BY BEN NWACHUKWU AND MAYOWA SAMUEL
As the race for the next Governor of Anambra State gathers steam, attention has now shifted to the four front-runners, who analysts call the real contenders to replace Governor Willie Obiano.
The election, according to schedules released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, is to hold on November 6, 2021. The four front-runners are Chukwuma Soludo of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance, Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party, Andy Ubah (All Progressives Congress) and Ifeanyi Ubah (Young Progressives Party).
CHUKWUMA SOLUDO
Prof Chukwuma Soludo, who will be 61 on the 28th of this month, is the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance for the November 6, election in the state. He hails from Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra South.
A First-Class Economist and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, he has also worked as a lecturer.
Soludo’s political adventure began in 2003 when he was appointed as the Chief Economic Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Planning Commission of Nigeria.
In May 2004, he became the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. He is currently a member of the President Muhammadu Buhari 8-member Economic Advisory Council.
For Soludo, this is not his first attempt at the top job in Anambra State. In 2010, he campaigned for the position but lost to Peter Obi during the elections.
What he has going for him are many. Soludo is from Anambra South like the other three front-runners. He is a very popular and renowned economist.
He enjoys the support of the incumbent governor and the ruling party, APGA. Naturally, financing his campaign should not be a problem since the government of the day would want to do everything legally permissible to retain the state. Anambra is the only state governed by APGA, therefore, one can safely say that Obiano will stop at nothing to ensure that the party retains the state.
Soludo had in what was described as a landslide victory, polled 740 votes out 795 accredited delegates to defeat three other aspirants during the primary conducted at the Prof Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka, in June, by the Court recognised Victor Oye-led faction of the party.
Governor Obiano has also assured the party’s teeming supporters that APGA will win the November 6 poll.
But his emergence has not been without controversy. As soon as he was announced as the flag bearer for the party in Awka, the other faction of the party, led by Jude Okeke, almost instantly announced Soludo’s suspension over alleged anti-party activities in Abuja, notwithstanding the fact that the court had recognised the Oye-led group.
The Okeke group has shown no sign of let up, and this may constitute a distraction for him. Apart from that, Soludo had a taste of the nasty and risky aspects of Nigerian politics during his quest to secure the candidacy of the APGA. He was attacked at a public function where he had gone to deliver a lecture to about 1000 youths by gunmen, who killed three policemen attached to him and abducted the state Commissioner for Public Utilities, Emeka Ezenwanne. Soludo survived the unpleasant ordeal.
There is no doubt that Soludo enjoys popular support in the state as far as this governorship election is concerned. But he is set to do this 100 metres dash to Government House, Awka, against three others, who are equally acknowledged as ‘super stars’ in their own right.
VALENTINE OZIGBO
Valentine Ozigbo, a respected Nigerian business leader, is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party. He is the immediate past President and Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp Plc. Ozigbo comes into the race as one of the favourites.
Born in Umuomaku in Old Aguata, Orumba, Anambra South Senatorial Zone, Ozigbo is an accountant, former banker, and Chevening scholar with an MBA.
Ozigbo has been on this project for about two years, engaging with the grassroots. He is a highly celebrated award-winning global CEO.
As the President and Group CEO of Transcorp Plc, he transformed the fortunes of Transcorp Hotel Plc, making the hotel the best business hotel in Africa. He is generally seen as a formidable force among the four.
First, he comes to the table with intimidating credentials and a profile that matches any aspirants that the other parties have presented in the race.
With the manner in which he conducted his campaign before the primary, Valentine Ozigbo earned the respect and endorsement of high profile personalities like the first governor of the state, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, a highly respected personality among the Igbo. He has also received the endorsement of the eight catholic bishops in Anambra State.
Ozigbo hails from Anambra South Senatorial Zone, so zoning favours him. He is described as a bridge builder and unifier, an essential quality required to unite and unify the party towards the general election.
Ozigbo has demonstrated his knack for excellence by building the best and most robust gubernatorial campaign organisation in less than two years. He has the most prominent Anambra politicians in his camp. He has demonstrated that he has what it takes to be a CEO, build from the ground up, and has a track record of prudent management of resources.
