Ahead of the 2025 governorship election in Anambra State, the All Progressives Congress, APC, walks a tightrope.
Anambra has an unwritten zoning arrangement for the governorship position, which rotates between the three senatorial zones in the state.
The arrangement became more pronounced in 2012 during the twilight of the administration of then governor, Mr Peter Obi.
Obi had insisted on the then ruling party, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) producing a candidate from Anambra North as a way to make for balance, after Mbadinuju from the South had finished a four-year-term, and himself from the central senatorial zone finished eight years term.
Before then, Ngige who held sway for three years was also from central.
This prompted Obi to insist on the North, which is perceived as a minority zone in the state, to produce the next governor on the basis of equity, as it was believed that if the contest was declared open to all zones, they may never be able to have a shot at the position.
Obiano’s emergence from the North then sealed the zoning agreement and left it standing.
As Prof Chukwuma Soludo rounds off his first tenure, the clamour for governorship has heightened.
But contrary to claims of zoning, the APC seems to want to scuttle the arrangement, by insisting on throwing open the contest to all interested.
In June, a group of elders from the party under the aegis of All Progressives Congress (APC) Elders Forum, led by Chief Innocent Obi, met and reinforced the Anambra zoning formula.
The group said that if the APC would upstage the ruling party in the 2025 governorship election, it must field a southern candidate in line with the zoning agreement.
Credit: dailypost.ng
