Oduah was also high-profile due to her ongoing corruption trial, the Pandora Papers revealing that she suspiciously purchased multiple London properties, and multiple defections—she joined the APC in August 2021 (allegedly in exchange for AGF Abubakar Malami stalling her corruption trial) before rejoining the PDP in April 2022 ahead of senatorial primaries.

In his acceptance speech, Nwankwo thanked party leadership and asked his former opponents to work with him; however, Umeh refused before defecting to the LP to obtain its senatorial nomination.

[33] Analysis from prior to the official campaign period categorized the election as a four-way race between Okelekwe, Nwankwo, LP nominee Victor Umeh, and Ekwunife.

For Soludo, his purported support for Ekwunife despite their different parties was reportedly based on his wish to stem the rise of the Anambra LP, doubts that APGA's Nwankwo could defeat Umeh, returning a favour to Ekwunife (who reportedly backed Soludo's gubernatorial campaign), and building relationships within the PDP in case he opts to return to the party.

[35] However, a Federal High Court ruling on 27 January removed Umeh as the LP nominee based on uncertainty over timing of his party membership.

[40] On 29 May, the rescheduled primary was held at the Chuba Ikpeazu Township Stadium in Onitsha and resulted in the victory of Ebelechukwu Obiano—the former state First Lady and wife of former Governor Willie Obiano.

[45] Oduah herself was also embroiled in controversy as not only did her sudden return to the PDP anger some party members, reports emerged two days before the primary that she did not complete the mandatory National Youth Service Corps program and had lied about it for years.

[51] Analysis from prior to the official campaign period categorized the election as a three-way race between Obiano, Oduah, and LP nominee Tony Nwoye; Anaozuonwu was not included due to APC "infighting."

Pundits noted Obiano's high-profile while First Lady along with her public fight with Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, that Nwoye was expected to be boosted by the Peter Obi presidential campaign, and Oduah's divisive senatorial tenure.

[60] In review of the campaign in December 2022, reporting from The Nation categorized the election as a five-way race between Umeoji, Azubogu (pending litigation over the APGA primary), Uba, and Ubah along with Obinna Uzoh of the ascendant Labour Party.

Aside from legal issues, Azubogu was accused of being a "serial defector" due to his multiple party switches in two years with analysts claiming that some APGA supporters had not fully accepted him.

The Uba campaign also faced difficulties uniting his party along with continued negative perceptions of him due to his role in political violence in the early 2000s.