By Okechukwu Anarado
It is a popular conclusion in political discourses that the Wednesday, 23 June, 2021 result of the All Progressives Grand Alliance party primary election which produced Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo as the party’s candidate for the November 6, 2021 Anambra State gubernatorial poll positioned the party for a resounding victory in the election. Long before the primary election, a cross section of Ndi-Anambra freely expressed hope that the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, would present the erudite professor of developmental economics as Governor Willie Obiano’s most eminent successor come March 17, 2022. The party delegates duly kept faith with the wish of the overwhelming majority of Ndi-Anambra by endorsing Soludo’s candidacy.
The All Progressives Grand Alliance would have firmly entrenched itself as the leading political party in Anambra State. It has not only held political power in the state in the past 15 years, its acceptance by Ndi-Anambra has proved to be on the ascent by the day. Indeed, Anambra’s political temperament is principally measured by the activities of APGA or the collateral effects of other parties’ activities on APGA’s bearing.
APGA’s sophistication in the choice of candidates for general elections is put to test every poll season, particularly at elections the results of which the people consider of immediate relevance to their wellbeing: the State House of Assembly and the gubernatorial polls; and the Local Government election when it holds. Since the party assumed the centre stage in Anambra politics, Ndi-Anambra have not compromised their preferences for and allegiances to it. And to its credit, APGA enjoys the good fortune of always presenting credible candidates to execute its people-oriented development schemes in the state’s governance. The popularity is well earned therefore. Truly, a good number of Ndi-Anambra, not minding their professed political affiliations, express inherent trust in APGA to provide sane political leadership that detracts from what obtained before APGA happened in the state in 2006. Awake to this noble responsibility, APGA has continued to well-up the people’s passion for the party; a party they jealously behold as an authentic vessel that could be deployed in negotiating the place of the Igbo race in a fledgling Nigeria nation. They consider their intimacy with APGA as an obligation. The party, being a cherished bequest from Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, continues to leverage on its totemic dispositions as a sign of Ojukwu’s immortality.
Without intending to underestimate the efforts of other political parties to upstage APGA’s dominance in the state, the unveiling political events towards the gubernatorial poll of November, 6 put APGA on a clearer stead for sustained dominance of the state’s political space. Though the theatrics and usual anxieties attendant to electioneering for gubernatorial polls in the state might appear heightened by the convoluted demeanours of a confluence of antithetical political forces across party lines, the underpinning trust in APGA’s capacity again took flesh in the result of the party’s primary that nullified the plot of the conspiratorial gang to scuttle Soludo’s emergence as APGA’s flag-bearer in the gubernatorial election. With Soludo’s candidature attained, it is common knowledge that the summation of his brilliant pedigree and APGA’s compelling appeal assures resounding APGA victory come November 6, 2021.
The festering in-house subterfuges and sundry intrigues in the camps of other major opposition parties in Anambra State, evidenced in their riddled attempts at conducting party primaries, aggregate them as irredeemable feeble opposition incapable of challenging APGA’s electoral supremacy.
A bird’s-eye view of Governor Willie Obiano’s thoughts on his wish to be succeeded by Professor Chukwuma Soludo, and the kernel in Soludo’s acceptance speech after his victory in the party’s primary election gives assurances of Anambra’s surefooted march to great civilization.
Soludo acknowledges the ‘infinite possibilities and opportunities’ in Anambra, and he is determined ‘to unite and mobilize the creative energies and capital of our people (Ndi-Anambra) all over the world as well as other investors to live out the essence of our motto: ‘Light of the Nation’. In his words, ‘I hope to deploy all the global and national experiences and networks, as well as local knowledge/experiences as a village boy to make you (Ndi-Anambra) proud.’ He further said that as a pronounced Pan-Africanist, he will ‘work with leaders in the South East and Nigeria to create that next Nigeria that will be the pride of the black race.’
The incumbent governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, saw all these in Soludo hence his unequivocal preference for the distinguished economist to succeed him. And Governor Obiano would seal his support for Soludo thusly, ‘Let us rally round Professor Soludo who will do far better than all previous governors of Anambar State, including me.’ An honest humble submission of a governor, whose uncommon attainments on the seat assured him a choice recognition when the history of good governance in Anambra State is written.
Take these to the bank! Anambra State is on the march to greater heights. The All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, holds the ace. Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo is the assurance!
Anarado writes from Adazi-Nnukwu