By Vincent Ujumadu
AFTER months of traversing the various communities in Anambra State soliciting for the votes of the 2.8 million eligible voters for the November 8 governorship election, the D-Day is finally here.
However, apart from the incumbent governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, and Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu, who visited all the 21 LGAs and held mega rallies, few other candidates did more consultations with those they considered as stakeholders.
What could have hindered the campaign was insecurity orchestrated by non-state actors across the state, but with the security architecture put in place by Governor Soludo, the entire state is relatively calm ahead of the election. Areas where candidates could not campaign before the last governorship election such as Ihiala, Nnewi South and Orumba South LGAs, witnessed massive turnout of party supporters whenever rallies were held by the candidates.
16 candidates
The 16 candidates contesting the election are Prof. Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance,APGA; Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress, APC; Sir Paul Chukwuma of Young Progressives Party, YPP; Mr John Nwosu of the African Democratic Congress, ADC; Dr George Moghalu of the Labour Party, LP; Oti Echezona of Allied People’s Movement, APM; and Chief Jeff Nweke of Action Alliance, AA.
Others are Charles Onyeze of Accord; Geoffrey Onyejegbu of the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP; Jude Ezenwafor of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; Chukwududem Nweke of Action Peoples Party, APP; Jerry Okeke of Boot Party, BP; Martin Ugwoji of Zenith Labour Party, ZLP; and Vincent Chukwurah of Social Democratic Party, SDP. The two female candidates are Ms. Chioma Ifemeludike of AAC, and Ndidi Olieh of National Rescue Movement, NRM.
There are also six female deputy governorship candidates— Appolonia Ezeadili (Accord), Senator Uche Ekwunife(APC), Ebele Okeke(APP), Happiness Ugboma(BP), Veronica Okaro(LP), and Faith Obi(ZLP).
Of the number, only a few were very visible during the campaigns. As political analysts and observers have noted, only six were seriously in the field, with the incumbent governor, Professor Soludo considered to have the brightest chance of winning the election.
Chances of the candidates
Chukwuma Soludo, APGA
Being an incumbent gives Governor Soludo an edge over other candidates. Soludo, a Professor of Economics and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, is running on the platform of APGA, the party that has been ruling the state since 2006 when Mr. Peter Obi, who won on the platform of the party in 2003 took over after the courts sacked Dr Chris Ngige of then PDP.
For the past two decades, Anambra has been the fortress for APGA, with the slogan, ‘this is our own’. Soludo has often said that in the coming election, he has only opponents and not opposition, a statement that insinuates that he is almost like a consensus candidate.
His running mate, Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim, a medical doctor and younger brother of the Anglican Bishop of Awka Diocese and Archbishop of the Province on the Niger, is from Anambra Central. Soludo is leveraging on his performance in the last three and half years, particularly in the area of road construction, health care services, education and combating insecurity, which almost grounded the economy of Anambra State in the early period of his administration.
The prevailing zoning arrangement in the state appears to favour the governor. Like some people are arguing, voting for someone else may harm the arrangement.
Nicholas Ukachukwu, APC
The businessman-turned politician mounted a serious campaign, touring all the 21 LGAs With an experienced politician, Senator Uche Ekwunife as his running mate, the team has not been a pushover. The fact that he is running on the platform of the ruling party at the centre, gives him hope.
Ukachukwu has consistently argued that the APGA government had not done well, but looking at how the state was before Soludo came, most people appear not to have bought the argument.
Paul Chukwuma YPP
He was a front runner in APC before the primary, but had to leave the party when he felt that manipulation was going on. He joined the YPP and had made the party stronger across the state. His running mate, Uzu Okagbue, who was the Chief of Staff to former Governor Willie Obiano, is a very intelligent person, whose grassroots connection has helped to move YPP forward in many communities.
Chukwuma has also been saying that what Anambra needs is someone who can move the state to the next level, and not where the governor comes from. He is from Anambra North senatorial zone, where the immediate past governor, Willy Obiano, came from. He has run a very powerful campaign and is hoping to be the surprise of the election, today.
John Nwosu, ADC
The ICT guru hails from Nnewi, Anambra South senatorial zone. His running mate, Dr Ndubuisi Nwobu, from Awka, Anambra Central, is an experienced politician, having been a local government chairman and state chairman of the PDP.
The ADC candidate was initially aspiring on the platform of the Labour Party, until the leadership crisis in the party and he had to move to ADC. His departure from LP meant that he lost the support of the former governor of Anambra State,Mr. Peter Obi who is still a member of LP. Many people still believe that the ADC coalition may favour him during the governorship election, and many experienced politicians and technocrats are supporting his candidacy.
George Moghalu – LP
Moghalu, also from Nnewi in Anambra South, is an experienced politician. He had run for the governorship of the state in the past and when APC was formed, he became its national auditor. The immediate past Director General of National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA is being supported by the former governor of Anambra State,Mr Peter Obi. Obi had, however, declared that because all the people aspiring to govern the state are his friends, he wished all the candidates good luck on Saturday.
There were attempts by some people in Nnewi to prevail on him and John Nwosu of ADC for one to step down for the other, but both insisted on contesting the election. He has a female running mate from Onitsha, who is an educationist of high repute.
Jeff Nweke, AA
Ozo Jeff Nweke from Awka is the candidate of the Action Alliance, AA. A successful businessman, Nweke, throughout the campaign period, consistently preached against violence in election. He also ran a robust campaign and was among the first set of candidates that paid the mandatory N50 million that enabled candidates to mount billboards across the state.
Though the security expert campaigned vigorously, many see him as the politician of the future, especially as he comes from Anambra Central whose turn it would be to produce the governor after eight years in the South senatorial zone.
Chioma Ifemeludike, AAC
The 36-year old political scientist, human rights activist and Nollywood actress is from Eziowelle in Idemili North LGA, Anambra Central. She fancies her chances of shocking Soludo at the poll. She is particularly pained that the governor had been going about saying he had no opposition in the election
Key issue
As Anambra people go to the polls today, one significant issue is that unlike 2021 when elections could not take place in some communities due to insecurity, every community is safe for the exercise now. There is enthusiasm among the people and the expectation is that unlike the previous elections in which the turnouts were abysmally low, Saturday’s exercise will witness a high voter turnout.
In the past few days, several meetings were being convened by the political parties and the purpose was last minute briefing and, perhaps, mobilization of party agents that will mount the polling units.
At the INEC headquarters in Awka, on Thursday, leaders of political parties were seen obtaining accreditation for their agents, just as the trained adhoc staff were making final preparations to move to their areas of operation.
State agog
All hotels within Awka and the neighbouring towns have been fully booked as local and international observers, as well as journalists have arrived in large numbers.
Meanwhile, a recent poll published by the African Development Institute of Research Methodology (ADIRM), placed the incumbent governor and APGA candidate, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, ahead of other candidates. with APC’s Nicholas Ukachukwu and LP’s George Moghalu following in that order.
According to the report, which was conducted between October 1 and 31, 2025, Soludo was projected to win in all 21 LGAs with about 85.7 percent of voter preference from a stratified sample of 73,500 registered voters, 3,500 sampled per LGA, while the APC and LP candidates are projected to secure 7.6 per cent and 5.0 per cent, respectively. Other parties collectively received 1.7 per cent.
Soludo’s advantage over others was attributed to what respondents described as visible project delivery — including road rehabilitation, urban regeneration programmes, youth skills support initiatives and improvements in education access.
The report said that over 90 per cent of respondents expressed readiness to vote on November 8, which was described as a signal of rising electoral confidence in the state.
Despite the strong projection in favour of the incumbent, observers say the interplay of voter turnout, last-minute mobilisation and security deployment on election day could still shift real-life outcomes away from pre-election polls — especially in urban LGAs where last-minute swing behaviour could change the narrative.
“Polls are scientific snapshots, not election results. The ground game will matter in Onitsha, Nnewi, Ihiala and Awka,” an analyst said.
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