By Macdonald Ebere, Ph.D
In the febrile world of Nigerian politics, few battlegrounds attract as much scrutiny as Imo State. Unsparing commentary and sweeping claims of widespread disaffection have become a staple of political discourse. Yet when the empirical record is examined with care, some of the more sensational narratives begin to unravel. Take, for instance, the oft-repeated assertion by one or two seeming opposition elements that the All Progressives Congress in Imo has been met with collective indifference at the grassroots. On the contrary, the statistics paint a clear picture of a party that has mobilised formidable support, remains deeply embedded in the state’s political life, and is generally accepted by the people.
Consider the simple arithmetic of political engagement. The APC’s membership registration exercise in Imo State has yielded nearly 290,000 registered party members and is still counting — a figure that is not merely respectable but, when set against the average historical electoral turnout of less than 500,000, revealing. These figures make clear that the universe of engaged voters in the state in any given election has hovered in the low hundreds of thousands. Against that backdrop, a party enrolment approaching three hundred thousand is not a sign of apathy but of organisational vigour and strength, especially when many who participate in elections do not formally register with any political party at all.
It is an elementary point in political science that elections are not won solely by the number of card-carrying members of a party. In democracies everywhere, large swathes of the electorate do not formally affiliate with parties; they may vote for one party one cycle and another the next, or remain unaffiliated yet sway margins episode by episode. To conflate individual civic engagement with party membership alone is to confuse two distinct phenomena: the personal act of voting, and the collective act of party alignment. That an insignificant proportion of Imolites choose not to register with a party does not ipso facto signal rejection of the incumbent’s leadership — far from it. Indeed, at the ballot box, the APC’s performance in Imo has been electorally commanding, with its candidate winning decisively across all local government areas in 2023.
The suggestion that registration points stood “eerily quiet” or that venues were “deserted” flies in the face of observable reality and truth. Reports from across the state’s senatorial districts show active participation; volunteers, officials, and surging registrants have been visibly present and engaged. The very achievement of nearly 290,000 new members attests to this: such numbers do not materialise from empty tents and abandoned stalls. Far from indicating rejection, the mobilisation around registration reflects organisational capacity and a base that continues to find value in formal engagement.
Beyond the metrics of membership and voting, it is worth acknowledging the tangible strides in public policy and infrastructure under the current administration. Across sectors as diverse as healthcare, education and economic empowerment, there have been initiatives that speak to an administration attentive to grassroots realities. Efforts to strengthen primary healthcare delivery — through retooling centres and expanding access to maternal and child health services — have been reported in multiple local government areas. Likewise, educational investments have seen the refurbishment of school facilities and expanded teacher support in rural districts, addressing a long-standing deficit. These are not merely cosmetic interventions in urban enclaves but concrete responses to systemic gaps that citizens encounter daily.
On the economic front, programmes oriented towards youth employment, small enterprise support, and agricultural value chains have sought to expand participation in the local economy. Farmers in hinterland communities have benefited from improved access to inputs and market linkages, and micro-credit schemes have been extended to artisans and market traders. While no administration is immune to criticism, the narrative that nothing of substance has been delivered is belied by these concrete policy measures.
Infrastructure, too, has advanced. Strategic road rehabilitation projects linking commercial hubs and rural catchments have eased movement and facilitated commerce. Water and sanitation schemes have been rolled out in peri-urban districts, improving the quality of life for underserved populations. The visible contrast between simple caricature and complex reality underscores the need for nuanced appraisal rather than reductive caricature.
It is also worth underscoring that political dynamics are fluid rather than static. Membership figures are not a proxy for election results, but they do provide an early indication of organisational health. That APC commands the largest share of registered party members in Imo — larger by far than rival parties — is itself noteworthy. Other parties do not boast anything close to a fraction of this membership base. In a polity where grassroots mobilisation matters, such a huge advantage cannot be dismissed lightly.
Critics sometimes latch onto isolated anecdotes or selective observations to make broad claims about governance failures. But effective critique requires a balanced weighing of evidence: recognising legitimate areas for improvement while also acknowledging accomplishments. To characterise civic engagement as abysmal when hundreds of thousands have actively affiliated with a party; to dismiss electoral victories as hollow without engaging with robust vote margins; to deride policy initiatives without examining their impact on everyday lives — such approaches risk devolving into strawman arguments that do little to elevate public discourse.
In Imo State, as elsewhere, the democratic journey is continuously unfolding, and the challenges are real. Few roads still need fixing, some services still need scaling, some opportunities still need broadening, yet the government of the day has exceeded expectations. The empirical record — in party membership, in electoral performance, in concrete policy action — suggests a state in which political engagement and governance are dynamic and substantive. To overlook these realities is to misunderstand both the character of Imolites and the contours of contemporary statecraft in Nigeria’s South-East. And in situations like this, only the truth can set one free from infantile and puerile fascinations and conjectures of falsehood.
MacDonald Ebere, PhD, is the APC Chairman of Imo State. He is an Expert in Practical Political Philosophy and writes from Owerri.
