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From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
If there were politicians who picked a few valuable lessons from the 2023 General Elections and all the events surrounding them, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo appears to be one of them.
That poll, which was keenly contested by many candidates across party lines, recorded a high level of youth participation like never seen before in recent history.
Before then, particularly counting from 1999, many young people were usually reluctant about elections in the country.
On election days, they usually flooded football pitches, viewing centres, betting shops and such other places, arguing that previous polls never reflected the true wishes of the people.
But after the late Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year reign as President from 2015 to 2023, many youths saw the need to get involved in the electoral processes of the country.
Gravely dissatisfied with Buhari’s bizarre performance and harshly hit by widespread poverty and insecurity that it gave birth to, many young people finally woke up from their slumber in 2023, deciding to take their destiny in their own hands.
Out of the 18 presidential candidates that contested that year’s election, the youths considered the former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, as their best choice for the country’s top job.
Obi’s messages in the build up to that year’s poll resonated with the youths and even many older people who gave him massive support before and during the poll. That organic support gave birth to what was then and is still today known as Obidient Movement.
Obi who contested the presidential poll on the platform of the Labour Party (LP) won Anambra State with ease; sweeping and raking in, virtually all the valid ballots cast at the poll.
He contested on the platform of a less popular party which many believe did not have the necessary political structures needed to win an election, yet cleared two out of the three senatorial seats in the state.
He didn’t stop there. He also won six out of the 11 House of Representatives’ seats and also won eight House of Assembly seats at the time.
The tragic death of Justice Azuka trimmed that number to seven. Until his demise, he represented Onitsha North 1 Constituency.
He was kidnapped on the eve of 2024 Christmas and on February 6, 2025 his body was discovered in the bush near the Second Niger Bridge.
Unfortunately, his wife, Justina, who contested the August 16 By-Election to replace him on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) lost to Ifeoma Mimi Azikiwe, candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
The senatorial zones cleared by Obi’s Labour Party in that 2023 poll were Anambra Central and Anambra North, being represented by Chief Victor Umeh and Dr Tony Nwoye respectively.
Anambra South Senatorial Zone was won by late Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah who contested on the platform of the Young Progressive Party (YPP).
APGA, the ruling party in the state with all the relevant political structures and strong financial muscles, could not secure even one senatorial district. It, however, later won the by-election held this year.
The party’s candidate, Chief Emma Nwachukwu, was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) having secured the highest number of the lawful votes cast.
Results announced at the INEC office in Nnewi North Local Government headquarters in Nnewi town showed that Nwachukwu polled a total of 90,408 votes to defeat Chief Azuka Okwuosa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who secured 19,812 votes, and Donald Amamgbo of the ADC who got 2,889 votes.
Labour Party candidates who rode on Obi’s back into the House of Representatives in 2023 were: Prof. Oby Orogbu (Awka North and South), Ibezimako George Ozodinobi (Njikoka/Dunukofia/Anaocha), and Harris Uchenna Okonkwo (Idemmili North and South).
Others are: Emeka Idu (Onitsha North and South), Udogalanya Peter Aniekwe (Anambra East and West) and Victor Afam Ogene (Ogbaru).
While APGA won four federal constituencies (Aguata, Ihiala, Oyi/Ayamelum, and Nnewi North/Nnewi South/Ekwusigo), the late Ifeanyi Ubah’s less popular party at the time, the YPP, secured Orumba North and South.
The late Ubah is said to be friendly and supportive to young people, and as a result they formed a strong chain of support around his political aspirations. And some of the contestants in his party reaped from it.
Beside the two National Assembly seats (one Senate and one House of Representatives), YPP also cleared three House of Assembly seats largely because of the support it got from the youths and women.
On the flip side, Obidient Movement populated by young people took Obi’s presidential aspiration very seriously and many candidates who contested on the platform of his party, the LP, benefited.
Unfortunately, APGA, which was and still is the ruling party in the state, managed to win four out of the 14 National Assembly seats.
Daily Sun investigations revealed that there were two strong reasons for that poor political outing. First was that the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, was just about a year in office before the 2023 elections, and as such was yet to gain full control of the government.
Soludo, who won the November 6, 2021 Governorship Election, was sworn in on March 17, 2022 whereas the Presidential and National Assembly polls took place on February 25, 2023.
Secondly, the governor’s attack on Peter Obi’s presidential aspiration did not go down well with some people in the state.
On November 14, 2022, Soludo wrote what could pass for an epistle to Obi, telling him plainly that he would not win.
“Let’s be clear: Peter Obi knows that he can’t and won’t win. He knows the game he is playing, and we know too; and he knows that we know”, Soludo had said.
