The 8 November 2025 Anambra Governorship Election has come and gone, but not without the shock that trailed the abysmal performance of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the poll.
The off-cycle governorship election saw the incumbent governor and candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Charles Soludo, emerging as the winner.
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Mr Soludo, who sought reelection, was first elected as Anambra governor on 6 November 2021 and sworn in on 17 March 2022.
His first four-year tenure as governor will end in March 2026.
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The independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said Mr Soludo scored 422,664 votes to defeat his closest rival, Nicholas Ukachukwu of the APC who polled 99,445 votes.
The Young Progressives Party candidate, Paul Chukwuma, came third with 37,753 votes while his counterpart from the Labour Party (LP), George Moghalu, came fourth, with 10,576 votes.
The PDP candidate, Jude Ezenwafor, garnered only 1401 votes, and came sixth in the election.
Although the PDP candidate was not expected to win the poll which was forecasted to be a two-horse race between Messrs Soludo and Ukachukwu, the PDP and its flagbearer’s performance in the poll was a shock to many.
PDP’s prolonged, and declining popularity in South-east
Until recently, the PDP had enjoyed over 23-year-old dominance in the South-east. The region has a history of near complete loyalty to the PDP since 1999 when the party produced all governors in the five states in the region, including Enugu (Chimaroke Nnamani), Abia (Orji Kalu), Anambra (Chinwoke Mbadinuju), Ebonyi (Sam Egwu) and Imo (Achike Udenwa).
However, Anambra was the first state in the South-east that the PDP lost when Chris Ngige, the party’s candidate and then-winner of the 2003 governorship election in the state, had his election voided by an election tribunal in 2005.
Mr Ngige, who governed for nearly three years, left office in March 2006 after an appeal court upheld his removal and then declared Peter Obi of the APGA as the winner of the election. APGA has maintained uninterrupted dominance in the state from 2006 to date.
The PDP lost another state in the South-east in 2020 when Dave Umahi, then governor of Ebonyi State, defected to the APC from the PDP under which he won an election in 2015 and a reelection in 2019. Mr Umahi blamed PDP’s alleged ill-treatment of the South-east for his defection.
The PDP’s grip on the South-east continued to grow weak in January of the same year 2020 when, after the Supreme Court nullified the election of its candidate and then governor of Imo State, Emeka Ihedioha, and declared APC’s Hope Uzodimma, who came fourth, as the winner in the 2019 governorship poll in the state.
Similarly, the LP ended PDP’s nearly 24-year-old dominance in Abia in 2023 when its candidate, Alex Otti, won the governorship election of that year.
The PDP completely lost its earlier grip of the South-east in October this year when Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah defected from the party to the APC following intense disagreement between the South-east PDP and the national leadership of the party. Mr Mbah joined the APC alongside several other former PDP members in the region.
But despite its declining popularity in the South-east, the PDP is still believed to be enjoying a considerable level of acceptance and support in the region.
Analysts, however, argue that the PDP’s poor showing the in the 8 November governorship election in Anambra was due to several factors, including the unpopularity of the candidate and the intense crises within the party which culminated in the suspension of its governorship candidate, Mr Ezenwafor, days after the poll.
How has PDP fared in Anambra governorship elections since 1999?
As earlier stated, the PDP won the 1999 Governorship Election in Anambra State, with the party’s then-candidate, Chinwoke Mbadinuju, scoring 879,690 votes to defeat his closest challenger and candidate of the now-defunct All Peoples Party, ABS Nwosu, who polled 141,326 votes.
The PDP appeared to have repeated the feat in the 19 April 2003 election when its candidate, Chris Ngige, was declared the winner of the poll, with 452,820 votes. INEC had also declared Peter Obi as the runner-up in the election, with 279,647 votes. Mr Ngige was, however, sacked by the Anambra Governorship Election Tribunal on 5 August 2005, which declared APGA’s Mr Obi as the winner of the election.
The tribunal delivered the ruling after evidence showed Mr Obi had won the majority of votes cast during the exercise. Mr Obi was sworn into office as governor after an appeal court upheld Mr Ngige’s removal in March 2006.
In the 2010 Anambra governorship election, the PDP claimed the third position with 59,355 votes scored by its candidate, Charles Soludo, who is now the governor under APGA. In the election, Mr Obi, then-incumbent governor and APGA candidate, won the poll with 97,833 votes while the candidate of the now-defunct Action Congress, Mr Ngige, scored 60,240 votes to emerge second.
During the 2013 governorship election, the PDP performed better, with its candidate, Tony Nwoye, scoring 97,700 votes to come second. APGA candidate Willie Obiano won the poll with 180,178 votes.
The PDP again secured third position in the 2017 Anambra governorship election, with its candidate, Oseloka Obaze, garnering 70,293 votes. APGA’s Mr Obiano emerged winner with 234,071 votes while his APC challenger, Mr Nwoye, came second with 98,752 votes.
In the 2021 Anambra governorship election, the PDP returned to second position with its candidate, Valentine Ozigbo, scoring 53, 807 votes. The eventual winner and APGA candidate, Mr Soludo, polled 112,229 votes.
The review above shows that the PDP has never, until recently, taken any position outside third place in any governorship election in Anambra since the return of democratic rule in 1999.
This, therefore, means that the PDP’s performance in the 2025 governorship election in Anambra – sixth place – is the worst so far in the party’s history in the state.
PDP’s abysmal performance in Anambra poll: The significance and implications
The PDP’s worst-ever performance in the 8 November 2025 Anambra governorship election, analysts say, is a reminder that the party has completely lost its grip on the South-east.
One analyst, Emeka Umeagbalisi, believes that the PDP’s poor performance is another evidence that “the PDP is dying” especially in the South-east.
Mr Umeagbalisi, the founder and board chairperson of International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, told PREMIUM TIMES that the PDP’s abysmal outing in the Anambra poll was disappointing, but not surprising to him.
He argued that the election result showed that the PDP is no longer a viable opposition party because of crises ravaging the party which he suggested might have been masterminded by politicians from other political parties in Nigeria.
The analyst, however, pointed out that, apart from the South-east’s declining loyalty to the PDP, the party’s poor performance in the poll was aided by its candidate’s failure to embark on a vibrant campaign before the exercise.
“How many wards and polling units in Anambra were he (Ezenwafor) able to cover? Ahead of the poll, did you see a semblance of the PDP campaign in Anambra? So the PDP was not on ground,” he said.
