By Ebuka Onyekwelu, Ph.D
Until the recent primary election of the National Democratic Party- NDC, in Idemili North and South Federal Constituency, not many knew Engineer Eric Anyamene, an American-trained engineer of outstanding credentials. In this exclusive conversation, Engr. Eric spoke of the hand of God in his life and how hard work and providence have combined to make him ‘someone’. In 1996, as an undergraduate student of the University of Portharcourt, Eric won the US lottery and relocated to the United States, where he later became a successful computer systems and information management engineer who rose to the position of Vice President of a global firm in the United States before returning to Nigeria on invitation to serve. Since his return in 2013, he has been a part of the Nigerian government at various levels. For about a decade, Engr. Eric has served as a senior aide on projects and later as a senior aide on ICT to the former FCT Minister. Thereafter, he served as a senior aide multilateral to Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, and also as a senior aide on Strategy to Governor Bala Mohammed. He has also participated in high-stakes national political conversations, yet maintained a focused gaze and healthy profile, dotted by strategic relationships across the board.
Two weeks ago, Engr. Eric Anyamene emerged as the candidate of the NDC for Idemili North and South Federal Constituency in a tightly contested primary election, and since then, so many people have wondered how he could “come from nowhere” and defeat the incumbent, Hon. Uchenna Okonkwo, more so, one who is widely considered an ally of the party’s presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi. Yet, the position of the party is that Eric won the primary election fair and square from all available evidence and has been issued the party’s nomination form for the federal constituency as the candidate of the party. Looking at the events of the last two weeks, Eric said he has seen many people questioning who he was or who his father was. “Well, if I am the son of a nobody, I am now somebody,” he said, pointing to how God’s mercies have changed his story.
Ahead of the 2027 General Elections, Eric had joined the NDC after the initial court issues with the ADC showed the party might not be a viable vehicle to convey members’ political aspirations successfully. So, he joined the NDC, and with the existing good relationship he has with the National Leader of the party, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, his move to the NDC was quickly matched with a charge to mobilize members for the party in Anambra State. With that, he was given a clear mandate by the party’s national leadership to move in and mobilize both party membership and leadership in Anambra State. At that time, “there was no hope of anyone coming into the party,” Eric said. However, as providence may have it, more than three weeks of mobilizing members for the party in Anambra, Mr. Peter Obi and Engr. Rabiu Kwankwaso and their team joined the party. “The day they came, I was with Senator Dickson in his house, and we received them warmly. I have had a good relationship with our Presidential candidate before then,” Engr. Eric said.
According to him, before the party’s primary, he had, with his team under the aegis of Eric Anyamene Foundation, massively mobilized and registered over 3,300 members for NDC in Idemili North local government and over 1, 300 members in Idemili South local government. “I am from Idemili North, and out of the 6 aspirants for the House of Representatives seat, we only had 2 aspirants from Idemili North; the other 4 are from Idemili South. You can see that from the work we already had put into the party and the numbers we had in Obosi ward (over 2,000 registered party members), the mandate given to me by our party members is not a surprise. Politics is about numbers. People came out in their numbers and voted massively for me,” Eric said, insisting that the video evidence of what transpired at the various collation centers speaks for itself, and there was no way such an overwhelming support given freely by the party members could be overturned.
On why he chose the Idemili North and South federal constituency instead of the FCT, Eric said he wants to serve his people. “I contested because I want to serve my people. I know what we can do with the platform. I promise Ndi Idemili that in the first 100 days, there will be a scorecard,” Engr. Eric Anyamene reassured.
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