By the time the 2023 general elections come to a close, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, would have altered the geo-politics of the South East, a process he began in 2003 when he joined partisan politics.
Four years earlier, precisely in 1999, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had controlled the five states in the region.
Obi began the process of dismantling PDP’s hold in the region with his emergence as governor of Anambra State on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in 2003.
After the emergence of Dr Chris Ngige in 2023, the PDP suffered internal squabbles in Anambra State; however, Obi went to court to reclaim his electoral mandate and subsequently secured a second term, hence commencing the altering of the political equation in the region.
Obi Will Be Declared President, Say Igbo Elders
LEADERSHIP’s checks reveal that 20 years down the line, Obi’s projection of a first potent opposition in the region started a political evolution which cascaded into PDP’s significant decline in the five states in the region.
APC now controls two states (Imo and Ebonyi), APGA and Labour Party control Anambra and Abia, while PDP has Enugu.
The journey so far….
In 1999, PDP controlled Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States. By 2003, APGA won Anambra State.
In 2007, Abia and Imo fell to the now defunct Progressives Peoples Party (PPA) founded by former Abia State governor, now Senate chief whip, Orji Uzor Kalu. But the PPA’s hold on the states was short-lived as the then governors, Theodore Orji (Abia) and Chief Ikedi Ohakim (Imo) defected to the PDP, where they initially belonged. APGA, however, retained Anambra while the PDP retained Enugu and Ebonyi states.
In 2011, PDP retained Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi while APGA under the leadership of Obi as outgoing governor grew its base from Anambra to Imo.
However, by the turn of the 2015 election, Imo APGA under the leadership of then Governor Rochas Okorocha joined the newly formed APC, flipping the state, while Anambra remained with APGA. PDP retained the other states.
In 2019, while PDP retained control of Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi states, APGA and APC retained control of Anambra and Imo states respectively.
Obi, however, joined PDP after he fell out with the APGA leadership and later emerged the running mate of PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, which helped the PDP sweep a majority of the votes in the region during the election. Shortly after the 2019 election, Ebonyi joined Imo State in the APC.
In the 2023 election cycle, Obi, who had pulled out of the PDP, ran as Labour Party presidential candidate and swept the votes in the region.
At the end of the 2023 governorship election, APC retained Ebonyi while the Labour Party clinched Abia. PDP saw off the challenge of Labour Party in Enugu with a very slim victory.
APGA and APC still have control of Anambra and Imo states respectively pending future elections in those states.
In his reaction, PDP presidential aspirant, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, admitted that Obi has altered the political map in the South East.
Ohuabunwa said, “True! Peter Obi has truly altered the geo-politics of the South East just as he has changed politics in Nigeria, especially the culture of money politics and ethnic politics.
“For once people who had no money won elections and people voted without consideration to ethnicity. He aroused the youth and gave hope that a new Nigeria is possible,” he said.
Otti Wins Abia For Labour Party
The Labour Party (LP) has ended the over two decades’ reign of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday declared the Labour Party governorship candidate, Alex Otti as the winner of the Saturday, March 18 election at its headquarters in Umuahia, the state capital.
This came after a prolonged debate over the validity of votes cast in Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s home local government, Obingwa.
The returning officer for the election, who is the vice chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Prof Nnenna Oti, announced the result amid tension and apprehension across the state.
She said Otti, who won 10 out of the 17 local governments, scored 175,467 to beat Sir Okey Ahiwe of the PDP, who won six local governments and scored 88, 529 to come a distant second place.
Enyinnaya Nwafor of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) placed third after winning 28,972 votes.
INEC had suspended the collation of results of Obingwa local government area following a directive by the national headquarters yesterday after the others had been submitted.
Oti, who is also a pastor with Redeemed Christian Church of God, said the directive was contained in a letter signed by the secretary of the commission, Mrs Rose Orianran-Anthony.
Furthermore, she noted that the commission would send a committee, which was expected to arrive in the state yesterday, to review the conduct of the election in the local government.
The directive came after the national commissioner and chairman, information and voter education committee of the commission, Barr Festus Okoye, had directed similar action.
LP had also raised an alarm over alleged “rigging and mutilation of the result”, saying while about 28,000 voters were accredited for the election, the result sheet indicated that over 100,000 votes were cast.
In 2015, Otti who was the flag bearer of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) was coasting home in victory far ahead of Ikpeazu but he lost when over 80,000 votes came from the area, which many political observers in the state still believe were fictitious.
