From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Ahead of this years’ Anambra State governorship election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has expressed confidence of winning the poll, promising to provide a level playing field during the party primary to elect the candidate of the party for the poll.
Anambra APC Caretaker Committee chairman, Chief Basil Ejidike, who gave the assurance in a chat with Daily Sun in Abuja, revealed that arrangements have been perfected to ensure that the APC emerges victorious to occupy the Anambra Government House after the governorship poll.
Asked if APC Anambra state chapter will go for a consensus candidate during the primaries, Ejidike replied: “If it is the collective decision and if it is what will give us the desired victory, why not. However, the consensus must follow due process. Everybody must be carried along to ensure that the outcome of the party primaries does not destabilise the party.
“We are interested in winning not everybody jumping into the ring to contest. As party leadership, we will provide a level playing field for every interested aspirant,” he promised.
On what is giving him the confidence that the APC will win the state governorship election, he said: “For those that followed the last governorship election few years ago, it was clear that the APC was close to clinching the victory if not the internal crisis we had then.”
“I can confidently tell you now that we have sorted out majority of the problems and I am convinced that the moment we are able to finally resolve other little ones, we are good to go. Good enough that the federal government has even smoothened the journey for our party with what it has been able to do for the state and the Southeast in general.
“We are now beginning to see the difference between the APC government and other parties. Things that we were not able to get under previous administration we are now major beneficiaries. The examples are the Enugu-Onitsha express road, the second Niger Bridge and the Enugu International Airport among many others,” he said.
Explaining other measures the party members are putting in place to emerge victorious during the poll, he said: “We are already engaging in effective dialogue with major stakeholders to resolve the minor crisis within the party and it is yielding positive fruits.
“My happiness is that we started on time and everybody is focusing on ensuring that the party confronts the opponent as a united force. I am so convinced that APC will win Anambra state based on what we have put in place at the moment.
“Don’t also forget that after the last governorship election, we set up an investigational/fact-finding committee to identify the remote and immediate cause of our loss. The identified loopholes are what we are trying to fill up,” he assured.