a fresh primary, and thus assuage the feelings of majority of members that have condemned the June 26 election?
Elsewhere, there seems a relative calm in the PDP, with its candidate, Chief Valentine Ozigbo, receiving acclaims from party stalwarts, and a Certificate of Return on Wednesday, June 30.
The APC may award Uba a certificate, but that could spell the party’s failure in the November poll, unless the aggrieved aspirants are pacified to work for his emergence as governor.
Can’t the APC learn from its bitter vicissitudes of 2019, and 2020? Or is the party jinxed, considering that what it gathers with one hand, it scatters almost immediately with the other hand?
The APC couldn’t have hoped for a better fortune than it has got in late 2020 and the first half of 2021, with the defection to its fold of three PDP governors in Chief Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Prof. Ben Ayade (Cross River) and Alhaji Bello Matawalle (Zamfara).
The good tiding may continue for the party in the second half of 2021 and beyond, but only if it toed the path of transparency in its internal democratic processes, devoid of “Facebook results.”
Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.