David-Chyddy Eleke identifies top contenders in the Anambra State governorship race, their strengths and weaknesses

With litigations over, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released the final list of governorship candidates for the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State. In all, 18 political parties are presenting candidates for the election. Some of the candidates have emerged from popular rating as top candidates by virtue of the strength of their political parties, while others have joined the league of top contenders, from smaller platforms, by dint of their personal recognition, popularity and perceived ability to spring surprises.

Three political parties are already dominant in the state, and they include the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which is the ruling party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which prides itself as the most dominant political party in the state since the return of the new democracy, having produced two governors, within the period, and the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is the ruling party at the national level.

Besides these three, there are some personalities who are in the race on platforms that cannot be said to be very popular in the state.

However, these smaller political platforms are being reckoned with because of their candidates, who have been adjudged to be strong contenders. Such political parties include: Young Democratic Party (YPP) which is fielding Senator Ifeanyi Ubah; Accord (A), which is fielding Dr. Godwin Maduka and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), which is fielding Dr. Obiora Okonkwo. Candidates in this category can be said to be contesting on less known political parties, but can be said to be very popular, to the point of being more influential than their platforms.

Chukwuma Soludo

The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and professor of Econometrics, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo is the candidate of the APGA, and unarguably, he is the most popular of the contenders. His popularity stems from his past position as the CBN governor, his political party which is the ruling party in the state and the strong support of the governor of the state, Chief Willie Obiano.

At the moment, he is a subject of attack by other political parties, who see his aspiration as an attempt by the incumbent governor, to elongate his tenure. He is also being attacked over a lecture he delivered in 2017, during the re-election bid of Obiano, in which he declared that Anambra was not broken, and as such, there was no need to mend what was not broken.

Opponents of Obiano then believed that Anambra was already messed up, and that there was need to change him, but that lecture, during the anniversary of the state had shored up Obiano’s worth in the eye of voters, to the extent that the caption of the lecture was advertised on giant billboards across the state.

Soludo is a strong contender, and also believed to have the capacity to lead the state to glowing heights, and is believed to be exceptionally intelligent, and radical with ideas.

Valentine Ozigbo

Mr. Valentine Ozigbo is the immediate past Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Transnational Corporation (Transcorp), which is known to be a leading African conglomerate.

He resigned his position to return to Anambra for the contest. He was thought by many to be a greenhorn politician, but that tag has been conveniently taken care of, after he beat 14 other aspirants of the PDP, most of who are known political bigwigs.

Even though he was said to have won the PDP ticket in a clean contest, his then opponents still alleged that something went wrong, for them to have lost to him.

As a form of protest, some of them have abandoned the party for others, but for a man like Ozigbo, such was not enough to dampen his spirit as he is still determined to make it to the government house.

Ozigbo within the short period he has been around in the state for his aspiration, has proven to be a man no one can afford to hate, unless the person is just determined to hate him without any reason. Very humble, accessible, and easily accepted, Val as he is fondly called does not carry any air of superiority around him. He has successfully accessed and gained acceptance in places other candidates may find it difficult to reach out to.

He is known to be full of ideas, and has used his youthfulness to connect well with the young people. The spirits of most politicians would be broken by the division that hit the PDP in Anambra since his emergence, but Val has remained undaunted, focusing his eyes on the ball. On a daily basis, he is winning more supporters with his simplicity. He is principled, determined, dogged, young and very connected. He finds a way to connect with people of all classes. His enormous energy is incomparable.

Andy Uba

Former presidential aide, a 17-day governor and two term senator, Andy Uba is a master planner when politics is the subject. Despite the controversy that trailed his emergence as governorship candidate, his party, APC has sealed every discussion about the primary contests. Not only have most of his co-aspirants joined him in the campaign to win the election, but on a daily basis, politicians from other parties have been defecting to APC. How he does it is still a wonder.

He hardly speaks as he is obviously not blessed with the gift of words, but the things Andy Uba cannot say with the words of mouth, will be said with his actions. Suffice it to say that Uba is greatly feared in the contest, to the level that many believe that there is more to the Uga, Aguata-born politician.

Uba has rarely spoken to anyone, or even struggled hard enough to convey his manifesto to anyone, but the things he is not saying, his many supporters are saying them, and daily he keeps winning members.

The greatest fear in Anambra State is the allegation that he plans to rig the election, but he has long disabused the minds of the people, pledging that with the people on his side, he will win the election.

Ifeanyi Ubah

Any contestant who ignores Senator Ifeanyi Ubah will be doing so at his or her own risk. Young, ebullient, accessible and highly loved, Ubah is one man who will spring a political surprise in any contest. Running on the platform of YPP, Ubah has grown a cult following that cuts across all level of people. He is very much loved by the youths, market women and the downtrodden. He also has the support of a group of elites in the state, who constitute a big percentage of the state’s billionaires, where he is the leader of Anambra Progressives, with over 1,000 billionaires as members.

The senator has no doubt shown what he can do. In the 2019 general election, he emerged from nowhere and floored contestants from big political parties to win a seat in the senate, using YPP. He is very prepared for the election and has vowed to ensure victory in the election. He is from Nnewi, and is said to have the support of the Nnewi billionaires.

Godwin Maduka

Godwin Maduka was formerly in the race on the platform of the PDP, until he lost to Ozigbo. He is running on the platform of Accord, and has attracted large supporters to the once unpopular party. Maduka is running on the strength of the evidence of the projects he has been able to execute in his community, Umuchukwu,.

He has transformed the community from a sleepy agrarian one to a town with every infrastructure and amenities found in any modern city.

He believes that governance is not about living on the people’s common patrimony, but adding value to them through the position. He is known to be very rich, and even though he is new in the game of politics, he has been able to pull most strong politicians into his party.

Obiora Okonkwo

Foremost businessman, owner of United Nigeria Airline, Dome Event Centre in Abuja, a Russian trained political economist and a traditional chief, Okonkwo is very well loved, and well sought after by the people too. He also ran on the platform of the PDP, but later moved to the ZLP, where he is the candidate.

He is fondly called Dikeora, his traditional title, and has also taken his own share of members of the PDP, who are today working for his emergence as the governor. He is a man who believes in making men, and through his foundation, Pro-Value Humanity Foundation, he has touched lots of lives, and his following cuts across all ages and ranks in the society. He prides himself as a consensus candidate, having been adopted by several political parties that failed to produce governorship candidates, and many political groups, who believe that he is the right man to lead Anambra State to the desired height.

With this array of personalities, the November governorship election will be quite interesting.