By Great Osibe
As the October 4, 2017 deadline for withdrawal of candidates nominated to fly their political parties’ flags in the November 18, 2017 gubernatorial elections draws near, intrigues to allegedly use the federal might to rig in George Muoghalu into power have necessitated the party’s option to field him as candidate anointed to takeover power from governor Willie Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
The move to adopt Muoghalu, is seen as a decoder to the Alhaji-Lawal-led Appeal Panel that reviewed the party’s Primary that saw Dr. Tony Nwoye whitewash his opponents including Senator Andy Uba who placed a distant second in a Primary in which 4,333 delegates voted out of 4302 accredited delegates
Nwoye had polled a grand total of 2,146 votes to beat his closest rivals, Uba and Muoghalu who scored 931 and 525 votes respectively. The rest were Bart Nwibe – 414; Paul Chukwuma – 110; Johnbosco Onunkwo – 85; Chike Obidigbo – 22; Nonso Madu -, 21; Patrick Nwike – 20; Obinna Uzoh – 7; Donatus Okonkwo – 10; and the only female contestant, Kate Uchegbu who scored one vote.
According to an insider, the Panel led by Lawal had examined avalanche of petitions including that of Senator Uba against Dr. Nwoye’s emergence, and purportedly agreed to base the disqualification of Nwoye and Uba on that ground.
Ahead of the thorny path to secure the ticket of APC, Uba is believed to have adopted two other parties as “plan B” in case the APC joker to stop his ambition works by blocking the slot of one of the less-fancied parties, in addition to allegedly wooing the factional National Leadership of APGA led by Chief Martin Agbaso to substitute alternative APGA gubernatorial candidate, Hygers Igwebuike with him.
The decision to impose Muoghalu as a candidate arose few hours after Uba was tipped to fly the party’s flag, as a measure to cement the relationship between his godfather, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Muhammadu Buhari, who is seriously longing the backing of the former to actualize his second term bid come 2019.
In taking the decision to foist Muoghalu, a loser at the Primary election as the part’s flag-bearer, APC, it was learned, assumed it might use federal might and security apparatus including about 21,000 police personnel to replicate the “Edo Rigging Formula” even at the expenses of truncating the much-cherished democratic norms.
Loading ...The plot to use security operatives, according to an insider, is sequel to an unconfirmed insinuation in some quarters that the APGA-led government plans to recruit more officials of the Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra (OCHA) Brigade who reported ‘hit-man’ the late Kenneth Okonkwo died months back to actualize the much-touted second term victory for the serving governor at all cost.
The mandate of the OCHA Brigade before the demise of its boss (Agunaecheibe), sources say, is to be complemented by similar tough-talking tendencies of the group powered by a defector from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to APGA, Dr. Okey Odunze while inaugurating his Obiano-Campaign Support team, warned those toying with federal might that the people of the state have the capacity to defend their votes.
“Some of our brothers in Abuja have been boasting that they will use the federal machinery to write results and drive Governor Obiano out of Government House, forgetting that our people will not fold their hands and watch them get away with such evil plan.
“Some of these people in Abuja had been tried in the past and we knew their contributions, both positive and negative, and our people cannot forget them so easily no matter how they want to go about the election.
“The people of this state have decided to support Obiano because he is a peaceful man, an overall developer, a God-fearing governor who, despite the falsehood being dished out by his opponents, had remained focused.
Emeka Oraetoka, writing about chances and what makes George Mughalu tick, writes thus:
“In the convention of the All Peoples Party, George Muoghalu, was elected the Secretary of the party in 1999. He piloted the affairs of the party as Secretary to the general elections of 1999 where APP won Nine [9] governorship seats. The party also secured about twenty-one [21] seats at the Senate. In the House of Representatives, APP had about Sixty Eight [68] Members. When the then ruling People’s Democratic Party [PDP] sponsored crisis in APP by installing PDP sympathizers as leaders in APP, George Muoghalu, did not decamp to PDP in the fashion of other Southeast politicians, who left APP in drove, in search of short term benefits in PDP-led government.
“When it was time for another round of general elections in 2003, George Muoghalu contested the governorship election of Anambra State, under the platform of All Nigerian Peoples Party [ANPP]. It will be recalled that when the then PDP-led government, installed their puppets as leaders of APP, George Muoghalu and the other real owners of the party, fought gallantly to retrieve APP from the clutches of PDP by reforming and repositioning the party through name change from APP to ANPP. It was under the platform of ANPP that George Muoghalu contested and lost gallantly to the rigging machinery of PDP in the State. Nigerians have not forgotten the crisis that rocked Anambra State after the rigged 2003 governorship election. It is no wonder that the consequence of 2003 skewed governorship election in Anambra State is the staggered governorship elections all over Nigeria today.
“In 2007, PDP continued its onslaught on ANPP to the point that virtually all politicians from the Southeast were PDP, George Muoghalu refused to join the bandwagon of decampment to PDP; instead, he was said to have initiated moves for the merger of major opposition political parties in Nigeria to withstand the behemoth called PDP. However, time factor and other political intrigues could not allow the vision of Muoghalu and other original members of ANPP to materialize. It was even the infiltration of ANPP by PDP to ostensibly stop President Muhammadu Buhari, who was then aspiring to become President; from contesting the 2011 general elections under the platform of ANPP, that informed the formation of Congress For Progressive Change [CPC], a platform he deployed in contesting the 2011 Presidential elections. Immediately after the 2011 general elections, George Muoghalu and others in ANPP intensified effort at ensuring that the legacy parties merged to form a formidable party that will sweep the PDP out of office.
“It is worth mentioning here the last administration made effort to poach George Muoghalu out of ANPP by dangling many offers of appointment at him, but he politely turned them down. The belief of President Jonathan-led administration then was that since George Muoghalu was the only real opposition element still standing in the Southeast, if the PDP could secure his loyalty, no party could threaten them again in the region.
There is no doubt that George Muoghalu who is currently the National Auditor of the ruling All Progressive Congress [APC] has proved that consistency pays in politics. In this regard however, what other political elites in the Southeast should do is to embark on a study of what made George thick when it comes to politics.
For now, it is time to play a waiting game.
