Before delving into the main topic of this opinion, let me quickly comment on the recent issues surrounding the leadership of APGA and INEC controversial listing of a fringe faction of the party on its portal, implying recognition, thus raising serious political concerns.
Short of advising INEC to reverse itself, it’s my opinion that INEC knowing the sensitivity of this case should have waited for the final decision of the Supreme Court and not rely on the ruling of the Court of Appeal, otherwise there is no cause for alarm. APGA is one family. What unites us are much more than the things that divide us. And this is a time to show APGA unity.
As we inch towards the stand-alone Anambra governorship election, scheduled for 2025, several persons are already positioning to become the number one citizen of the state. Among those parading themselves, there are some that are pretenders, some incompetent for the job and some that will be disasters if ever elected.
In this troubling and difficult times, Anambra requires a governor that will consolidate the gains so far made, grow the economy and work for the happiness of the people. In this regard, Prof Soludo stands out as one man with a clear head, clear vision and understand the issues, particularly the daily challenges of the masses.
On the 20th of May 2024, I effectively ended my tour of duty as Transition Chairman, a journey that commenced on the 3rd of August 2022. Within the period we made sacrifices to make Anambra better. In two years, we delivered what could not be delivered in eight years. We are still changing the goal post knowing there are no limits to success despite the antics of solution deniers.
The solution deniers came in different shades from within the party and outside the party. There are those inside the party who think of themselves as more Catholic than the Pope. While acknowledging their past efforts, I will urge they also appreciate that the progress being made requires patience, sacrifice and all hands-on deck. There is time for everything. Time to sow and time to harvest. This is time to work and Soludo is working. Someone told me that he thought Oyeag- Abagana was irredeemable but I proved him wrong. I also thought at a time that Okpoko in Onitsha was a hopeless situation but Soludo proved me and the bookmakers wrong. Visit Okpoko today and see the transformation. The vision of one man.
We also faced opposition from some individuals in the community of clerics, traditional institutions and the business communities. These are people opposed to change and anything that will disrupt their stranglehold on the resources desperately needed to return teachers back to the classrooms in public schools; because they operate private schools, they oppose any attempt to make public schools to function optimally.
Some became angry solution deniers because the governor was providing life changing skills for jobless youths that were before now ready-made thugs, prostitutes and sometimes paid for hire murderers. The tax payer’s money was needed to fix the roads, provide clean potable waters, fix the hospitals, deliver on free antenatal care and resolve many other issues faced by the people. As the governor kept pressing on his agenda to make the homeland safe and prosperous, they kept fighting him and I envisage them continuing in their fight as he persists in pushing forward his agenda.
As a proud and fierce solutionist that I am, I was a witness to how Mr. Governor waves off pressures, and how some people kept on coming to him to tell him “how a bad politician he is”. “How his predecessors behaved to get re-elected” and of-course how “he needs to carry them along” – euphemism for handing over the keys of the treasury to them.
Sometimes these words get to me, and any opportunity I had to speak to him on some of the issues, as he has often repeated told me, “I applied for this job and the people hired me. I committed to serve ndi Anambra. I promised this when I ran. And I’m going to deliver on my promise”.
Soludo wasn’t a cipher, he is a messenger. On every of his campaign runs from his first governorship attempt, he has always stuck to a particular message. Anambra is in a mess and can be made better. He is conscious that the old order needs to be deconstructed, and that the deconstruction will be met with opposition which require that he will say more ‘NO’ than ‘YES’.
If he gives you his words, you know he is going to honour it. To succeed, he needs to fight his way through, and that was what I did in Njikoka. You cannot turn our chaotic state to Dubai and Taiwan without a fight. I am proud that the governor is holding on strong.
Anambra is a state with great economic potential. We are a state with a culture that unites us, so we need to team up to make it safe, liveable and prosperous. Governor Soludo is passionate about Anambra, he cares about the people and how his leadership impacts on them. He sings the Anambra anthem with delight and shows his allegiance to our common goal. This was why he hired 5000 teachers and another set of 3000 coupled with his massive financial youth empowerment programme. Our job for the 20 months that we served as Transition Chairmen was to effectively take the solution agenda out to the people at the grassroots.
For those wondering about my political future, I need not leave that to any further speculations. I love this game, I love the transformation going on in the state and glad I was part of it. I will continue to contribute to the success of the solution agenda
At this moment, the future of our progressive party and political survival of the governor are interwoven and conjoined. If you love Anambra, you must set partisan politics aside and support another four years of Soludo as governor.
I acknowledge the governor is not perfect and no one is. There are still some areas that require improvement. I am confident he will address those gaps in less than no time.
I will not turn my back on him. At the same time, I urge ndi- Anambra not to turn their back on him. To all those that served with me we owe our allegiance to the Solution agenda and the re-election of Governor Soludo for second term.
I believe in him and admire his courage and commitment to deliver on his manifesto. All we need is to come together as people and in the spirit of Anambra, unite behind him.
In Anambra we have an unwritten rule on zoning which the people has come to respect, and it seems that this is an arrangement that has come to stay. The zoning system was instituted by former governor Peter Obi who was from the Central. On completion of his tenure, he impressed it on ndi Anambra that the next governor will come from the North. Despite some feeble marginal opposition, the people voted for zoning. That experiment produced Governor Obiano from the North as beneficiary. The North like the Central held office for eight years. Upon completion of his tenure, Qbiano respected the unwritten accord by transferring power to the South with Governor Soludo. It is expected that the South will complete eight years, after which power shall be yielded to the Central.
The only way to sustain this accord is to allow Gov Soludo to complete the eight years of the North. Anything other than this will cost a disruption which will not just hurt the Central, but the state will not recover from such disruption. It is in the interest of all that the unwritten zonal accord is respected. I therefore urge all desperate and ambitious politicians to take a pulse of the people and lower their ambition because there will be no vacancy in 2025.