Anambra guber: PDP and the battle within

Less than two months to the November 16 governorship election in Anambra State, chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state are locked in a battle over who is the authentic candidate of the party for the election.
The major gladiators in the tussle are Andy Uba, a serving senator, representing Anambra South in the National Assembly; Mr. Nicholas Ukachukwu, a former member of the House of Representatives and Mr. Tony Nwoye, former chairman of the party in the state. The trio are laying claim to the governorship ticket of the party.
The two factions of the party in the state, led by Mr. Ejike Oguebego and Ken Emeakayi, had conducted parallel congresses in the state where they picked their governorship candidates. While Uba emerged as winner in the Oguebego faction, Nwoye was declared winner in the primary election organised by the Emeakayi group while Ukachukwu was the runner-up.
Ironically, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the national leadership of the PDP are not in agreement on which is the authentic group. While the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) recognises the Emeakayi faction, the Oguebego group is recognized by the electoral body.
The present crisis is a fallout of the ten years struggle for the soul of the party.
Apparently, in a bid to present a united front for the election, the PDP NWC has recognized the Emeakayi group and was relating with it as the authentic executive of the party in Anambra and wrote to INEC to recognize him as such. But a ruling by a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt recognizing Oguebego as the party chairman and subsequent refusal by INEC to have anything to do with Emeakayi threw spanner to the works.
In response to the letter by the ruling party seeking recognition for Emeakayi, the electoral body in a letter dated 11th August 2013 and addressed to the Acting National Chairman PDP, had stated that it would continue to recognize Mr Ogbuebego as chairman of the Anambra PDP in compliance with a recent order of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, which bars it from having any dealing with Emeakayi as party chairman. Besides, INEC in the letter signed by U.F Usman for the INEC secretary said it has no record of how the latter “suddenly” became PDP chairman in Anambra State.
The controversy
There was a standoff between the PDP NWC and INEC on the leadership of the Anambra PDP as the two contending factions held the different congresses where they selected candidates with the electoral body and the ruling party’s officials attending the primaries of the faction they recognize.
Interestingly, shortly after Nwoye emerged as the candidate, Ukachukwu filed a suit before a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt challenging his eligibility to participate in the primary election.
However, on Thursday September 12, the Federal Court, Port Harcourt reaffirmed Uba as the party’s governorship candidate. For the Uga-born Senator, that ruling was a masterstroke in his bid to govern Anambra State.
But the PDP would have nothing of such. The party in a letter to INEC stated that the court ruling is in respect of the leadership of the party in the state and not on its candidate for the November 16 poll. In a letter signed by Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama and Managing Partner, J.N Egwuonwu Esq, the PDP NWC contended that “ the fact that the Court directed the party to recognise Ejike Oguebego and work with him in respect of its affairs in Anambra State does not translate to the recognition
of Andy Uba who never participated in the primaries organised by the National Executive Committee of the party. Andy Uba cannot therefore by any form of ingenuity become the Anambra State PDP Gubernatorial Candidate when he was never an aspirant along with several others at the Primary Election…”

However in a twist of events, a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, last Wednesday  in its ruling on an earlier suit by Ukachukwu, said the former House of Representatives member is the duly elected candidate in the primary held by the Emeakayi faction. It said the former PDP chairman was not qualified to participate in the primaries for sundry reasons.
The confusion continued as  Nwoye same day filed a suit before a Federal High Court in Abuja  asking it to mandate the INEC to place his name and particulars on the ballot papers and other necessary documents to be used for the conduct of the election by the electoral body.
True to sentiments espoused by Gadzama, both the electoral act and the PDP constitution empowers the NWC to organize party primaries.

Section 50(1) of the ruling party’s constitution states: “The National Executive Committee shall subject to the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Electoral Act and this Constitution, formulate guidelines and regulations for the nomination of candidates for election into public offices at all levels and shall be the final authority for resolving all disputes relating to the choice
of candidates for the party for any election and for conveying to the INEC or any other authority to whom it may concern, confirming the names or list of names of candidates for the party in any elective public office in the federation.”
A Nnewi based lawyer, Mr Obinna Nnaka told Daily Sun that the controversy stems from who is the authentic chairman of the party in the state.
According to him “the bone of contention in the Anambra PDP is which of the camps is recognized as the authentic PDP in the state. The National Executive Committee of the PDP recognized the camp led by Emeakayi as the authentic PDP leadership in the state, and as such, recognized their flag bearer (Tony Nwoye) in the forthcoming gubernatorial election.
“There is no doubt that from the provisions of the Electoral Act, it is the party that nominates who will carry their flag in any election. It is also not in contention that from the provision of Section 50 (1) of the PDP Constitution, the National Executive Committee of the Party has enormous powers as it relates to nomination of candidates for election; resolving conflicts that arose from nomination and confirmation of the candidates for the party in any elective public office in the federation.”
He added: “the main problem now lies with the recent Interlocutory Injunction by Federal High Court, Port Harcourt asking the parties in Anambra State PDP to maintain status quo. The Court specifically mandated the PDP and INEC to deal with Ejike Oguebego as the PDP Chairman in Anambra State pending the determination of the pending suit.
If the above position is correct, it therefore means that the PDP and INEC must therefore recognize the state congress convened by Ejike Oguebego which produced Senator Andy Ubah as the flag bearer of PDP in the forthcoming gubernatorial election.”
There is no doubt that the PDP is walking a very tight rope like it did in the 2007 governorship election in Imo State.
In the party’s primary prior to the 2007 gubernatorial election, Senator Ifeanyi Ararume had emerged as Imo PDP governorship candidate. But the powers that be in the party substituted
him with Mr Charles Ugwu, former President of the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN). Ararume disagreed with the party and took his case to the court.
The court restored his candidature and he contested the election against the wish of his party. However, a disappointed PDP worked against him at the poll. The result was the trouncing of Ararume by a relatively unknown Mr Ikedi Ohakim of the then newly registered Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA).
The thinking in many quarters is that Uba may be returning to the courts to compel INEC to enlist him as the PDP candidate and if he succeeds, the
party is bound to give him the ‘Ararume treatment’. And unlike the situation in Imo State in 2007, it is doubtful if any of the major parties in the race will be willing to do a deal with the PDP.
Analysts are in agreement that why the PDP crisis in the state will be difficult to resolve is ego. However, in the event that INEC complies with the PDP request in accepting the nomination of Nwoye as its governorship candidate, the party will still go to the poll as a divided house. Whichever way the nomination drama ends, the PDP situation in Anambra is very precarious state.
So, looking at the seeming political impasse in the PDP, many argue that for the party to win the November 16 election, it must first of all, win the battles within.