It was a visit mixed with curious intrigues. But, by the time President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rounded off his Anambra stopover – the first after he mounted the saddle as the fifth democratically elected President in the current fourth republic – the leaderships of the two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), have engaged in strident war of words as each side tries to appropriate the benefits of the visit.

In Abuja, the federal capital, the March 8, 2025, official visit of Mr President was sold as a pre-arranged presidential programme built around the official inauguration of the faculty of International Affairs departmental building constructed in honour of the Obosi-born former Commonwealth Secretary, Emeka Anyaoku.

Back in Anambra State, particularly Awka, the capital city, the buzz in town was that the President was coming to the state to commission a string of legacy projects initiated and completed by the Solution administration led by Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.

Some of the projects included the Solution Funcity modelled after Disney for recreational activities and the Government House Lodge, which was initially initiated by Dr Chinwoke Mbadinuju. The class of 1999 governor, who was denied a second term ticket by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), could not go beyond the block work and successive governors avoided the structure partly because of the Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) that pitted Governor Chris Ngige and self-acclaimed political godfather, Chris Uba, over the contract sum and decision to withdraw funds at source.

That structure lingered as a carcass until the former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Soludo, deemed it proper to have a befitting Governor’s Lodge and office in the state. It was not surprising that the gigantic structure should become Governor Soludo’s unique selling proposition for a second term.

But, coming barely seven months to the November 8 gubernatorial poll in the state, it was understandable why the camps of Governor Soludo-led APGA and the President’s party – APC, which had a nominee in the person of Nicholas Ukachukwu, had gone to great lengths to appropriate strategic political mileage from the visit.

However, APC supporters, made up of former APGA lieutenants and members of the Ubahnation, the political family of late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, went to town with the narrative that okuko anwurugo (the cockerel is dead) with reference to the APGA symbol. But Governor Soludo and his aides engaged in chest-thumping, saying that the President’s kind words amounted to victory before the campaigns began.

The incumbent governor claimed that by denying even a handshake to the APC governorship candidate, Ukachukwu, the President subtly showed his preference to work with the former CBN governor, even as they echoed President Tinubu’s complimentary remarks during the visit.

“Charles Soludo, your son…is still my friend. I salute his vision. He is a brilliant man. He has the brain. He is a thinker. He knows the way. We will work together inclusively.

“From what I have seen and heard, it is evident that a solid foundation is being laid, and Anambra is indeed on the rise. Charles Soludo has been my friend since 2003, and I can also confirm that we are working together for a better Anambra and a better Nigeria,” Mr President had said.

While the various media outlets in the state, particularly the state-owned Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) made a song and dance of the various parts of the President’s remarks in praise of Governor Soludo, the state chapter of the APC, drummed it around that the President refused to raise the governor’s hand or offer verbal endorsement for his second term.

The party derided the APGA-led government, regretting that “after wasting three years in office, the only projects the governor could provide for Presidential commissioning are a merry-go-round and an uncompleted Government House hastily whitewashed for ribbon-cutting.”

The Anambra State APC hailed President Tinubu for taking Soludo through a course in politics 101, noting that the President showed that, in fact, he is a foremost political strategist.

“The President’s visit was a clear victory for APC. As the leader of APC, President Tinubu succeeded in extracting a commitment from Governor Soludo that there would be no APGA colours or insignia throughout the period of his stay.

“We mobilised fully, and our members lined the streets from Chinua Achebe Airport into the city centre. The President was impressed by the level of mobilisation and the sea of broom-waving party faithful that turned out to welcome him.

“It was a strong statement, which Mr President, as a grand master in the game of politics, knows that APC is the party to bet on in the state. By November 8, it will be clear that APC under President Tinubu is at home in Anambra State,” said Engineer Sam Osita Oraegbunam, the APC Assistant Secretary in the state.

Although APGA claims that President Tinubu has refused to receive the APC governorship candidate, Ukachukwu, as a sign of good faith and understanding reached with Governor Soludo, the President showed some mastery of the game by managing the expectations from both his party and his friend.