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In the article titled: ‘History beckons and I will not be silent (1), Soludo made it clear that he did not have personal issues with Obi.
“For full disclosure, let me state that Peter Obi and I are not just friends, we call ourselves “brothers”. But we have political differences: he left APGA for PDP after his tenure as Governor while I have remained in APGA since 2013”, Soludo further explained.
But Obi’s supporters would have none of that. They fired back, mobilising human and material resources at their disposal to ensure that Soludo’s party, APGA, performs below expectations.
Somehow they succeeded to some extent. APGA, which ordinarily should have won more National Assembly seats given how far the party had come in the state, managed to win four out of 14.
However, the party bounced back during the House of Assembly polls by winning 16 seats out of 30. The defection of Somtochukwu Udeze increased the number to 17.
Udeze, who represents Ogbaru II Constituency, won his election to the state’s legislature on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Sources said that his defection from the PDP to APGA was tied to the position he occupies today as Speaker of the Assembly as a deal was reached before that move.
A three-term member of the Assembly, Udeze was first elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2019 and 2023 respectively on the platform of the PDP.
He dumped his party for APGA after a meeting between the lawmakers and the Governor during the search for a Speaker.
He was favoured for the post given his legislative experience coupled with the fact that he is from Anambra North Senatorial Zone.
The governor is from Anambra South while his deputy, Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim, is from Anambra Central.
Although Soludo made it clear that he fully understood “the anger of some urban and Diaspora youths and some Nigerians who are dissatisfied with the trajectory of the country”, he said it wouldn’t stop him from saying what he considered to be the “truth” anytime it became necessary.
The Professor of Economics believed that with time, those who did not like the content of his article would come to terms with it. He also believed that his “good work” would win him back the youths before the 2025 Gubernatorial Election.
In August 2024, Soludo launched the second phase of his 1 Youth 2 Skills programme targeted at equipping young people with dual vocational, digital, and entrepreneurial skills which would help make them more useful to themselves and to society.
The programme is implemented through free training, apprenticeships, mentorship, and access to start-up funding provided by the state government.
It provides comprehensive support, including business financing and a one-year mentoring scheme to foster smart entrepreneurs and reduce unemployment in the state, with beneficiaries often forming cooperatives and support groups.
The programme was first launched in October 2022. Its primary mission was to create 1,000 youth millionaires and massively generate private sector jobs annually in the state.
To the governor, it was a formidable strategy to combat youth unemployment while discouraging involvement in social vices that could compromise the state’s security.
In 2023, about 5,000 people who graduated from the programme were empowered with N2 billion as seed capital to start their own businesses.
Speaking shortly after inaugurating the second phase of the initiative at the International Convention Centre, Awka, Soludo said that the programme was targeted at teaching the youths how to create wealth.
“In this second batch, we received 183,000 applications, and over 8,000 people were selected due to limited available spaces”, he said.
Soludo, who noted that a N2 billion grant was disbursed to those who qualified in the last batch, disclosed that another N2.5 billion start-up capital had been set aside for beneficiaries willing to access it through the Anambra Small Business Agency (ASBA).
The Commissioner for Youth Development, Patrick Agha Mba, put the actual figure of the beneficiaries at 8,620.
The Solution Innovation District (SID) headed by Chinwe Okoli, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Innovation and Business Incubation, is also doing a great job in equipping citizens with in-demand tech skills.
Under her leadership, thousands of youths have been trained free of charge on various digital skill areas through Code Anambra, Level-Up Anambra, SHECODES Anambra, Anambra Innovation Week, and SID Academy & Coworking Spaces.
There was also 1MADT (1 Million Anambra Digital Tribe), a campaign targeted at getting one million digital talents in the state trained.
Some of the digital skill areas the youths were trained on are: Web Development (Frontend and Backend), Cloud Computing, Mobile App Development, Machine Learning, Game Development and Artificial Intelligence.
Others were: Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Blockchain Technology, Product Management, Cyber Security, UI/UX Design (Product Design), Digital Marketing and Arduino Programming/Internet of Things.
Beyond that, Soludo has recruited more than 5,000 teachers to address the problem of teacher shortages in public schools; and also recruited nearly 1,000 health workers into various public hospitals.
Currently, Soludo is providing free internet services in public spaces, especially in locations populated by young people. Some of these locations are UNIZIK Temp-Site, Aroma Junction, Book Foundation, and UNIZIK Back Gate among others.
At the moment, arrangements are being made for the recruitment of more workers in the state according to some government sources.
Findings show that Soludo has won the hearts of many young people in the state with all these initiatives designed to empower them. However, these findings will be authenticated on November 8, at the poll.
