It is no longer news that Bianca, the widow of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, is seeking to get the ticket of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to contest for the Anambra South senatorial seat in the 2019 election.

The matter for the former beauty queen is the numerous hurdles that are standing between her and her quest to achieving her political ambition.

One of the challenges staring the former ambassador of Nigeria to Spain in the face is the formidable opposition in APGA that she must subdue to clinch the ticket and go on to represent the party in the coming election.

Bianca, it was learnt, is very dear to the heart of the state governor, Chief Willie Obiano, to represent her people at the Red Chambers, but majority of the APGA family are said to be against such move.

The late Ojukwu’s wife is contesting for the position in APGA against other solid opponents like the oil magnate, Dr Ifeanyi Ubah and Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu.
Though Bianca has the support of one of the richest men in Anambra, Dr Godwin Maduka and former Governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim among other chieftains, feelers from the party have it that the chairman of Capital Oil and Gas, Ubah is being favoured to grab the ticket.

The other battle confronting the delectable widow of the ex- Biafra warlord, is the internal wrangling with members of her late husband’s family.

Some members of the Ojukwu’s family are reported not to be in good terms with the ex-beauty queen turned politician. Some of them, including Ikemba The Second, Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, are said to be seeing her as a stranger in their family.

Besides, The Nation gathered that some of the family members and APGA faithful, see her as arrogant, pompous and a snub who will never remember any of them if she wins any election.

In spite of the numerous rivers she has to cross, political observers in the state believe that Bianca still has some things working for her. “ Though she may not be an oil magnate or a money bag, being the widow of Ojukwu and being the daughter of the late former governor of the old Anambra State, Chief Christian C Onoh, endears her to many of us. Again, Mrs Ojukwu, who is a lawyer is the most qualified among the contestants and has the pedigree and mien to wrestle the ticket from the others,” said a chieftain of the party loyal to Bianca who did not want his name in print.

The fate of Bianca Ojukwu, as it stands, is hanging in the balance, as the people of Nnewi are said not to be in support of her ambition since their son, Dr Ubah is also in the race.

But the wife of the late Ikemba appeared unruffled as she is said to be convinced that majority of the people, especially the youths, are solidly behind her aspirations.

• Excerpted from The Nation report

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