Those close to President Tinubu disclosed that he is adept at navigating his way through such tricky political roadblocks. For instance, describing President Tinubu as a man of all seasons, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele in 2007 noted that Tinubu as an active ideologue “has a strong organisational acumen, which affords him the tenacity and influence to mobilise and organise other political actors and the entire masses in rallying them around his profound ideas and doctrines.”

Also, Sunday Dare, who served the former Lagos State governor as Personal Assistant, disclosed how, “in 2011, he (Tinubu) presented Nigeria and Nigerians with a new chapter in political doggedness and taught his political adversaries a lesson in political strategy.”

All those attributes were on full display during the President’s recent visit to Anambra State. at least, the President must have recollected how Soludo cut short his foreign trip to return to Awka and receive Alhaji Atiku Abubakar during the 2023 electioneering.

Though Soludo remarked then that there were only two presidential candidates in the contest, it was obvious where the weight of his support tilted. Faced with a similar dilemma, President Tinubu must have decided to keep him guessing about which side held more weight for his political interest between the APC and APGA governorship standard bearers in the upcoming gubernatorial ballot.

The President may have also decoded that the conferment on him of the outlandish title, Dike Si Mba, was a smart attempt to sell a chimpanzee to him at the prize of a monkey. The absence of the towering first-class Igbo monarch from Anambra State in the college of traditional rulers that bestowed the title must have raised a curious red flag to the President.

Also, by inviting the state chapter of APC to Abuja for a meeting through the office of his special assistant on Political Matters, Ibrahim Masari, the President demonstrated that his visit left more questions than answers for the host governing party, APGA.

Reacting to the wrangling between APC and APGA over the President’s visit, Chief Tony Edochie said: “The question now is what was his mission to the state and was it fulfilled, or do we expect more from the visit? President Tinubu is the President of Nigeria; in other words, the entire country is his constituency, no matter the political party that is in charge of the state at any point in time.

“What he does in any of the states is solely his responsibility. Therefore, if he honours an invitation by any state government, it is left for him to decide on what actions are his priority from the list of activities tabled before him by the host. Anambra state is predominantly an APGA state; it was once a PDP state before they lost it, and President Tinubu is an APC man and a very experienced politician.

“Back home, some APGA politicians are not happy that he didn’t raise Mr Governor’s hand in the form of endorsement for a second tenure, while his party members, the APC, are making fun of the APGA members.

“The question now is, was President Tinubu invited to Anambra state to endorse Prof Charles Soludo for a second tenure or to commission some projects. Those overzealous APGA politicians who expected Mr President to endorse Prof. Charles Soludo, leaving his party’s governorship candidate in the state, are being very unfair to President Tinubu, Governor Soludo and Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu of the APC.”

Edochie observed that while President Tinubu could be a very close friend and ally of Prof Charles Soludo, he was also cautious of anti-party activities. “Politicians should learn to be considerate while making comments to avoid hitting up the already tensed political arena in the state,” he surmised.

However, situating the political arithmetic in the state, the convener of Former Anambra Political Appointees (2014 -2024), Owelle Mbaso, said that there was an obvious sense of panic within APGA and among Governor Soludo’s aides over the outcome of the Presidential visit.

Mbaso lamented that the state government’s goons exerted all manner of pressure to ensure that the Town Hall Meeting scheduled to be held on May 10, 2025, at Ukachukwu’s country home in Osumenyi, Nnewi South Local Government Area of the state, did not hold.

He said that the state government was extremely shaken by the level of mobilisation of APC members in the state for the President’s visit, adding that out of obvious apprehension that the meeting was intended to gloat over the successful outing by APC, the government used security scare to botch the meeting.

Mbaso, who recalled the understanding reached by the members of Ifeanyi Ubah political family to support APC in the state, disclosed that in addition to the UbahNation, many aboriginal APGA members are rallying round Hon Nicholas Ukachukwu for the governorship poll.

“So, Ukachukwu and APC paraded an organic crowd of loyal members. The difference was very clear on May 8, when the President visited the state. Those who claimed that APC was non-existent in Anambra State were the ones who presented a one-man team to endorse President Tinubu and APC,” he stated.