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APGA vs Soludo: What happens to APGA candidates when their leader chants “APC”?
By Okwudili Onwuamaeze
No one can deny that Anambra has made quantum leaps in 19 years under APGA. That success explains why the people call it “Nke anyi” — “our own” — despite years of attempts by other parties to dislodge APGA from Agu Awka, Government House.
APGA has also maintained an unwritten synergy with whoever sits in Aso Rock. This non-confrontational posture has helped Anambra governors secure perks and tacit support from the centre, regardless of party differences. Because of this, rumours of defection have always trailed APGA governors.
But while Peter Obi and Willie Obiano stood firm in APGA, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo’s tenure has faced the loudest defection rumours to APC. And for good reason. His open dalliance with APC, the near-collapse of APGA BOT meetings, and the failure to launch the cooperative funding model he promised on day one have weakened the party. Today, APGA survives largely on the quiet sacrifice of stakeholders at all levels.
With other governors defecting to APC, Soludo’s jump looked inevitable. Instead, he has sold us “Progressives Are Working Together” — a smokescreen that masks anti-party activity. He now appears regularly with the APC Governors’ Forum. His deputy, Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim, is a fixture at their meetings.
Political watchers say Soludo didn’t defect because he knows he lacks populist appeal. He won a second term, but Anambra voters clearly want APGA’s tradition of stability, not a party switch.
Yet riding on “progressive ideals,” Soludo took his alignment with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to a new level. On June 15, 2026, at Abakaliki Mini Stadium during Ebonyi’s 2nd-term endorsement rally for Gov. Francis Nwifuru and President Tinubu, Soludo mounted the podium and chanted: “APC! APC! APC!”
This wasn’t his first time short-selling APGA. But this one stings more because it comes right before a pivotal election year when APGA has candidates on the ballot at all levels.
The question begs an answer: Does Soludo care about APGA’s future? What becomes of APGA candidates when their leader campaigns for another party?
Hear Soludo in Abakaliki:
“I’ve come in solidarity because Progressives are working together. It is time for Progressives to unite… We must move from alliance for protest to alliance for progress… We must not waste our votes again.”
“Ofeke amarọ mgbe ekee nku Ukwa. Kama efi anyi ga agbafelu ọsọ anyi egbubelu a ọdu.”
Against this open endorsement of APC, what is the fate of APGA candidates? What even counts as anti-party today, in this era of mercenary politicians and manufactured party crises?
In Anambra, while Soludo leads APGA, Peter Obi will be on the ballot as NDC’s presidential candidate. Soludo is already telling voters that supporting anyone else is “wasting Igbo votes.” So how do APGA candidates for Senate and House of Reps navigate this minefield with an electorate that has proven its independence?
The debate is already raging: will “thunder strike twice” with another Obi wave? Mix that with Soludo’s “Vote APC” directive, and you see the confusion APGA candidates will face at the polls.
Prof. Soludo has every right to choose his allies. But does that right override the right of APGA voters and Ndigbo to party loyalty? Time will tell.
My ten kobo advice to APGA candidates: Stake your ground now. Go to your constituencies. Tell voters clearly where you stand and what you offer. Draw the line between you, APGA, APC, and NDC.
As our fathers say: Whoever fetches ant-infested firewood invites lizards to a feast.
Onwuamaeze writes from Nri.
Nothing outside the immediate resignation of his office will mitigate the havoc President Bola Tinubu, has caused Nigeria, Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), in the 2027 presidential election, said on Monday.
Obi, former Governor of Anambra State and candidate of the Labour Party (LP), in the 2023 polls hours after Kier Starmer, British Prime Minister announced he would be quitting office, urged Tinubu to follow the footstep, having performed more woefully than his UK counterpart.
Writing in his official X platform, the former governor wrote, lamented that the President had failed to improve the standard of living of the citizens, arguing that leaders who failed to listen to the heartbeat and voices of their citizens, had lost the right to remain in position.
Hear him: “This morning, I listened to the British Prime Minister’s speech announcing his planned resignation in July. As a keen observer of global politics, my primary interest lies in examining what successful nations do right and the structural factors that cause others to lag or struggle with governance and development.
“The Prime Minister’s planned resignation comes amid mounting public frustration over a stagnant economy, a worsening cost-of-living crisis, and a perceived failure to honour key campaign pledges.
“Looking inward in our dear country, we can recall our own situation. Before 2015, our President on several occasions championed the call for the then President Goodluck Jonathan to resign over economic hardship and insecurity affecting Nigerians.
