Americans will say, “Do not kid yourself” which literally means not to deceive oneself; no political party can defeat All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) on their home turf of Anambra State. I am not saying this to join the bandwagon because Chief Willie Obiano is winning the governorship election in Anambra State.
This is not the case; I have the opportunity to be on the ground and to feel the pulse of Anambra voters. APGA despite all its flaws, vulnerabilities and challenges have a special place in the hearts of the Anambra people. APGA with its political potency and almost eight years in power have become part and parcel of Anambra cultural, sociological and political infrastructure.
There are 21 local governments in Anambra State and according to INEC results, Chief Willie Obiano, the governorship candidate for APGA has already won 17 local governments. Why will that surprise anybody? The performance of Obiano so far was grounded on the love and admiration the people of Anambra state have for their late hero Dim Ikemba Emeka Ojukwu. The Ojukwu factor was quite essential in this election and APGA never failed to remember to the people the hero of Ndi-Igbo, The Great Ikemba of Igbo land was the founding presidential candidate for APGA.
Governor Peter Obi is a political strategist and pragmatist; he came up with political campaign theme of “continuity”. With this punch line he extrapolated that the face of the governor might have changed but the core belief of the party will remain unchanged. Then Obi went further to labeled APGA an “Igbo party”, and this may sound as a political unorthodoxy to a political purist. But with this strategy APGA moved beyond a political party into a cultural phenomenon that has invited every Igbo from Anambra to become part and parcel of APGA. Governor Obi made every Anambra citizen a stakeholder in APGA.
It will be difficult for Chris Ngige to win governorship election in Anambra State not because he was rejected by the people but because his political party APC has been defined by his political opponents as something foreign and unacceptable in Anambra State.
Ngige is well loved in Anambra State and people have not forgotten his years of solidarity and achievements in the state. But as the people have reminded him, they said he is in the wrong political party.
Many outsiders and Nigerians living in USA may not understand the power of emotional capital. Many of the voters have emotional connection and investment in APGA and when they voted for Chief Willie Obiano – they were voting for Igbo solidarity, they were voting for Governor Obi’s decency and ultimately they were voting for their hero – DIM IKEMBA.
Congratulation to Chief Willie Obiano and APGA!!!
Emeka Chiakwelu, Principal Policy Strategist at AFRIPOL. His works have appeared in Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Forbes and many other important journals around the world. His writings have also been cited in many economic books, publications and many institutions of higher learning including tagteam Harvard Education. www.afripol.org, info@afripol.org