By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
This is Charles Soludo’s third attempt at the governorship of Anambra State, and the most promising so far. But the coast is not yet clear for the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor. He faces formidable foes in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who are determined to deprive him of the political diadem.
The APC holds the federal purse and has deployed it to maximum effect. It has poached everyone poachable among Anambra politicians, including the state’s deputy governor, Nkem Okeke.
And without winning any elections in the state, APC has amassed more federal and state lawmakers only next to the ruling APGA.
In the Anambra State House of Assembly, the APC now enjoys the minority party status.
The APC also has the military and police at its beck and call, and could bully its way straight into the Government House in Awka with its ‘federal might.’ This crucial election may not be a fair fight after all.
The APC’s Andy Uba is not the only trouble for Soludo. Valentine Ozigbo enjoys the momentum of contesting on the platform of the PDP, a party whose traditional home is Anambra until Peter Obi took the wind from their sail in 2005 when he became the first governor to run the state on the platform of APGA. The same Peter Obi is trying to return the state to the PDP.
Obi was the Vice-Presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2019 election. And with the sentiment of the Igbo presidency taking the front seat ahead of the 2023 election, and Obi being the top on the list, Ozigbo may just profit from that flow. Time will tell.
But Soludo is the man well equipped for the job. In 2009, the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, a professor of economics, made his first attempt at the governorship of Anambra State. He missed the target, coming a distant third.
In that election, Obi had polled 97,833 votes, far ahead of his closest rival, Chris Ngige of the Action Congress (AC) who scored 60,240. Soludo polled 59,355 votes as the candidate of the PDP.
In 2013, he made another attempt at the governorship, but on the platform of APGA. He was not even allowed to contest the primary election. APGA leaders rigged him out of the contest even before the commencement of the primaries.
On this third attempt, Soludo, a top-notch economist who consistently finished top of his class with First Class in all his academic pursuits, could easily be handed the victory if politics were for the most intellectually prepared. Unfortunately, that is not the requirement for the job in Nigeria.
But with all the legal hurdles that have been thrown along his path finally removed by the Supreme Court, the former university don still remains the man to beat on November 6.