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From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
Today, March 17, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, would be officially sworn in as the governor of Anambra State, succeeding Chief Willie Obiano who would be successfully completing his eight-year tenure.
Soludo, a professor of economics, was elected governor on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) at the November 6, 2021 election in the state.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) pronounced him governor-elect after polling the highest number of votes cast and, of course, meeting other requirements of the law.
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Valentine Ozigbo, came second while Senator Ifeanyi Ubah of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) came fourth.
Until a court in Abuja ruled that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had no candidate in that poll due to its messy primary election, Senator Andy Uba was in possession of the ‘trophy’ for the third position.
Soludo’s expected swearing-in today will officially bring to an end Obiano’s uninterrupted two tenures of four years each which many people hold varying opinions about.
To some people, especially the former governor of the state, Mr Peter Obi, and some of his supporters, Obiano performed very badly. They don’t seem to see anything spectacular about the latter’s performance.
In fact, the former governor who later became the 2019 Vice Presidential candidate of the PDP openly held the opinion that his successor, whom he actually contributed largely in making governor, did not deserve a second term.
The VP candidate, who was the first governor APGA ever produced in the state and the country as a whole, reportedly left the party allegedly as demanded by his successor, Obiano, and the then National Chairman of the party, Chief Victor Umeh.
It was gathered that Umeh was more instrumental to Obiano’s emergence as their party’s governorship candidate before the 2013 poll than Obi did.
Stories had it that the ex-APGA boss struck a deal with Obiano behind Obi’s back in faraway United States of America (USA) before suggesting to Obi to consider him as his successor since the two of them worked together at the Fidelity Bank Plc.
The governor, at the time, was said to have preferred either Idigo or Obaze but was outsmarted by Umeh who planned ahead apart from just having some degree of power to determine whose name he would submit to INEC as his party’s governorship candidate.
Before the 2013 primary election of APGA, Obi was quoted as saying that he had no interest in choosing his successor but when the primary poll of their party was close, for reasons not quite clear, he reportedly developed interest in Idigo and later Oseloka Obaze.
But before then, their party’s National Chairman had reportedly discussed with Obiano who was resting in the USA, enjoying his retirement from the bank where he last served as an executive director.
To ensure that Obiano emerged the governorship candidate of their party, the screening committee disqualified Soludo whom many APGA faithful believed had the capacity to, not only win the primary poll but also the main election.
In fact, the former Deputy National Secretary of the party, Chief Jerry Obasi, accused Umeh of having a hand in Soludo’s disqualification that year.
“The committee that disqualified Soludo was the screening committee. My committee was the one for primaries. So, the blame has to go to, first and foremost to Chief Victor Umeh who gave the instruction or who called the shots”, Obasi claimed.
The former party scribe, who has since dumped APGA for the PDP, said that while Obi was dilly-dallying in choosing his successor, Umeh was busy hatching plans that would guarantee him strong grip on the party even after leaving office as chairman.
“What happened was this. Peter Obi had his dream, his political geography for APGA whereas Chief Victor Umeh had his own political geography for the same party. And you know very well that history has it on record that Obiano worked for Obi as a director in Fidelity Bank before he moved to Texaco or whether from Texaco to Fidelity Bank.
“In the midway, Obi had his own idea of what he wanted for APGA and his special candidate as at that time was not Obiano. Obi wanted one of his appointees, Idigo or Obaze. But Umeh had wanted an APGA that would continue to be under his watch even after being National Chairman”, Obasi further explained.
Whether Umeh, who later became a senator for Anambra Central Senatorial Zone through the court’s pronouncement, is still calling the shots in APGA as he had wanted will be a story for another day.
It was not, however, clear at what point the relationship between Obi and Obiano went sour. Stories of their feud emerged shortly after INEC pronounced Obiano the winner of the poll and it later became messier.
To show the seriousness of his stiff opposition to his successor’s continued stay in Agu Awka, Obi strongly supported Mr Obaze in the 2017 governorship poll, after ensuring that he got the PDP ticket. Obiano still won.
The former governor whose feud with his successor reportedly resulted in his exit of APGA allegedly on the demand of Obiano and Umeh, worked very hard to supplant Obiano with Obaze who served his administration as the Secretary to the State Government (SSG).
Fast-forward to 2022 when Obiano would be leaving office. Like the biblical stone which was rejected by the builders, Soludo has today become the chief corner stone in APGA’s building project.
But does the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor have what it would take to govern Anambra in the next four years? Many people believe that he does.
His believers are always quick to point to his positive exploits at the apex bank and other achievements, saying that they believe that he would replicate same in the state.
The erudite professor had, before the election, made it clear that he would transform Anambra like never seen before if given the opportunity to serve. He went on to articulate what he would do in a manifesto he presented to the people.
In that manifesto, he listed education, healthcare, infrastructure, economic transformation, security, sanitation and others as the areas he would look into if elected governor.
“I have traversed the world (lived in Ethiopia, the UK, and the USA and visited 45 other countries on all continents as an itinerant scholar and consultant) and served the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) in numerous capacities.
“At this stage in my life and with excellent health, I believe it is now time for me to give back in full to my immediate community – Anambra State – by devoting all my God-given talents, education, exposure and experience, national and global networks to contribute to leaving my state better than I met it”, he said.
On how he planned to go about it, Soludo said that with smart goals, his plan was based on a deep knowledge of the challenges and a realistic assessment of what could be achieved in Anambra especially in the context of the current and emerging national opportunities and threats.
“They are not the usual political promises. The plan is carefully thought through and costed, and we will aggressively work to mobilize the required resources.
“Our word is our bond: we expect to exceed the targets in the plan. To keep it simple, the various initiatives in our plan are grouped into four major pillars as follows: economic transformation, governance, social agenda and environment”, he stated.
