Soludo’s Lifetime Opportunity

BRIEFINGNOTES

With the masses’ growing disenchantment with the political class as manifested in voter apathy during elections, the emergence of Prof. Charles Soludo, a globally acclaimed technocrat, as the next governor of Anambra State should be seen as a lifetime opportunity by the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to transform the state and renew people’s faith in government, Ejiofor Alike writes

The journey of the governor-elect of Anambra State, Prof. Charles Soludo to the Government House, Awka, started in 2009 when he sought and got the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to contest against the then incumbent governor of the state, Mr. Peter Obi.

However, in the February 6, 2010 governorship election, Obi was re-elected on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Obi trounced the former CBN governor, who came third and a former governor of the state, Senator Chris Ngige, who was Obi’s closest rival.

Ngige flew the flag of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

As a democrat, Soludo, who is not one of the career do-or-die politicians, had quickly conceded victory to Obi, stressing that the election was not a fight between himself and Obi, but about the future of the state.

Despite losing the election, Soludo did not give up as he sought to contest the APGA’s governorship ticket for the November 16, 2013 governorship election in the state.

But the party’s screening committee refused to clear him and five other contenders.

Those who failed the screening were Emmanuel Nweke, Ogbuefi Tony Nnacheta, Chinedu F. Idigo, Dr. Chike Obidigbo, Mr. Oseloke Obaze and Soludo.

The Chairman of the Gubernatorial Screening Panel, Alhaji Tayo Sowunmi had explained that the reasons for the non-clearance of the unsuccessful aspirants were contained in the provisional certificates issued to them.

Out of the 13 aspirants contesting under the party, only seven scaled through the hurdle at the conclusion of the screening exercise which took place between August 15 and 16, 2013 at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

The successful aspirants include, Hon. Chukwuemeka Emmanuel Nwogbo, Paul Odenigbo, Hon. Uche Lillian Ekwunife, Chief Willie Obiano, Mr. John Nwosu, John Okechukwu Emeka and Nwachi Patrick Obianwu.

With the backing of the then Governor Obi, Obiano won the primary election and the main election.

As a democrat, Soludo accepted the decision of the screening panel and remained in APGA.

Shortly after facing the panel, he had explained that he left PDP for APGA to help build the party and not to run for governor.

The former CBN governor had also explained that he joined the PDP by accident.

“APGA is the only political party in Nigeria that talks about true federalism. No other political party aspires to bring true federalism to Nigeria. No other political party talks about revenue allocation, physical federalism that would allow each region or state to develop according to its own space. There is no other political party that talks about competition,” he reportedly explained.

“I joined PDP by accident. I did not belong to any political party before I was appointed as the president’s Chief Economic Adviser and CEO of National Planning Commission which is more like a Minister of National Planning.

He also said he had to quit the PDP because it was not a political party but a mere platform to grab power.

On whether he would still remain in APGA if he fails to pick the party’s ticket, he said, “I am APGA in the morning in the afternoon and in the night. I am in APGA today, I will be in APGA tomorrow, I will be in APGA next year, I will be in APGA for the next seven years to come.”

Indeed, he remained in APGA and eight years later, he emerged as the governor-elect of the state on the platform of the party.

The latest success story of the economist-turned politician began in June 2021 when he won the governorship ticket of the party, under the leadership of Chief Victor Oye.

Soludo polled 740 votes to defeat three other aspirants, Okwudili Ezenwankwo who scored 41 votes, Damian Okolo seven votes, and Ibeh Kenechukwu Christopher who got four votes.

Obiano, who is the party’s BoT Chairman, in his speech, had noted that Soludo would win the November 6, 2021 governorship election in the state.

Soludo, in his speech, had described his emergence as divine, assuring that his administration would consolidate Obiano’s achievement to effect good governance in the state.

However, APGA had earlier disqualified five aspirants of the party: Nze Akachukwu Nwankpo, Nonso Smart Okafor, Chukwuma Umeoji, Carter Dike Umeh, and Ozoka Odera Ifeanyi due to various reasons including insubordination to the party’s leadership, certificate mutilation, alteration of forms, among others.

While Nwankpo left APGA for African Democratic Congress (ADC), where he emerged the governorship candidate, Umeoji remained in APGA, insisting that he was the authentic candidate.

Soludo had a running battle with Umeoji with litigations that were tied to who was the authentic Chairman of APGA in Anambra State among the trio of Chief Victor Oye, Chief Njoku and Jude Okeke.

In a show of shame, the courts in Anambra, Jigawa, Imo and Abuja intervened in the matter causing the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to at various times list and delist both Soludo and Umeoji as candidate of APGA.

The electoral umpire had on July 16 published the name of Umeoji as the APGA candidate following an order by the Jigawa State High Court on June 28.

On July 18, Justice Charles Okaa of Anambra State High Court directed INEC to publish Soludo’s name as APGA’s candidate.

Justice Iheka of the Imo State High Court again ordered INEC to publish Umeoji’s name.

It was already less than one month to the November 6 election when the Supreme Court affirmed him as APGA’s candidate.

The five-man panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice Mary Odili affirmed Soludo as the governorship candidate of the APGA and also affirmed Victor Oye as the national chairman of the party.

With the victory of Soludo at the November 6 poll, the people of Anambra State have broken the record by electing a former CBN governor as their leader.

No governor of the CBN in Nigeria’s history had delivered 24 consecutive months of single-digit inflation as Soludo did.

It was the unprecedented global crisis in 2008 that truncated his efforts to control inflation.

But even as the global economic and financial crisis erupted in 2008, Soludo was appointed by the United Nations General Assembly to serve on the Commission of Experts to reform the international monetary and financial system.

This, in addition to other international assignments, was in recognition of his glorious outing at the CBN.

Also for eight years until 2012, he served on the Chief Economist Advisory Council (CEAC) of the World Bank.

In this role, the former CBN governor met with two Nobel Prize winners in Economics and other experts periodically and advised two presidents and two chief economists of the World Bank.

The Anambra State governor-elect had also served on the External Advisory Group of the IMF in 2011.

Soludo had once disclosed that he had been advising countries and central banks, stressing that there was hardly any two months he did not consult or advise on banking or financial and monetary policy.

With this impressive resume, Soludo has a date with history to take this new opportunity as governor of Anambra State as a lifetime opportunity and make the state the Dubai of Africa.