OPINION: APC primaries and the choice before delegates in Anambra
Editor's note: Public commentator, Igboeli Arinze, writes on the forthcoming governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra, arguing that the candidature of Senator Andy Uba is what the party needs to win the main election.
Read below:
As member delegates of the APC in Anambra state get ready to elect a flag bearer for the November 18 polls come this Saturday, November 26, it is largely instrumental for the party and the delegates to view each of the 12 aspirants not from the vistas of zoning, denomination or their religious profession, nor the weak viewpoints of party membership but from the collage of experience, core message and the takeaway of trust in their campaigns.
When it comes to such messages, a number of these aspirants fall short, forget the charm they exude, forget their high words, their boasts of party loyalty etc, all these become naught if they really do not come with a message that will see the party for the first time ever dislodge APGA from power in Anambra state.
Again, it should not just end in having a message, what’s the core of the message? Is it just to change APGA? Remove Obiano from office? Give the APC a relative foothold in the South-east as a step towards actualizing the Igbo President project? Or connect the state to the centre? Again, it is not just to in a shallow like manner like promises such as massive industrialisation, infrastructure bla bla bla, no! The delegates should ask salient questions as to whether such candidates have the pedigree to actualise such a message.
The delegates must ask whether these aspirants possess the experience to actualize these ideas of theirs. Experience in governance is critical to the success of any politician or administrator, this is due to the fact that governance is not a tea party nor is it a matter to handle with kid gloves more so a state like Anambra. Experience enables a politician to manoeuvre through issues and booby-traps laid in the process of giving the people that which is their due.
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Again such messages must be viewed from the prisms of trust, how trustworthy are these aspirants? How consistent are these messages? Are the owners of these messages authentic advocates of such a message? Or are they copied merely for the sake of an election? How are we sure that such messages will not have their pitches or tones refined when push comes to shove?
It is at this point that the candidature of Senator Andy Uba comes in handy,.Uba, an adept politician is indeed a poster boy of the experience required of the APC if it must occupy government house. Let’s face it, Uba’s experience is so rich that it clearly out rivals the rest and what he lacks in the Fayose or Fani Kayode‘s like garrulity, he makes up for in fine tact.
Senator Andy Uba is the leading aspirant in the APC ahead of the primary
Having served as a special assistant to President Obasanjo, been a governor for 17 days and six years as a serving senator, which is a milestone in the zone as well as the state, Uba’s experience will definitely come in handy in unseating a flamboyant and propaganda hugging Obiano. Uba’s electoral value will be an asset to the APC too, the party ought to borrow a leaf from what transpired in Benue, Sokoto and even Ondo states where experience saw the party gifting the likes of Ortom, Tambuwal and Akeredolu the guber tickets. This is despite the fact that Tambuwal and Ortom were new comers. Akeredolu too had the consummate experience, small wonder he won the primaries and the elections too.
A quick detour to Uba’s campaign message scores the vital point, now, whereas others are campaigning based on how many years they have stayed in the party? How rich they are? How connected they are to President Buhari, this minister and that minister and how handsome they look!
When they aren’t campaigning on vain messages, these aspirants and their supporters are much given to throwing brickbats, Uba been their most sought after target. To them, Uba is the reason , the fowl in their village hasn’t laid the egg! He is the reason why the palm wine in the village tastes less better than the ones the usually drank before his entry into the APC.
Thus when rumours fly that the party chairman has been bribed by Uba, that he wanted to change the delegates list and that he has been compelling delegates to take an oath, then the delegates and the party ought to disbelieve such.
Uba on the other hand has refused to respond nor return his own salvo, this may leave a supporter worried but that seems to be his style of politics. What then is Uba’s Message? Simple! Unity; institutional changes and progressivism. To Uba, a united Anambra can surmount any development challenges. Again, an Anambra with strong institutions can pull off Asian Tigers like results, become a haven for investments and put Anambra on the pedestal of unsurpassed economic growth. Uba’s philosophy on progressivism is simple, the state of the Anambra citizen cannot improve without matching improvements in education, science, technology, health care and qualitative infrastructure.
Asides its brilliance, Uba’s message has been long consistent and gets finer like vintage wine and that largely settles the trust component.
In conclusion, it is my view that an Uba with the keys of experience, message and component of trust will largely give the APC a better fighting chance, this surely will be the message of the delegates to the party come August 26.
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Watch the video report of Senator Uba picking his nomination form on NAIJ.com TV below: