By Cajetan Mmuta
It was like a proverbial day of the long knives when last Wednesday the delegates of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) converged on Awka, the Anambra State capital, to elect the candidate to bear the party’s flag in the November 6 governorship election.

The air was charged with expectation as to who would carry the day.

Amid tight security, ad-hoc delegates of the ruling party in the state began the journey to elect the governorship candidate on a day fixed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The state governor, Willie Obiano, who interestingly is a member of the party, had stormed the Conference Hall of the venue, Prof Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre (WDC), Awka, at about 2:48 p.m, with his entourage.

That was in sharp contrast with the initial fears and anxiety expressed in some quarters of the party leadership and membership over the coming poll.

There had been confusion that the primary might not hold, following some confusion allegedly created by INEC.

The controversy was premised on an allegation that APGA did not appropriately notify the electoral umpire of the desire to hold the primary, in compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, within the stipulated 21 days.

Delegates, who had been drawn for the exercise, were drawn from the 326 wards, 21 local government areas and three senatorial districts in the state.

Hordes of armed and regular security personnel mounted the guard.

These include operatives of the army, police, Department of State Services (DSS), as well as men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

They were all on the ground to maintain law and order.

Delegates started converging on Ekwueme Square, along High Court Road, Awka, venue of the exercise, as early as 7:30 am.

They filed out in order, according to the 21 local government areas of the state, for screening by election officials stationed at the gate.

Eagle-eyed and riot policemen, security officials from the mounted troops, among other operatives, were seen at various locations, including the entrance and exit gates, guarding against distractions and ensuring decorum.

Armoured and patrol vehicles were also stationed at the entrance road at the square, while others were stationed at the State Secretariat complex, as well as the INEC headquarters.

It would be recalled that the ruling APGA had in the recent past caught itself in a high wire political intrigue, following the sudden and dramatic disqualification of five governorship aspirants by the screening committee.

The disqualification had triggered a strong rift between forces allegedly loyal to the state authorities and the party leadership, in a game of relevance.

Also, the legal turf had been actively stoked with the judiciary, with suits instituted by aggrieved aspirants against themselves.

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It was all about a purported move to ensure that former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Charles Soludo, emerged the party’s candidate for the coming poll.

Obiano is believed to have strongly backed the ex-CBN boss, a move that pitched many political heavyweights against the governor.

However, by the time the dust appeared to have settled, all the accredited delegates were conveyed to the voting venue in buses stationed at the Women Development Centre (WDC), along Enugu-Awka-Onitsha Expressway, the actual venue for governorship primary exercise.

Many of the delegates were seen adorned in dark yellow designer clothes which bore the images of Governor Obiano.

They also wore fez caps bearing the inscription of Soludo, who was just one of the party’s governorship aspirants in the race.

Others wore light blue T-shirts with side stripes and fez caps to match.

Journalists from private establishments were barred from the venue of the accreditation for the coverage.

Only the Press Crew of the Government House was allowed into the venue.

At about 1:40 pm, all the accredited delegates were ferried away in heavily-guarded vehicles, a development that rendered hundreds of commuters and motorists stranded for hours, along the Enugu-Onitsha highway.

At the Women Development Centre (WDC), armed mobile policemen and Special Forces (SF) operatives engaged themselves in near bloody clash over access to the venue, but it took the intervention of a superior officer to douse the tension.

Newsmen, who had successfully scaled over 12 checkpoints by sundry security personnel – uniformed or plain-clothed – were denied entry.

The identities of some of the security operatives, it was glaring, were hazy.

Meanwhile, the main hall of the WDC was choked up as delegates, officials, journalists and security agencies struggled for breath due to poor ventilation and lighting.

It was a miracle that no bad incident was recorded. And on a crucial day of political activity, their power outage.

There were initial confusion as to the winner of the primary.

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There was a piece of rumour, probably sponsored by some forces, that Soludo had been disqualified.

But INEC was later to pour water on the claim, saying there was no parallel force in the leadership of APGA as pertaining the voting.

In the end, Soludo was declared the winner, with a landslide over his closest rival, Christopher Ezenwankwo.

Soludo was credited with securing 740 votes, in contrast with Ezenwankwo’s 41 votes.