Contrary to the general belief that only two political parties would slug it out during the November 8, 2025, governorship poll in Anambra State, the National Rescue Movement (NRM) has altered the political dynamic in the state. In this report, LEO SOBECHI writes that most of the prospective aspirants in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) have emptied into the NRM in search of a ticket to the ballot.
The mood within the camp of the incumbent All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) administration of Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo in Anambra State is that the November 8, 2025, gubernatorial poll will be a walk over.
Going by the four horse race formation that defined the 2023 general election, most observers who had anticipated a similar sparring during the November 8, 2025, governorship election were taken aback by the leadership crises that bedeviled three of the parties – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
The crises have rendered their participation in the forthcoming Anambra poll suspect, especially given that the major opposition parties, LP and PDP, are steeped in factional leadership claims at the national headquarters, where a caretaker committee and rival national secretary, have threatened their unity.
Following the structural debacle in those three national parties, the APC became the beautiful bride for the mainly billionaire gubernatorial aspirants from the state, with each aspirant boasting strong connections and assurances from the Presidency.
However, the APC National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has warned the seven aspirants screened and cleared for the April 5 governorship primary that the party would not condone any post-primary litigations, stressing that whoever that eventually emerges should be supported by the other six.
Ganduje, who handed down the warning after a meeting with the gladiators in Abuja, recently, declared that contrary to insinuations by some of the aspirants, neither the Presidency nor the National Working Committee (NWC) has a preferred candidate.
While cautioning against the deleterious impact of litigation on the party’s readiness for the main election, Ganduje said that such bickering would only ensure that APGA retains its grip on Anambra State.
He stated: “What we require is your active participation. All of you will be gainers if we have government in a number of states. You will be fixed to the national grid. As we have been saying, you (Anambra) are now a rural electrification, which is a very weak link. So, help us to help you.”
Ganduje enjoined the APC stakeholders from Anambra State to see the party’s NWC as catalysts that are not part of the chemical reaction, stressing: “What we are saying is that we need your cooperation. We will give an open environment so that the election, the action will take proper shape. We are not fighting anybody among you. Only what we want is to have one of you that we can put forward.
“You know it is not easy to get the government from any incumbent. It requires a lot of political calculations and cooperation is one of them. Then, we move into other political considerations, which we don’t need to talk about now, because we have not reached the stage yet. So, please, we urge, we beg you. No litigation, no anti-party, no sitting on the fences and no lukewarm attitude.”
Scramble For APC Ticket
As the scramble for the APC ticket rages, Soludo appears confident that everything would redound in his favour. The governor had shortly after the Supreme Court judgment that nullified Chief Edozie Njoku’s claims to the leadership of APGA told his supporters that he was confident that APGA would continue to be in charge of the politics of Anambra State.
Speaking at the party’s first National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting after the judgment, which threw up Mr. Sly Ezeokenwa as the national chairman, the governor expressed confidence in democratic processes. He noted that the Supreme Court’s determination of the APGA crisis shows that no matter what anyone may think about Nigeria’s judicial system and its imperfections, sanity would always prevail .
Alluding to the November 8 governorship poll, Soludo hinted that APGA was ready to collaborate with progressive minds to reposition Nigeria, even as he commended the judiciary for “upholding justice and the rule of law.”
After the APGA meeting at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, many opposition politicians from Anambra State, particularly those from the APC, interpreted the governor’s disclosure of APGA’s intention to join progressive forces to move Nigeria forward as a tacit affirmation of a possible endorsement from the Presidency.
Stung by that possibility, opponents of Soludo’s second term aspiration doubled up their mobilisation, just as the gubernatorial aspirants mooted the idea of talking among themselves to ensure a united front.
However, The Guardian learnt that disputations over the relevance or otherwise of zoning to the effort to prune down the number of aspirants to a manageable three defeated the attempt at rapprochement.
It was also gathered that in the light of the failure of the aspirants to agree on the plan to prune down their number, the APC NWC screened and cleared the seven gladiators that had earlier purchased, filled and returned the Expression of Intent and Nomination forms for the governorship primary.Those cleared for the April 5 primary, include, Paul Chukwuma, Obiora Okonkwo, JohnBosco Onunkwo, Nicholas Ukachukwu, Chukwuma Umeoji, Val Ozigbo and Edozie Madu.
Enter NRM
Perhaps following the failed efforts to prune the number of APC governorship aspirants, the state chapter of the party pleaded with the party’s NWC to adopt the indirect mode for the governorship primary.
According to the State Assistant Secretary, Ozocha Sam Oraegbunam, who spoke to The Guardian, the use of indirect primary will ensure credibility of the process and avert the inherent dangers of direct methodology. He contended that the security situation in Anambra State makes it quite risky to attempt organising a direct primary across the wards and local government areas.
As APC grappled with method of primary, the struggle by Senator Samuel Emeka Anyanwu and S.K.C. Ude for the position of national secretary of the PDP deepened. The crisis in PDP made it tricky for any governorship aspirant to purchase the N40 million nomination forms of the party.
But as PDP toyed with the idea of extending the deadline for the sale of the nomination forms in anticipation of the ruling of the Supreme Court on the matter, which was actually delivered on Friday, March 21, with Anyanwu smiling home, an Abuja Federal High Court ruled on the matter of emergency convention of the National Rescue Movement (NRM).
The court presided over by Justice Obiora Egwuato upheld the election of Chief Edozie Njoku-led National Working Committee (NWC) at an emergency National Convention of National Rescue Movement (NRM). Justice Egwuatu noted that since the notice from the NRM was not shorter than the required 21 days, INEC had no reason not to have monitored the emergency convention.
Consequently, the court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise the Njoku-led executive as the authentic leadership of the party, insisting that the inability of INEC to monitor the exercise did not vitiate the process and its outcome.
But no sooner than the outcome of the court ruling filtered into Anambra State that displaced members of APGA and PDP flocked to NRM to participate in the governorship and subsequent elections.
NRM national chairman, Njoku, told journalists in Abuja that the party pegged its expression of interest and nomination forms at N5 million and N20 million respectively. He disclosed that although many political actors have indicated their interest to join the party, it was distressing to note that the litigation slowed NRM down in its preparations for the governorship poll.
Njoku explained that the order of mandamus on INEC granted by the Federal High Court could not have come at a better time, even as he refused to respond to insinuations that the Anambra State government was behind the judicial challenge of his emergence as NRM national chairman.
Recall that prior to the Supreme Court judgment on the APGA leadership crisis, Njoku had tackled Soludo, claiming that instead of working for peace, stability and progress of APGA, the Anambra State governor was only interested in re-litigating his declaration as national chairman of APGA . While Njoku’s stint as APGA national chairman lasted, he threatened to commence disciplinary proceedings against Soludo and other APGA faithful that instituted a fresh court case against the Supreme Court’s previous judgment that was corrected in March 2024.
With NRM joining the battle for Anambra State governorship, it would be seen in the coming days how far the three parties – APGA, APC and NRM – could go in the competition for votes when their standard bearers emerge to challenge the incumbent.