Anambra 2013: The battle of three senators

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor
They are three senators with a common streak of having been pushedout
of office by the courts. Now Senators Chris Ngige, Emma Anosike and
Andy Uba are in the frontline in thebattle to succeed the outgoing
governor of Anambra State.
Yesterday, Senator Chris Ngige stole the show in the Senate chambers
as the two of the three senators from Anambra State declared their
intentionto vie for the forthcoming gubernatorial election.
Senator Ngige, ACN, Anambra Central and Andy Uba, PDP, Anambra South
in separate letters to the Senate informed the legislative house of
theirseparate decisions to contest the election.
The acclamation of Onwa! Onwa! that trailed Ngige's letter was only
characteristic of the charisma and camaraderie the former governor
gathers in his public and private outings.
Remarkably, the two senators were former governors, and both of them
remarkably, governed on illegal footing. Dr. Ngige governed the state
on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP between 2003 and
2006 when the Court of Appeal ruled that Mr. Peter Obi and not him,
was the winner of the 2003 gubernatorial election.
Senators Emma Anosike, Andy Uba and Chris Ngige
Mr. Obi had barely occupied the seat for one year when Uba, at that
time, one of the most powerful men in Nigeria being the then
president's alter ego, sauntered majestically into the office of
governor of Anambra Statein May 2007.
However, the Supreme Court surprisedhim just 17 days after his
inauguration with the ruling that he was occupying an office that
rightfully belonged to Mr.Obi.
Moments after that historic judgment, Uba's associates tried to spin
the story that the judgment suspended his governorship until after
Obi's first term. But that was not to be as Obi successfully fought
off all other challengers, including Uba in the 2010 election. Uba who
contested that election on the platform of Labour Party, a party many
of his associates had long been associated with, trailed badly in the
2010 election despite winning the 2007 election conducted by Prof.
Maurice Iwu.
Both Ngige and Uba come to this year'scontest with the hanging issue
of zoning that is now stirring up. Ngige is from Anambra Central, the
zone of the outgoing two term governor, Mr. Obi.
Senator Uba is from Anambra South, a zone that produced three former
governors of the state: himself, Chinwoke Mbadiniju and Emeka Ezeife.
While Ngige is hailed for his historic accomplishments in office in
the three years he governed the state and for changing the style and
structure of governance as dictated by the godfathers, the looming
question of equity that has recently been raised byMr. Obi is a snare
upon him. It is in this perspective that the approach of a third
force, Senator Emma Anosike comes into play.
Remarkably, Senator Anosike like Uba and Ngige, was also removed from
the Senate by the judicial decision which ruled that Senator Joy Emodi
was the rightful occupant of the Anambra Northseat in 2005.
Senator Anosike, however, comes with the advantage of coming from
Anambra North, the only zone in the state that is yet to produce a
governor for the state.
Senator Anosike was the PDP's gubernatorial running mate in the 2010 contest.