Ozigbo is also credited with a deep purse required to prosecute his gubernatorial campaign. Valentine Ozigbo belongs to the billionaire class of Nigerian business entrepreneurs, and he is said to be close to prominent Forbes-listed billionaires in Nigeria.
IFEANYI UBAH
The YPP governorship candidate, Ifeanyi Ubah, emerged as the candidate from a primary election that did not witness any rancour in the state.
He is the sitting senator representing Anambra South Senatorial Zone, which produced the other three candidates – APC’s former senator, Andy Ubah; PDP’s Val Ozigbo and Chukwuma Soludo.
Ifeanyi Ubah, like the other contenders, is a multi-billionaire whose antecedents in Anambra politics goes back to his days with the PDP and then APGA before the emergence of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The Nnewi born politician has all it takes to compete with the three other candidates in terms of financial capacity, popularity and public acceptance. His business as an oil and gas magnate has created employment and wealth for the youths of not only his senatorial zone but Anambra State as a whole.
Beyond being an oil magnate, he is into grassroots empowerment with his football club – Ifeanyi Ubah Football Club. It has created employment for numerous youths. He has not hidden his ambition to govern the state and has, therefore, attempted it in the past but failed to secure the ticket of those parties before decamping to YPP, his present party, which helped him actualise the ambition of becoming a senator.
Nevertheless, the big question is: will Anambrarians vote him as their Governor and so entrust their future in his hands? Does he have the touch that will turn the fortune of the state around for better and make it an enviable state among the committee of states?
The answers to these pertinent questions can only be answered by Anambrarians on November 6.
Ubah knows the intrigues of Anambra politics and is capable and willing to play it to the fullest not really minding how it would later pan out. Anambra politics is, however, a peculiar political terrain where one does not become a Governor, a Senator, House of Representatives or House of Assembly member because of his personal efforts.
Political analysts have always described Anambra politics as the multi-billionaire game where billionaires show their affluence thereby turning it to moneybags politicking.
The YPP candidate may have one weak point capable of working against his ambition and that simply is the party on which platform he is running for the post.
YPP is relatively younger and lesser in strength compared to the other three big and established parties, therefore, when election gets to where the strength of political parties will play a major role, YPP might fail to supply the much needed oxygen to support the candidate.
However, being a sitting senator over the other candidates gives him an added advantage because he is controlling a senatorial zone, and if he plays his game very well, he would have been home and dry with the Anambra South Senatorial Zone. He is a shrewd politician whose involvement in Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) shook the foundations of the country.
His ability to win the Anambra South Senatorial seat in 2019, amidst stiff opposition from the top parties is a proof that he is not a pushover in the forthcoming election.
Recall that he defeated the candidate of the ruling party, APGA; as well as the APC sitting senator and now governorship candidate, Andy Ubah.
ANDY UBAH
The APC governorship candidate, Andy Ubah, has intimidating credentials going into the November 6, Anambra State governorship election.
As a former Special Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former two times senator, candidate of the ruling party at the federal level and one-time winner of the Anambra governorship election in 2007 before losing out in the law court, he is well-positioned.
Ubah’s emergence as the APC candidate has been trailed by controversies and contestations. As of the time of filing this report, 11 out of the 14 aspirants in that primary election are protesting, claiming that there was no election. But that would only be ratified by the party through its Appeals Committee or the Judiciary, may be after the November 6 election.
In any case, Ubah, like everyone of the big four, has all that it will take to contest effectively in the forthcoming election – financial capacity, popularity and accessibility. But how well his party is accepted in the state is a huge question.
Coming from the Anambra South Senatorial Zone that believes that by the gentleman’s agreement, it is their turn to produce the next governor of the state, his popularity among Anambrarians from Central and East senatorial zones may give him an edge over others.
He needs to intensify his campaign in these two senatorial zones bearing in mind that the South Senatorial Zone is the battle ground where the spoil will be shared among the four as they are all from the zone.
Ubah can also count on the ‘Federal might’ to cruise into the Anambra State Government House but he needs to be a popular candidate first. Also, his relationship with the multi-billionaires, who form the godfathers of Anambra politics and spend their money to decide where the pendulum should swing, is said to be very cordial.
Certainly, the former senator knows what it takes to contest in the elections for the Anambra governorship, having been on it before. He made allusion to it when he returned the nomination form as he declared, “I am not a rookie.”
