Founder and President of Akalaka Foundation, Dr. Emma Okonmah will host members and stakeholders of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Ezi-Anam ward as part of the celebrations of Otite Anam New Yam Festival.
The event, scheduled for 30th August 2025, at Umuagu Village Square in Umudora, Okpala Ukwu Anam, aims to maintain party unity and mobilise support for Governor Charles Soludo’s re-election bid. The event coincides with the broader Otite Anam celebrations that mark the traditional new yam harvest season for the Anam people.
APGA, which has governed Anambra State since 2006, currently holds power under Governor Soludo, who assumed office in March 2022. The party faces its next major electoral test in the 2025 gubernatorial election, making grassroots mobilisation efforts in communities like Anam crucial to its electoral strategy.
The Ezi-Anam ward represents one of several political divisions within the broader Anam community in Anambra West Local Government Area. Political activities during traditional festivals have become increasingly common in Nigerian politics, as parties seek to combine cultural celebrations with voter engagement initiatives.
Dr. Okonmah’s Akalaka Foundation engages in philanthropy, sharing food items and other necessities with the main focus on the downtrodden and widows across Anambra West. The foundation’s involvement in hosting political events reflects the intersection of civil society organisations and partisan politics in contemporary Nigerian governance.
While the event remains open to the general public, organizers are specifically targeting APGA members within the Ezi-Anam ward as the primary audience. The gathering will also welcome new party members as part of ongoing recruitment efforts ahead of the 2025 elections.
Otite Anam, the traditional New Yam Festival of the Anam people, typically involves ceremonies honouring ancestral spirits and thanksgiving for agricultural abundance. The integration of political activities into these cultural celebrations represents a modern adaptation of traditional festivals to contemporary political realities.
Anambra West Local Government Area, where the event will take place, has been a traditional stronghold for APGA since the party’s formation in 2002.
Governor Soludo, an economist and former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, won the 2021 gubernatorial election with 112,229 votes, representing 61.9 percent of total votes cast. His administration has focused on infrastructure development, security improvement, and economic transformation initiatives across the state.
The August 30 gathering represents part of broader political preparations for the 2025 gubernatorial election cycle and celebration of party loyalty, as political parties across Nigeria intensify grassroots mobilisation efforts. The use of traditional festivals as platforms for political engagement reflects ongoing debates about the relationship between cultural celebrations and partisan activities in Nigerian communities.