The PDP has been in control of the state for the most part since the return of democracy in the country about 24 years ago. From 1999 – 2007 it was under PDP with Senator Orji Uzor Kalu as governor.
His successor, Senator Theodore Orji, who won the election on the platform of the defunct Progressives Peoples Alliance, later defected to APGA in June 2010, and after one month he crossed over to PDP.
Ikpeazu, an academic, whose bid to move to the Senate was dashed on February 25 by APGA’s Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe during the National Assembly election, has become the last PDP governor of the state, for now.
. . . Says “I’ll Serve With Humility”
Abia State governor-elect, Alex Otti, yesterday said he had, with humility and profound sense of responsibility, wholeheartedly accepted the mandate to serve the people.
The Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate stated this in his acceptance speech after he was declared as the winner of the March 18 election in Umuahia, the state capital.
“Before I go on,” the former bank chief explained,”I must first dedicate this victory to God, the Father Almighty, who makes everything beautiful in His own time.”
He said he was fully conscious of the huge expectations of millions of the good people of the state, “who have been denied the dividends of democracy and good governance for long.”
“The siege is over. With our votes and the collective will of the people, we have ‘broken the gates of hell and cast its bars of iron asunder’. As recorded in the holy book, the kingdom of hell shall not prevail against us.”
He reminded the people that they voted for him to serve them and not the other way, adding that it is a service that comes with unusually high sense of devotion and commitment, given their checkered history
Otti said during his electioneering campaign, he traversed every nook and cranny of the state, which enabled him to have first-hand assessment of the needs and expectations of the people..
“These are the basic things expected by the people for a responsible government to provide in order to unleash the potential inherent in the typically hardworking people” he added.
Meanwhile, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has congratulated him for the victory, saying Otti ha\d fought a long battle over a very long period of time and deserves commendation for his staying power and resilience.
Ikpeazu stated this in a statement signed by his chief press secretary, Barr Onyebuchi Emenanka, which was made available to newsmen in the capital after the declaration of the result.
“Since we have come to the logical end of this battle, it is appropriate to congratulate Otti on his hard fought victory,” he said, adding that Otti should see the victory as a call for service to the state.
The Poll Was Rigged, APC Fumes
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State yesterday insisted that the Saturday, March 18 governorship election was rigged in favour of the Labour Party (LP).
APC collation agent, Prince Tony Eze, stated this after the returning officer for the election, Prof Nnenna Oti announced the LP candidate, Dr Alex Otti as the winner in Umuahia, the state capital.
He said the APC had the unit by unit report of what transpired during the election, adding that they would be made available before the appropriate quarters at the right time.
“We’re convinced and very sure we won the election in a landslide and confident that at the end of the day, we’ll reclaim our usurped mandate,” he said.
“Is it not surprising that after scoring Otti 175,467 votes; Okey Ahiwe of PDP, 88, 529; Enyinnaya Nwafor of YPP, 28,972, Ikechi Emenike of APC was ridiculously awarded 24,091?”
The media director of Ikechi Emenike Campaign Council had earlier refused to sign the result sheet, adding that doing so would amount to legalising an illegality.
The party had on Monday rejected the results of 10 out of the 17 local governments of the state so far released by INEC.
INEC Declares Peter Mbah As Enugu Governor-elect
Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been declared winner of the March 18 governorship election in Enugu State.
He scored 160,895 to defeat his main opponent, Chijioke Edeoga, of the Labour Party who polled 157,552
Peter Mbah also won in 9 local government areas (LGAs) of the state while Edeoga won in 8.
The election result was announced by returning officer, Professor Maduebibisi Ofo-Iwe on Wednesday night at the resumption of the final collation of governorship results in Enugu after INEC had earlier suspended the exercise.
He said having satisfied the requirement of the law, Peter Mbah of the PDP was declared the winner of the election and returned elected.
Before the announcement, Prof Ofo-Iwe said the commission had received petitions about Nkanu and Nsukka LGAs on Monday and was sent to the national headquarters Abuja for review.
He said, “We received petitions from the Labour Party and PDP about irregularities in Nkanu East and Nsukka.
“So I am under authority from the National Commission in Abuja to do what I was asked to do. The Commission has given us the mandate to proceed and complete the collation and I will do what authority directed us today.
“I am clean with what I’m doing. I’m not for everybody but I am for Enugu state. I wish everyone well and wish Enugu state well,” he said
In the final results, PDP got 160,895 votes, LP polled 157,552 votes, APC scored 14,575 votes and APGA won 17,983 votes.
