Anambra APC Governorship Primaries: Intriguing to the end

The campaign of intrigues, body movement and sly to produce the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Anambra State finally come to an end today.

Well, maybe not if the final intrigue by some well-heeled chieftains of the party again comes to fore. Party insiders speak of a last minute plot to abort today’s primary contest at the congress venue and “force” an unwilling party elder in the state to become the candidate because of irreconcilable differences between the major aspirants.

The primary election which was initially scheduled to hold last week was postponed to today on the claim of logistic constraints. However, that reason was difficult to believe among many party stakeholders who had become familiar with the several intrigues that had played in the campaign for the ticket.

It is, however, not surprising that such intrigues would erupt in the APC given the calibre of aspirants and the seeming desperation among some of them.

The twelve aspirants cleared by the party to contest the ticket include Chukwuma Paul, Madu Nonso, Moghalu George, Nwibe Bart, Nwike Patrick, Nwoye Tony, Obidigbo Chike, Okonkwo D, Onunkwo Johnbosco, Uba Andy, Uchegbu Adaobi, and Uzoh Obinna .However, how many of them would come out to contest today was as at press time still unknown given the practise of some aspirants to buy forms and use it as a bargaining tool for lesser political positions.

However, for Chief George Moghalu, the national auditor of the party; Dr. Tony Nwoye, a member of the House of Representatives, Senator Andy Uba, the incumbent senator from Anambra South; Mr. Bart Nwibe, Dr. Obinna Uzoh, Obidigbo Chike and Paul Chukwuma they apparently may have crossed the line of no return and are generally believed to pursue the battle to the end. However, of the lot, eyes are essentially focused on three, Nwoye, Uba and Moghalu around whom much of the intrigues and conspiracies have been linked to.

As the race got keener about a month ago, there emerged allegations of a plot by one of the well-heeled aspirants to alter the delegates’ list which was essentially formed from the party executives across the state who were elected in 2014.

The allegation which was raised but was never established was that one of the major aspirants who came from another party had sought to compromise the national leadership of the party to alter the list so that some of his associates could come in as delegates.

However, that plot was said to have been checked by some other aspirants who policed him every step of the way.

The plot to alter the delegates list has, however, come to be subsumed by other plots including one allegedly instigated from Abuja in which some party members were said to have taken position against Senator Andy Uba and Dr. Nwoye. The opposition to Uba was said to have been framed by a very influential presidential aide and a former governor now a minister.

Both men according to Saturday Vanguard were not comfortable with the alleged closeness of Uba to the president of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki who is still held with suspicion by some in the presidency and the incumbent minister who was also a former friend of the Senate President.

While the same enemies of Uba are also said to be wary of Nwoye was not clear, but there were indications that Nwoye’s entrenchment especially his popularity with the youths may have proved uncomfortable for some of the party grandees. Chief Moghalu was to have been the beneficiary of the alleged plots against Dr. Nwoye and Senator Uba especially on sympathy grounds given his consistency against the PDP and steadfastness in the APC.

However, Moghalu’s capacity to absorb the fallouts from such was at press time yet to be decided. The final plot said to be in work was that being schemed by a major leader of the party to force himself in as the party’s candidate even though he was not one of those cleared to contest the primary.

Some party stakeholders allege that the very prominent party official who is regarded in some circles as the leader of the party in the state could be drafted if the continuing intrigues get to a head and the party is unable to produce an agreeable candidate from among those presently in the contest.