Barely a month to the Anambra State governorship election due to hold on November 18, 2017, the key competing political parties, drawn from the Peoples Democratic Party, the All Progressives Congress and the All Progressives Grand Alliance, have mapped out their respective strategies, aimed at victory.
Some of the discreet strategies being deployed by the PDP, APC and APGA to successfully market their respective candidates for victorious outing on November 18, include using syndicated columnists and writers to de-market their opponents; poaching strong politicians from the opponents’ camp, and house-to-house wooing of prospective voters with tempting offers that include monetary gratification.
key political parties in the contest had since procured copies of the voter registers that were handed over to their agents who moved around the major streets and villages with the task of identifying the persons in the lists
Investigation conducted by The Point showed that since the emergence of Oseloka Obaze, Tony Nwoye and Willie M. Obiano as the candidates of PDP, APC and APGA, respectively, their competing campaign teams have swung into action, wooing voters with syndicated articles and write-ups designed to malign and paint their opponents in bad light.
This is in addition to moving to the homes of identified prospective voters where tempting offers and monetary reward were given to secure their votes on the election day.
It was gathered that some of the key political parties in the contest had since procured copies of the voter registers that were handed over to their agents who moved around the major streets and villages with the task of identifying the persons in the lists and wooing their support at a given price, ahead of the election day.
And when confronted by the latest development, one of the special assistants on political matters to one of the key candidates in the contest, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said his party was not afraid of what their opponents were doing because they would fail on election day.
He said those who were going around wooing voters with gratification would be disappointed at the end of it all, as the voters were now wiser.
Findings also showed that the competing parties and their supporters had used the occasions of campaign flag-off to promote their candidates and run down their opponents, as the PDP recently did in Onitsha when it flagged off Obaze’s gubernatorial campaign.
A former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, extensively used the opportunity offered by the Onitsha ceremony to run down the administration of Willie Obiano and seek for the voters’ support.
The Second Republic Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, whose daughter is the running mate to Obaze, had, in his speech at the ceremony, urged the voters to support the PDP candidate.
Throwing his support for PDP, Ekwueme contended, “I am calling on all the people of Anambra State to support the winning team of Obaze because they are good candidates. Anambra is the home of PDP and we are going to take over what belongs to us come November 18.”
This PDP strategic move in Onitsha came at a time the APC had launched its “operation deliver your polling unit” campaigns in Nnewi. It was gathered that the state chairman of APC had, at the ceremony, charged party members and their supporters to work for victory of APC on November 18, adding that the party had all that was needed to beat their opponents on the election day.
As for Governor Obiano’s APGA, however, some of the administration’s achievements in the last three and half years had come in handy, as Obiano and his campaigners were often cited at campaign grounds and on radio and prime TV, reeling
them out.
