APC Group Warns Against Disregarding Existing Zoning Arrangement In Anambra
The Ikemba Front, a flagship political support structure within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State reiterated the need for the party to respect the zoning arrangement ahead of the Nov. 8 governorship election in the state.
The group said failure to consider and uphold the principles as the party APC prepared for its April 5 primaries in Anambra would amount to what it termed ‘stepping on slippery banana pills’.
Chief Arinzechukwu Awogu, the National Coordinator of Ikemba Front in a Statement issued on behalf of the group on Tuesday said zoning in Anambra was a critical factor that must not be ignored.
Ikemba Front warned that altering the existing zoning arrangement was capable of costing the party the Nov. 8 election in Anambra and as such should not be toyed with.
According to Ikemba Front, in all of these arguments, we remain members of one big political family, the APC, Anambra chapter and as such, the big picture which is winning the Nov. 8 governorship election should form our primary concern.
“Zoning, no doubt, has become an undeniable factor in today’s Anambra, it has been adopted since 2013.
“Proponents of “No Zoning” by whatever guise in APC or that APC is not part of zoning arrangement are either not in tune with the “settled” mindset of the Anambra voters or are doing so to undermine the party to the advantage of the opposition.
“The truth is, Anambra State has come to accept zoning even at micro and other sub-levels of political arrangements and representations, that much was expressed by the elders of the party, who emphatically laid credence to the existence of zoning and the need not to toy with it,” he said.
Ikemba Front said respecting the existing zoning arrangement in Anambra State was also the position even when Sen. Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah was alive and the very reason for which he was accepted by all was because he was from Anambra South Senatorial Zone.
The National Coordinator said the APC should not be bamboozled to yield to the selfish interest of a few by jettisoning the zoning arrangement which it observed in 2017 by fielding candidates from Anambra North.
The party, APC, also reaffirmed its observance and acceptance of zoning when in 2021 it fielded Sen. Andy Uba from Anambra South, with other major political parties, fielding candidates from the same Anambra South. That however, will not take away the fact that aspirants from other zones may not be prevented from indicating interest in the primaries but ultimately, the underpinnings will favor and produce the candidate from the zone whose turn it is. I beg of us not to belabor ourselves with a “settled” arrangement. In law, when a matter is said to be a settled law, it becomes a reference and denotes precedence that has acquired permanece and has become substantive part of the system. Zoning has become a “settled law” in this sense and should dictate where our party’s pendulum will swing to. For us in *IKEMBA FRONT,* we believe unflinchingly in zoning, and that is the principled stand of *IKEMBA FRONT* in this argument. We wish proponents of “No Zoning” to take their argument elsewhere.
He said the APC would stand strong in the coming election and will not joke with the thinking of an average Anambra voter who sees zoning as a “settled law” in the state.
“Under normal circumstances, I would not have responded to arguments on zoning because it does not worth to be called a critical analysis.
“But for the interest of our great party, APC, I decided to lend a voice not as a support to any aspirant, but for our party to stand a better chance of winning the forthcoming election.
“Picking a candidate from any zone other than Anambra South Zone is tantamount to shooting ourselves on the foot, the zoning system has come to stay in Anambra irrespective of the party that introduced it.
“Any mistake to pick a candidate from any zone other than Anambra South Zone for the 2025 governorship election amounts to losing two third o
f the total votes cast,” he said.
