The governorship ambition of former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, has suffered a blow with his name missing from the list of candidates released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday.
Soludo had emerged as the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) after winning the party’s primary election conducted by the Victor Oye-led faction. The ex-CBN governor polled 740 votes to defeat three other aspirants. But instead of Soludo, the name that appeared as the candidate for APGA was that of Hon. Chukwuma Umeoji. A similar fate similar to Soludo’s also befell two contenders for the governorship ticket of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Senator Ugochukwu Uba and Mr Valentine Ozigbo, as the list of candidates released by INEC had no name in the party’s column.
The development was a result of the litigations that occurred after the party held parallel primaries in Awka on June 26. Conversely, the camp of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state was in a jubilant mood yesterday with the appearance of the name of the party’s candidate, Senator Andy Uba, on INEC’s list
Before the release of the candidates’ names by INEC yesterday, there had been three contenders in Soludo, Umeoji and Edozie Njoku for the APGA ticket. However, it was Umeoji whose name appeared on the INEC list released by the electoral body in Abuja. The situation has since thrown the camps of both APGA and PDP into confusion as tension gripped the party’s members.
Soludo made his debut in the Anambra governorship race in 2010 under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) but was defeated by the then incumbent governor, Peter Obi, in a fierce contest. In 2016, he defected to APGA and formed alliance with Willy Obiano against his predecessor, Obi, who had joined the PDP with the promise to be the next governor at the end of Obiano’s tenure.
The hope of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) returning to power after 16 years may also have been dashed as the party was excluded from the final list as a result of a court injunction. The last Anambra State governor of PDP extraction was Dr. Chris Ngige, now a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Minister of Labour.
According to a statement by INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, “the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) met yesterday, Thursday, 15th July 2021 and among other things considered the list/personal particulars of candidates nominated by the various political parties for the Anambra State governorship election scheduled to hold on 6th November 2021. “The Commission also considered and took cognizance of the Judgments/Court Orders served on it in relation to the primaries of the political parties and other processes leading to the election.
“In line with section 31(3) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) the personal particulars of the candidates will be published in the Commissions notice board in Awka, Anambra State while the names of the candidates, their gender, party, age, qualification and the Commission’s decision/ remarks are herein attached.
“The Commission will continue to act in consonance with the Constitution and the law and will continue to obey the judgments and orders of courts served on it. Festus Okoye Esq.National Commissioner & Chairman Information and Voter Education16th July 2021”.
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