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While Ngige is running for the Anambra Central senatorial seat as the Action Congress of Nigeria standard-bearer, Obi will be staking all to ensure that Prof. Dora Akunyili, the All Progressives Grand Alliance candidate triumphs over Ngige.
The two will be fighting the battle of survival for their political relevance and that of their parties.
The Uba family, the third political force in the state, might just sit by and watch, having secured two senatorial seats in the National Assembly elections. In fact, the family will be latching on to new found unity among the factions of the PDP to secure more victories in both the state assembly election and the rescheduled national assembly poll.
Though Obi is not personally contesting against Ngige, many observers have said his political relevance in the state would, to a large extent, depend on the success of Akunyili on Tuesday.
Already, Ngige, who initially had opposed the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission to call for a rerun in some wards in the senatorial zone, has accepted the challenge and has called out on his supporters to come out and vote on Tuesday.
“We won before, with your support and by God’s grace, we will win better,” Ngige said on Friday in a message to his supporters.
INEC had on Thursday nullified the declaration of Ngige as the winner of the April 9 senatorial election, and had declared that a rerun be done in eight wards cut across four local government areas, where results of the election were cancelled.
INEC’s last decision came as a relief to the camp of Obi, who had been considered finished politically after losing the Anambra South and Anambra North senatorial elections to the PDP.
In the result of the inconclusive election adopted by INEC, Akunyili is leading Ngige with 697 votes. However, the voting population in the cancelled wards and units add up to 19,090, INEC said, was capable of turning the tables if elections were conducted in those places.
Apart from the affected two polling units at Nri Ward II in Anaocha Local Government Area and Ward I Nimo in Njikoka Local Government Area, the other areas are said to be the strongholds of Ngige.
While Akunyili will have to consolidate on her lead, Ngige will strive to prove his claim that the elections in the rerun units were running in his favour before they were cancelled by winning overwhelmingly.
The Anambra Central senatorial election had come into international focus because of the caliber of Akunyili, who has received world acclaim as Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, and Ngige, whose survival battles against godfatherism when he was governor endeared him to his people.
That was why less attention was paid to the National Assembly elections in the two other senatorial zones and House of Representatives constituencies on April 9.
The Akunyili/Ngige rivalry lived up to its billings as tension rose minute by minute as the collation of results progressed until it got stalemated when the returning officer, Mr. Alex Anene, walked out on the process, citing threats to his life and attempts to bribe him.
For Akunyili, the events that followed the stalemate were a baptism of fire. Overwhelmed by emotions, she could hardly gather herself together as she addressed the press to express her shock about the bribery allegations raised by the returning officer.
She repeatedly called the RO and Ngige unprintable names. It was indeed her first shot at public election, and she must have quite a mouthful.
On the other hand, the Ngige camp was calm, dishing out their strategy one after the other until Akunyili had to abandon Awka and relocate to Abuja. Even the APGA government in Awka could not believe it as within days, public discourse turned against it.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, the three major parties in Anambra State will be testing their strength in the house of assembly elections.
Almost equally divided among the PDP and APGA are most of the incumbent House of Assembly members seeking re-election, with the exception of the Speaker, Chief Anayo Nnebe, his deputy, Chief Afam Obi, a former deputy speaker, Chief Ozo Ughamadu and Mr. Sylvester Okeke.
But only a few of them are still with the PDP, the platform through which they were all elected in 2007, having rejected political lordship of the Uba family.
Apart from the Anambra Central senatorial rerun, where fireworks will be sparked, Nnewi North/Nnewi South/Ekwusigo federal constituency election will draw sparks.
Here, the incumbent, Mr. Cyril Maduabum, who abandoned the PDP and subsequently the ACN to run on the Accord Party platform, will be testing his popularity. And from indications on the ground, he is very much favoured to win.
From the National Assembly election result declared so far, the PDP appeared to be leading with two senators and one house of Representatives member-elect. APGA has three House of Representatives members-elect, while the ACN has one, Charles Odedo for Idemili federal constituency.
The results show that the three main power bases in the state are still relevant. Odedo won in Idemili because that is the political base of Ngige, while Uche Ekwunife of APGA won in Anaocha/Njikoka/Dunukofia because of the overriding influence of Obi. Ben Nwankwo of the PDP won in Orumba federal constituency because it is part of the home base of the Ubas.
Andy Uba won as senator-elect in Anambra South, where he comes from, though his mandate is being disputed by fellow PDP candidate, Mr. Nicholas Ukachukwu.
Senator Joy Emodi of APGA lost out in Anambra North to political sentiments raised against her in the dying minutes to the election by people who wanted a shift of power to the Omambala region, where PDP was parading John Emeka, Senator Alphonsus Igbeke and Mrs. Margery Chuba-Okadigbo as factional candidates.
PDP’s success in the National Assembly election could be attributed to a unity forged by the various factions of the party that believed that it was better to get PDP to win the election first before deciding who the authentic candidate of the party was.
By EMMANUEL OBE Courtesy Of: Punch
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