As reactions continue to trail the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship candidate, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo’s comments that time had passed when a school certificate holder could become governor of the state, former Imo State Commissioner for Information, Chief Elvis Agukwe has blasted the ex-Central Bank of Nigeria governor.
He said the outburst by Soludo showed that he could not work under pressure, noting that the framers of Nigeria’s constitution knew why they made the secondary school certificate qualification for the post of governor.
Agukwe wondered why a professor who should be a role model was enmeshed in such unguarded utterance.
For the avoidance of doubt, the politician urged Soludo to withdraw from the race since he is too qualified for it.
He said: “I reject that assertion and I demand that Soludo withdraws that statement or apologise for that unfortunate statement. Is WAEC bad? The framers of our grundnorm or constitution did not envisage professors coming to aspire for governorship; they would have put it there.
“But, what has Soludo achieved to uplift poor Anabrarians? High educational qualifications is not enough. Anambra people are hardworking people. Few supporting that statement are very unfortunate. I least expected Soludo to be credited with that unfortunate statement.
“Unfortunately, Soludo is still struggling for qualification for the guber contest
Those close to him should advise him to desist from such statements in future.
Silence should have been golden in this case.
“These are the reasons why Soludo should withdraw from the guber contest; he is too qualified for it. Governorship is not for people who pride themselves with high academic qualifications. These are the reasons why people don’t take him seriously.”
Soludo’s campaign organization has said that he did not denigrate people with lower certificates but merely addressed his opponents.