By Adesina Soyooye
Mrs Ebelechukwu Obiano, the immediate past First Lady of Anambra State is set to confront another Lady. She is set to do battle with her. And, it is going to be an epic battle.
But, hold your breath.
It is not going to be a physical battle, the type she had with Iyom Bianca Odimegwu Ojukwu, wife of former Biafran Leader, Dim Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, Ikemba Nnewi, which earned her a slap from Bianca at the swearing-in ceremony of Professor Charles Soludo Anambra as Anambra State Governor.
This battle is a political one.
But the campaign could be dirty.
Mrs Obiano has the unenviable record of using obscene choice words on women. And, Oduah brooks no nonsense.
Mrs Obiano has just picked the Senatorial ticket under the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA. To pick the ticket at the Primaries held at the Chuba Ikpeazu Stadium, Onitsha, Mrs Obiano, popular as Osodieme, beat three men, including, surprisingly, her husband’s former Chief of Staff, Mr Primus Odili. The other two were a former Commissioner for Information, Mr Tony Nnaecheta and, Mr Samuel Onwuteaka. Why Odili chose to confront her former boss’s wife is the question many are asking.
Mrs Obiano beat him by 152 votes to 122 to pick the ticket. By picking the ticket, she seeks to represent Anambra North at the Senate in 2023. That is the beginning of the battle.
Mrs Obiano is seeking to displace another woman, a no-push-over, the incumbent Senator, Princess Stella Oduah. A former Aviation Minister, Oduah is seeking a third term in office under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Reports say between the two women, there is no love lost. Oduah had, at a point, decamped to APGA during the First Ladyship of Mrs Obiano. It was a short spell. She quit and went back to the PDP, just as she also had a short spell in the All Progressives Congress, APC, which she defected to a few weeks to the Anambra Governorship election in November 2021.
But for APGA, speculations are that it was Oduah’s not-too-smooth relationship with Mrs Obiano which saw her out.
Anambrarians are looking forward to the battle, in 2023, between these two women – Mrs Ebelechukwu Obiano and Senator Stella Oduah.
