By Ifeanyi Okonkwo
Hope seems to be rising in Anambra state with the election of Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, to succeed governor Willie Obiano.
To this end the member representing Ihiala 2 constituency and Deputy Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly Rt. Hon. Dr. Paschal Agbodike, said Soludo was a prayer answered for Ndi-Anambra and that he would perform more than his predecessors.
Agbodike noted that Anambra is All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and APGA is Anambra, adding that APGA is the only political party that has a manifesto that represents the wishes and aspirations of the masses.
He said APGA had a landslide victory in 19 local government areas and that there was no doubt that Professor Soludo would deliver on his electoral promises because Soludo is the solution to socioeconomic development in Anambra state.
The Deputy Speaker said Anambra is the light of the nation and that other states in the southeast are looking up to Anambra state to borrow a leaf from her development strategy to improve on their governance model, stressing that other southeast states will join APGA in a short while.
He said election is not a do-or-die affair but people according to him, should learn to respect the will of the masses, adding that the truth remains that APGA has won the governorship election and won landslide even as he said no other political party would have won the election except APGA because APGA is the party to beat.
Also, the Chief of Staff of the Anambra State Government Mr. Primus Ugochukwu Odili lampooned the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra saying that the party had the worst candidate in the just concluded gubernatorial election.
Odili in an interview with newsmen noted that of all the candidates who contested in the election, the APC candidate brought up the rear in character and otherwise.
Odili said the APC is non-existent in Anambra state and cannot win an election because Anambra people are wiser and vigilant because the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) tells the truth.
He recalled that no primary election produced the candidate of the APC and that he cannot match the person and popularity of the winner of the election.
He said he was happy that Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo won the just concluded governorship election because he believed that the former CBN governor was the most qualified candidate by virtue of his academic qualifications, exposure and experience, contacts and connectedness as well as the technical know-how in running the affairs of the state.
The chief of staff stated that Professor Soludo was better placed than all the other candidates that contested in the just concluded gubernatorial election, stressing that APGA ensured that the votes of the people counted.
Odili opined that APGA requested that the will of the people should be respected because if such atmosphere prevailed and people were allowed to cast their votes APGA would win resoundingly.
He said, “We know if people are allowed to cast their votes that Professor Soludo will win because he is the candidate after the hearts of Ndi-Anambra. So, that he emerged victorious is not a surprise to us.
What we would have wondered about is if he had lost the election because everybody in Anambra knows that the candidate to lose the election is Soludo.”
On what the Chief of Staff described as the transforming agenda of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), he said ex-governor Peter Obi did well when he was governor under APGA but the incumbent governor according to him did better than Peter Obi.
Odili stated that Peter Obi left no legacy projects behind for Ndi-Anambra but Governor Willie Obiano he said, leveraged on the platforms of the foundation Peter Obi laid and performed better than his predecessor.
According to Odili, Governor Willie Obiano left a lot of legacy projects for Anambra people and Professor Soludo would stand on the infrastructural development and perform far better than Peter Obi and Chief Willie Obiano.
This, Odili believed, was the primary reason Anambra people rallied round him because they know Professor Soludo has what it takes to move the state further on the part of all-round development.
Mr. Odili however maintained that it was fallacious and very untrue to say that Governor Willie Obiano didn’t do anything in Anambra for 8 solid years, saying that even the blind could see the international airport, the international convention center, the flyover bridges and other legacy projects across the state accomplished by the Obiano administration.
