From Geoffrey Anyanwu, Awka
The purported endorsement of Governor Willie Obiano for a second term by former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo has attracted condemnation.
All Progressives Congress (APC), governorship aspirant in Anambra State, Bart Nwibe, described the endorsement as undemocratic.
Soludo, had, while delivering the Governor Obiano’s Third Anniversary lecture, eulogised the governor on his achievements in three years and urged other aspirants in the governorship election already slated for November 18 to jettison their ambitions and use the money for campaigns to build industries.
Reacting to this, Nwibe said: “I don’t expect Prof. Soludo to say such a thing. Those are the kind of things Tony Anenih used to say in those days. I’m surprised that Soludo could say such, that there is no vacancy, this is democracy. Once there is an election time, there is vacancy, it is going to be a question of you coming to tell the people what you have done.
“So, for somebody to wake up and say there is no vacancy in Awka, it means he is anti democratic, it means he has a hidden agenda. May be he desires that Obiano will handover to him, you never know, but I don’t know his parameter for saying that.
“I also know that some group of people in Old Aguata Union (OAU) where I come from, about six months ago gathered to endorse Obiano. I know there is a scheme that after he does eight years, he is going to handover to somebody, so these things are manifesting.
“When people come and colure their private ambition into public policy statement, it becomes questionable.
“I don’t know the parameter he is using to say he is performing so well. So, lets not mix apple with oranges, if someone says he is this, he has to break it down to something we can understand.
“And my brother Soludo had made some mistakes in the past, I do hope that this is not one of those mistakes. I would think that if he is not interested in participating in the current political dispensation, he should stay calm and let the Anambra people judge. Nobody made him a judge over things.”
Speaking on why he decided to run for the governorship of the state, Nwibe, said there is a gap in leadership in the state, adding that leadership should not be clannish and sectional.
Banking on his background in oil and gas he said: “We hope to make Anambra oil available in commercial quantity. We hope to transform the Orient Petroleum company into a world class. That is my specialty and I know I will do it. It doesn’t cost much; it only requires experience, which the present governor does not have.
“When we fix that, can you imagine the number of businesses that will come with it to the state? Our people will be better confident to bring their businesses back home, and in that way, we will restore it’s economy.”
Counting state government’s claim of attracting $5 billion investment to the state, Nwibe said: “Do they know what $5 billion is? Go and check, foreign direct investment in the entire country within this period Obiano mentioned, I don’t think it is up to $4 billion. Anambra people are capable of many things, but lies should not be part of it. They must stop telling our people lies.