Politics
Anambra Assembly polls: Obiano delivers APGA candidates
With the All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA) winning majority ofthe seats in Anambra State House of Assembly polls, the report ofimpending impeachment of governor Willie Obiano appears to be dead.DAVID-CHYDDY ELEKE reports
Anambra state was listed among the flashpoints in the state Houses ofAssembly elections that took place on Saturday April 11, 2015 this isnot minding that there would be no governorship election in the state.
Anambra may have been listed because of the interest of the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) in the governorship seat of the state, where ithas been rumoured that the party want to win majority of the 30 seatsin the House of Assembly with the intent to get at Governor Obianothrough impeachment.
It was alleged that the plot was hatched by the same man who worked sohard to deliver Obiano in the governorship poll last year, Mr. PeterObi the former governor of the state. He decamped to PDP some monthsafter his tenure expired and Obiano mounted the saddle of leadership.
The victory of the PDP in the March 28th presidential and NationalAssembly elections in the state, which saw them picking all the threeseats in the Senate and 11 House of Representatives seats had givenconfidence to the party that it would replicate the same feat in theAssembly election to boost its plan, but in the contrary, what playedour last Saturday in the state, which saw APGA coasting home tovictory with majority of the seats in the Assembly left PDP and itsmembers surprised.
As at the time of filling this report, APGA has won 24 out of the 30seats in the State Assembly, and still leading in three, except forone, Ekwusigo state constituency which was rescheduled for 25th April.
The news of the success has set the state in celebration mood, as thegovernorship seat is said to be what has all the while been at stake. Before Saturday’s election, rumours started flying that the PDP ledby the party’s big wigs in the state, including; Mr. Obi; Dr IfeanyiUbah, Engr. Arthur Eze and others were planning to commence theimpeachment of GovObiano in August, just months after theinauguration of the new Assembly.
But in an interview with the members representing Anaocha, Njikoka,Dunukofia federal constituency and the Senator Elect for AnambraCentral zone, Mrs.UcheEkwunife said that there is no truth in therumour that the PDP was working to get majority of the lawmakers inthe state Assembly in the election so as to impeach Governor Obiano.
“Who even cares if he is the governor of Anambra state, why is heafraid of being impeached, if he has done something that is worthy ofimpeachment, that is the only way he will be afraid of beingimpeached.” Ekwunife said.
In last Saturday’s election, reliable sources confirmed that thoughresults were not officially announced, APGA swept all seats in theAssembly, leaving PDP, APC or any other party in the state with none.
This was attributed to the political consciousness of the Anambrapeople, who decided that beyond the winning of the seats in theNational Assembly by the PDP, there was need to encourage the APGAgovernment led by Obiano to continue with the good works it is doingin the state.
APGA national Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh said the people of thestate were still shocked that the national assembly election wherethey trooped out en mass to vote for the APGA candidates but theelections were rigged in the favour of the PDP candidates, spurred thepeople to come out again to vote for APGA, even though some peoplelost confidence and did not come out to vote in the state.
But the supporters of APGA in the state have expressed hope that thevictory of APGA candidates in the House of Assembly election would nowafford the governor of the state, Chief Obiano freedom to now relaxand work for the state, as he has already shown signs of the wellbeingof the state through his works in the last one year.
They insisted that if Obiano had failed to secure majority seats inthe House, the PDP would have carried out its threat by impeaching thegovernor using their lawmakers, or even frustrated the efforts of thegovernor to achieve massive infrastructure development, which wouldhave presented him as a failure.
An APGA member in Awka South, Mr.HyginusEberechukwu said, “Ourpeople have become very politically aware, and they know what is atstake in the election. That is why they decided to vote massively forthe members of APGA, so as to let the governor continue with hisworks, without the distraction he would have got from the House ofAssembly if the place was dominated by PDP members.”
On his part, the state chairman of APGA, Chief Mike Kwentoh said thevictory has vindicated the party, and has shown that the party isfirmly rooted in Anambra state, if not for the bare faced rigging ofPDP bigwigs in the National Assembly elections. Kwentoh said thevictory of the party would now give the state governor the freedom tocontinue with the good works he is doing without being harassed bymembers of the INEC, who would have been engineered from the back byunseen hands.
As at the time of filling this report, results of some of theconstituencies were still being compiled, but the APGA state chairmanexpressed optimism that the party would clear all the seats, just asover 24 of the 30 seats have been won by APGA.
The victory of the APC in the presidential election of 28th March isstill seen as the booster for APGA, as they believe that if the PDPhad won, it would have boosted the morale of the PDP bigwigs in thestate, who have already fallen apart with Obiano, and would have usedthe euphoria of the victory to also win seats in the election. But thePDP defeat dealt them a serious blow and dampened their spirit.