“During the Chibok school kidnapping incident, he demanded the immediate resignation of President Jonathan, arguing that the government had failed in its most fundamental duty of protecting lives.
“During the 2023 election campaign, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made several promises, including improved electricity supply. He also challenged the electorate not to vote for him for a second term if he failed to deliver on those commitments—particularly in providing stable power, fighting corruption, and improving the welfare of Nigerians.
“At present, however, these conditions have worsened. Electricity supply remains unreliable, insecurity has intensified in many areas, including kidnappings, and economic hardship has deepened rather than eased. Similar concerns are reflected across other critical sectors such as security, infrastructure, transportation, and anti-corruption efforts, all of which have regressed. We are in the worst possible condition.
“I, therefore, join Nigerians of goodwill in calling for the resignation of the President over monumental failure in governance. Such a gesture would help enthrone a political culture rooted in accountability and responsibility, rather than further entrenching impunity. It would also send a powerful message that public office is a sacred trust, not an entitlement, and help build a society in which future leaders understand that failure carries consequences. Only by ending the culture of impunity can we secure a better future for the society our children will inherit in a New Nigeria that is possible.”
“Generally, it was a very bad day. At my polling booth, where I voted, there was massive rigging and the massive sale of votes, and it happened everywhere in the state,” were the exact words with which the African Democratic Congress (ADC), captured Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State and its outcome.
Dare Abejide, candidate of the party in the exercise, said hours after Biodun Oyebanji, the incumbent, who ran on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Abejide, a guest on Sunday Politics, a public affairs programme on Channels Television told his host, on Sunday: “It merely shows that you don’t need to campaign anymore; all you need to do is keep your money for election day and buy votes. The government of the day has weaponised poverty, and that makes it so easy for them to buy votes. So, let’s get it clear.”
Faulting the process, Abejide added: “First, the election was a very bad one. Yesterday was a very bad day for democracy in the state. It was a day when democracy took flight from Ekiti State,” the two-time Secretary to the Government of Ekiti State said on the current affairs show.
“It was a day when the polling units, particularly my polling booth, became a political marketplace where votes were canvassed for, sold, and bought by politicians. It was a day the security agents abandoned their duties and took sides with the oppressor. It was a day when hungry people went and took money from the oppressors in exchange for their rights.
“Generally, it was a very bad day. At my polling booth, where I voted, there was massive rigging and the massive sale of votes, and it happened everywhere in the state. It merely shows that you don’t need to campaign anymore; all you need to do is keep your money for election day and buy votes. The government of the day has weaponised poverty, and that makes it so easy for them to buy votes. So, let’s get it clear.”
In the result released by INEC, Oyebanji, polled 319,224 votes to beat other contenders to beat Oluwole Oluyede of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to a second place with 40,543 votes, while Abejide scored 12,872 votes after the figures emanating from the 16 local government areas of the state were tallied.
Abejide, who accused the ruling APC of inducing voters with money and intimidating the opposition, told his host: “It was like a battleground. I suspect it was something that was simply fed into the computers. The options are many for me. One of them is to consult with my party members. We are still collecting results from all the polling units. We will analyse the results and take appropriate action.”
Except Nigerians find a way to arrest the practice of outright buying of the votes of electorates, nothing else will change the parlous state of affairs in Nigeria, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), has warned.
Reacting against the backdrop of the outcome of last Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State, Peter Obafemi, who captured the party’s total disenchantment, lamented that a situation in which security operatives who were supposed to arrest offenders were now helping them to commit the crime, left Nigeria no hope in electing credible leaders to change the situation.
Accusing the electoral officials of complicity in the crime, Obafemi, a guest on Sunday Politics, a current affairs programme on Channels Television, told his host that he personally witnessed policemen aiding those buying the votes of the people.
Hear him: “I think it was full of intimidation. Well, I will put it like this: in my own polling unit, I went to cast my vote; coming out, I was shocked. I saw someone with bagloads of money. The culprit is a member of one of these major parties and is being protected by the police.
“I am not alleging. I saw it in my own polling unit. The police and the INEC were very compromised in the conduct of the election. INEC must look into ways that they can help Nigerians for this general election [2027] that is coming up: how they can abort this act of vote-buying.”
Also stressing on other electoral malfeasances, Obafemi, who scored 179 votes in the poll, also talked about general intimidation in the lead-up to the exercise, stating how some of his campaign banners were pulled down.
INEC early Sunday declared Governor Biodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the exercise, which was held in 16 local government areas of the South-West state.
He scored 319,224 votes to beat his opponents Oluwole Oluyede, or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 40,543 votes, while Dare Bejide of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) polled 12,872 votes to come third.
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