While noting that funding and implementing his plans may have to battle with some challenges, Soludo assured that he would find a way around it. He made it clear that he would not let Ndi Anambra down.
“Funding the audacious agenda can be very challenging, especially in these economic times. Here is where my core competence as a development/monetary/macro economist and a central banker will be critical.
“I will leverage my professional experience and my extensive national and international networks and contacts in the development community to ensure that we mobilize the required funding.
“The plan has been fully costed. It will be funded through a mix of direct state government funding, private sector investments and concessions, project financing, PPP, grants from DFls, counterpart funding from FGN and DFls, and exploiting innovative financing mechanisms offered by the FGN such as the Infrastruc-ture Tax Credit scheme, Infrastructure Fund, etc.
“Maximizing Anambra’s access to the various FGN’s investments under the concurrent list will provide supplementary investment financing. With sound credit rating for the state government, there will be easier access to the capital market. Our government will only borrow for bankable projects that will pay back and contribute to the state’s economic transfor-mation.
“The state government direct spending/investment on the plan is estimated at N200 – N250 billion per annum. In addition, we will seek to significantly improve Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by deploying technology to implement a comprehensive revenue improvement strategy which will expand the tax base and also increase ease of paying taxes in the state.
“We will block revenue leakages by improving transparency; create bankable projects that will attract project financing from DFls etc; structure Private Public Partnership (PPP) arrangements to finance projects; and partner with international development agencies and NGOs to attract their technical support and funding to improve the implementation of projects and programmes.
“As a further illustration, we intend to create a special fund, The Anambra State Development Fund (ANSDF) – an investment fund for today’s opportunities, and wealth creation for future generations of Ndi Anambra.
“Our Government will create a N100 billion (approximately US$200 million) fund (in the first instance), and a target to scale up to US$ l billion over time to invest mainly in a diversified portfolio of bankable infrastructure projects and high growth, return-yielding assets relevant to the economy of Anambra.
“ANSDF, with an investment committee comprising of world class industry experts, will raise its own discretionary infrastructure financing and private equity fund in a formal fund structure, attracting external investment capital from both domestic (Ndi Anambra, domestic DFls, etc) and international investors (private equity funds, DFls, Anambra diaspora, etc).
“ANSDF will actively prioritize the provision of equity and quasi-equity to finance eligible projects and companies within the Anambra State economy with a view to accelerating economic growth, creating jobs and deriving dividends or other revenues from such investments.
“ANSDF will have a medium to long term investment time horizon, effectively spanning multiple economic, market and political cycles.
“The objective will be to provide an income-generating asset base for future generations of Ndi Anambra, boost economic growth and create jobs. Government will target to provide initial seed capital for the fund”, Soludo explained.
The ex-CBN boss made it clear that he would consolidate on the achievements of Obiano and also make his own impact on the state. Unlike Obi, Soludo believes that Obiano and his exco members served the state to the best of their abilities.
Soludo passed his verdict on Obiano during the last exco meeting of the outgoing administration held at the newly built International Convention Centre (ICC), Awka where he also presented the Anambra Vision 2070 document to the governor.
“I want to say congratulations to you, Your Excellency, and congratulations to all of you for making it happen. I want to thank all of you. You’ve served Anambra well and the results show.
“From the International Airport to the International Convention Centre, we are here today just saying something about the destination of Anambra, and that is that smart megacity that we will also be an international city, and that’s actually the whole essence of the Vision 2070 which we’ve come to present the plan today.”
Former Nigeria’s president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo believes that Soludo will govern Anambra well. The ex-president, who appointed Soludo the CBN governor, said that the former central banker was one of his best appointees.
“When I decided to make him a central banker, I didn’t know whether he liked it or not but people said ‘well, you have ruined the economy of Nigeria by bringing somebody who knows nothing about banking to be the CBN governor.’
“I said ‘well, let’s see how it will go.’ By the time I left office, the same man came to me and said, ‘one of the best appointments you made was making Chukwuma Soludo the CBN governor’, Obasanjo said.
The representative of Anambra Central Senatorial District, Uche Ekwunife, equally holds the view that the ex-CBN boss will govern the state well. She said that regardless of their party affiliations, she has fair wishes for Soludo as she wants him to succeed.
“Looking at the quality of the man, Soludo, Anambra is expecting to have the best of leadership. Anambra has been so progressive from Ngige to Peter Obi to Obiano and Soludo now.
“We wish him well; we pray for him. Even though he is not from my party but because this is my state, in leadership we are united. Anambra belongs to all of us. We wish him well and I hope that Soludo will come out as a very successful governor”, Ekwunife said.
Obiano, on his part, expressed confidence in the ability of his successor to take the development issues of the state to a higher level. He said that his choice for Soludo had been absolute from day one because he knew that he had the competence and capacity to govern the state well.
Obasi wants the incoming governor to, apart from developing the state, to also foster peace and unity in the party. He said that the party was not being run well and that it has been the bane of the party.
“But my advice for Soludo is this, as the only governor that APGA has, first and foremost, he has to form a truth and reconciliation committee; and it will be founded based on truth because he was once a victim.
“And he is not new to the developing problems of APGA. And for me, I waited till APGA won Anambra State before I made my exit public. So, let it not look as if it is because APGA wins or loses that I want to leave or stay. No. It is straight out of my own conviction and volition. I believe in principles.
“So, Soludo should rebuild APGA to the benefit of those who are still in the party because there are a lot of grievances in the party. And again, he should make direct inroad to the widow of the leader of the party, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and make sure that he is on the same page with her, and that he brings her back to her rightful place in the party.
“All her entitlements that are due to her that the party has refused to give her because of a certain stance that she had taken that is based on truth or truism, they should quickly do that to ensure that she is happy”, he said.
