In the past few days, a barrage of carefully crafted media articles has emerged, aimed at misleading the Anambra APC into falling into a political trap designed to annihilate the party’s gubernatorial chances in 2025. However, after careful examination, we have confirmed that the authors of these articles are unknown to the Anambra APC and are neither card-carrying members of the party nor affiliated with it in any way. Therefore, we can understand their ignorance about the traditions of the APC in Anambra State.
The APC in Anambra State has no history of zoning the gubernatorial election. Instead, every candidate who has contested under the umbrella of the APC since its formation has done so on the strength of their popularity and acceptance within the party fold and that of the voting public. For instance, in 2013, when the APGA zoned its candidate to Anambra North, the APC chose its candidate from Anambra Central, with aspirants from all zones contesting in the primaries. Similarly, in 2017, the APC candidate won based on his popularity within the party and not due to zoning. Aspirants from all political zones contested in that primary, just like in 2013 and 2021.
The APC in Anambra is not a party to the APGA’s zoning campaign strategy and will not be railroaded into one. Fortunately, the APC is not alone in this approach, as the PDP and other parties have also not adhered to zoning. For example, in 2013, aspirants from all zones contested in the PDP primaries. Previously, in 2010, Professor Soludo from Anambra South ran as the candidate of the PDP against an APGA candidate who came from Anambra Central. In 2013, it took a last-minute intervention for Tony Nwoye of Anambra North to win the PDP primaries against his closest contender, Nicholas Ukachukwu from Anambra South. The Labour Party’s candidate in the 2013 gubernatorial election was Ifeanyi Ubah from Anambra South, while Godwin Ezemo from Anambra South was the candidate of the PPA. In 2017, Ifeanyi Ubah from Anambra South alongside other candidates from all political zones, contested that controversial PDP primary, coming third to Oseloka Obaze who won the primaries.
The data clearly shows that zoning is a creation of APGA and has never been adhered to by other parties in Anambra.
In contrast, Progressives Media has found that the APC’s fortunes in the Anambra gubernatorial elections began to slide when the party coincidentally started presenting candidates from the same zone as the APGA’s candidate. In 2013, when the APC refused to follow the APGA’s path, despite heavy disenfranchisement in its stronghold, it scored 25.8% of the total votes garnered by the top three parties. However, by 2017, when our strategy was similar, it fell to 24.5%, and by 2021, it further fell to 17.9%.
In 2013, when other parties refused to follow APGA’s path, APGA won 16 out of the 21 LGAs, but by 2017, when conformity began to creep in, it won all 21 LGs The data does not lie; *to win, the APC must diverge from APGA’s zoning strategy and run its race.
Furthermore, after careful examination scouring tons of data across Nigeria, the Progressives Media has discovered that no gubernatorial candidate running on the zoning mantra has ever won an election promising to do only one term. Additionally, no candidate running on the zoning mantra has ever won against an incumbent from the same zone. This perhaps shows the sophistication of voters on zoning issues. If zoning becomes an essential parameter in electing a candidate, then data suggests that voters would rather stick with the incumbent than support any candidate promising to serve only one term.
While Progressives Media has no issues with zoning, we believe that zoning is better suited for multicultural and multireligious societies under political tension. Anambra, being a monoculture and mono-religious society with no fear of ethnic or religious domination, does not require zoning. Communities in Anambra are so interconnected that it would require a very politically sensitive person to delineate the boundaries of the so-called political zones. No governor can comprehensively drive development in one zone without interfacing with other zones. Political zones were created specifically to differentiate senatorial zones for senatorial elections, not to create divisions among a homogeneous group of people as we have in Anambra. Besides, zoning sits beneath critical factors such as competence and intellectual depth that voters depend on to vote in Anambra.
Finally, we reiterate that the APC in Anambra must follow the path of data and listen to its records, as we move to hoist our flag in Agu-Awka in 2025
