GRASSROOTS POLITICS: THE EXAMPLE OF BRIDGET ANYAFULU

The APC House of Assembly member representing Oshimili South in Delta State is making a difference, reckons IKE OKONTA

It is not the happiest of seasons for the All Progressives Party (APC). The party is presently being castigated by journalists and civil society activists for attempting to impose a one-party state on Nigerians. Even so, there are elements within the APC that have since 2023 become shining examples of what good grassroots politics should be about.

Bridget Anyafulu, the APC House of Assembly member representing Oshimili South in Delta State is just one of them. There is a popular saying that all politics is local. Honourable Anyafulu is the very embodiment of this saying. Interestingly, the majority of her constituents live in Asaba, capital of Delta State. Even so, Anyafulu’s take on politics has a local, eyeball-to-eyeball flavour. From waste disposal to healthcare to seeing that roads in the inner part of the city are properly maintained, you will see Bridget Anyafulu on the road, taking the concerns of her constituents to the relevant authorities.

Most visitors to the constituency make the mistake of thinking that Oshimili South is composed of only Asaba city. There are the Oko towns and Okwe too, and here the concerns of the residents are largely rural and agricultural. Bridget Anyafulu visits Oko and Okwe regularly, speaking to farmers and other rural dwellers, finding out what their pressing needs are, and what they want her to do about it. She convenes village hall meetings, urging attendees to speak to her frankly and without inhibition. You will find her in simple dress, a smile playing on her dark lips, trying to put her rural constituents at ease so they could take her into confidence and unburden their concerns.

When the Delta State governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, took the momentous decision in 2025 to take the state government from the Peoples Democratic Party into the ruling All Progressives Congress, some political analysists said that this was a foolhardy step. They pointed out that PDP had been the party of government in the state since 1999 following the return of democratic rule and that voters would punish Governor Oborevwori with their votes. Bridget Anyafulu was part of the mass movement from the PDP to the APC and some of her constituents also felt uneasy that she had abandoned PDP.

But Anyafulu confidently assured her constituents that her movement to the APC along with her governor was a step she thought about deeply and carefully. It is not only that. Anyafulu felt that the majority of her constituents actually wanted her to defect, that PDP was deeply divided, and that it was only a matter of time before the political party fell apart altogether. Anyafulu’s timely move away from the PDP has since been vindicated by events. The PDP has since imploded, with two main factions tearing at each other’s throat. If Anyafulu had waited until the PDP in Delta State collapsed on her head before she bailed out, critics would have dubbed her a political opportunist. Like her governor, she moved at the right time, and in moving, proved that she was a visionary and thoughtful politician.

But moving into a political party is one thing and re-shaping the party to accommodate your political vision and principles is an entirely different thing altogether. Honourable Anyafulu has been quietly working, alongside Governor Oborevwori, to transform the APC in Delta State into a political party that listens to the concerns of ordinary Deltans. Take for example, Governor Oborevwori’s statement in late 2025 that Delta State had been receiving increased federal allocation since 2023 and that he no longer had difficulty in executing public projects. This same sentiment is also at the heart of Bridget Anyafulu’s grassroots politics in Oshimili south. Although she is a legislator and not a member of the executive branch of government, she ensures that projects approved for her constituency are duly and promptly executed and that Asaba residents obtain satisfaction.

Asaba is a multi-ethnic and multireligious city, elements from as diverse as Urhobo, Itsekiri, Isoko, Ijaw and Igbo calling it home. Their needs and concerns are therefore multiple and diverse, warranting Bridget Anyafulu to be on her toes all the time and also adopting a flexibility that speaks to the city’s urban composition. Even so, Anyafulu adopts a hands-on, grassroots approach in dealing with any of her constituents that comes to her office looking for help. This is called ‘retail’ politics, a politics that sees the whole and yet is able to pay attention to the concerns of constituents in their individual needs. Retail politics is actually grassroots politics narrowed down to the individual and his or her concerns, and this is where Bridget Anyafulu excels the most.

To give just one example of Anyafulu’s brand of retail politics, she recently put out a public notice inviting all Asaba residents to Stephen Keshi Stadium for a heath check. They were to be examined by qualified doctors for signs of diabetes, high blood pressure and other non-communicable diseases. Cynics would say that Anyafulu did this to curry votes because the 2027 general elections are near. But those who know her well explained that public healthcare in Asaba and environs has always been a matter close to her heart. Long before she became a legislator, she would visit hospitals in Asaba and inquire about patients who were unable to pay their bills and quietly pay it, without undue publicity.

Yes, elections are around the corner once again and Nigerians will be called upon to exercise their franchise. The 2027 elections promise to be a particularly fractious one, more so as the cost of living bites ever higher and voters are casting about for political parties that best speak to their pressing concerns. Even so, they should think deeply, not really about political parties and their manifestoes, but about particular politicians who have demonstrated through thought and deed that their primary concern is their constituents and how to make them happy. Bridget Anyafulu is one such politician, an example of grassroots politics in Nigeria at its finest.

Dr Okonta is coordinating fellow of New Centre for Social Research, an Abuja based policy think tank