Anambra Guber: ‘Ikemba-Front’ Hails APC for Adopting Indirect Primary

By Praise Chinecherem

The flagship political support group of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State, Ikemba Front, has commended the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje and the members of the National Working Committee, (NWC,) for adopting indirect primary for the November 8, 2025, Anambra State governorship election.

The National Coordinator of Ikemba Front, Sir Arinzechukwu Awogu, made the commendations at the National Headquarters of the group in Awka, Anambra State, moments after the National Working Committee of the party rose from its crucial meeting Thursday on the coming party primary election in the State.

He said, “By that decision, the party has been placed on the right path to producing the best candidate that will give the party victory in the coming Anambra State governorship election.

“The existing zoning arrangement in the state should be respected as it is the turn of Anambra South Senatorial Zone and they should be allowed to complete their turn.”

The National Secretary of APC, Senator Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru, had while briefing journalists on the out come of the National Working Committee (NWC) that met Thursday at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja, stated that the party had adopted indirect primary to elect the party’s candidate for the forthcoming Anambra State governorship election.

Espousing the sensitivity of zoning in Anambra State, Sir Awogu, a former Ogbaru Local Government Council Chairman, reiterated the need for the party to respect the zoning arrangement ahead of the Nov. 8 governorship election in the state.

He said failure to consider and uphold the principles as the party, APC prepared for its April 5, 2025 primary in Anambra would amount to what he termed “stepping on slippery banana peels”.

The National Coordinator of Ikemba Front in a statement insisted that zoning in Anambra is a critical factor that must not be ignored, warning that altering the existing zoning arrangement was capable of costing the party the Nov. 8 election in Anambra State and as such should not be toyed with.

According to him :”in all of these arguments, we remain members of one big political family, the APC, Anambra chapter and as such, the big picture which is winning the Nov. 8 governorship election should form our primary concern. Zoning, no doubt, has become an undeniable factor in today’s Anambra, it has been adopted since 2013″.

Continuing, he said:“Proponents of “No Zoning” by whatever guise in APC or that APC is not part of zoning arrangement are either not in tune with the “settled” mindset of the Anambra voters or are doing so to undermine the party to the advantage of the opposition parties.

The truth is, Anambra State has come to accept zoning even at micro and other sub-levels of political arrangements and representations. That much was expressed by the elders of the party, who emphatically laid credence to the existence of zoning and the need not to toy with it”.

Sir Awogu said respecting the existing zoning arrangement in Anambra State was also the position even when Sen. Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah was alive and the very reason for which he was accepted by all was because he was from Anambra South Senatorial Zone.

The National Coordinator said the APC should not be bamboozled to yield to the selfish interest of a few by jettisoning the zoning arrangement which it observed in 2017 by fielding candidate from Anambra North, Dr. Tony Nwoye, and in 2021 also by fielding candidate from Anambra South, Dr. Andy Uba, in line with other major political parties.

He said the APC would stand strong in the coming election and will not joke with the thinking of an average Anambra voter who sees zoning as a “settled law” in the state.

“Picking a candidate from any zone other than Anambra South Zone is tantamount to shooting ourselves on the foot, the zoning system has come to stay in Anambra irrespective of the party that introduced it.

Any mistake to pick a candidate from any zone other than Anambra South Zone for the 2025 governorship election amounts to losing two third of the total votes that would be cast in that election” Awogu warned.