Stakeholders in Anambra state are divided along growing calls for the merit-based selection process and need to sustain the zoning principle enunciated by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in 2013 ahead of the 2021 gubernatorial election in the state.
It would be recalled that at the twilight of his second and final term in office as governor, Mr. Peter Obi reflected on the political dynamics of the state and concluded that it would make for fairness if a candidate from Anambra North Senatorial District succeeded him.
Although major stakeholders in the state tackled the then governor for introducing what they called ‘alien leadership selection culture’ into the state, Obi remained resolute and mobilized the entire Anambra North or Omambala belt, for the 2013 governorship.
Assisted by the power of incumbency and the fact that APGA had entrenched itself within the eight years Governor Obi held sway, as well as the federal might from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Willie Obiano was returned as the winner.
Eight years after the introduction of zoning by APGA, there have been calls for a paradigm shift in the leadership selection process, with a greater consensus on the need for meritocracy against quota or allocation.
To compound matters, even the Grand Commander of zoning, Obi, has shifted his political base to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on which platform he contested the 2019 Presidential election as the running mate of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the standard-bearer.
The argument against zoning seems to be gaining in decibels as most of the citizens look at the past five years, especially the way the beneficiary of the zoning has fared to dismiss it as bolstering mediocrity.
Furthermore, it has been noted that whether during the 2013 or 2017 gubernatorial polls, virtually all Senatorial Districts in the state took part in the election, thereby making nonsense of zoning.
However, protagonists of retention of zoning argue that it would not be right for Ndigbo to be agitating for the zoning of the 2023 Presidency to Southeast, while an important state in Igbo land would be moving against the same principle.
But those voices have been shut down with the exposition that no section of Anambra State has suffered similar marginalization as Igbo in Nigeria.
According to the opponents of zoning, both Anambra Central and Anambra South have produced governor prior to the emergence of the incumbent, Obiano, including Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Chinwoke Mbadinuju, Dame Virgy Etiaba, Senator Andy Uba, Dr. Chris Ngige and Mr. Peter Obi.
