It was exactly 1:50am on Wednesday, November 10, 2021, and the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State, Charles Soludo has been officially declared as governor-elect.
The INEC returning officer in the election, Professor Florence Obi, said Soludo had polled a total of 112,229 votes to emerge winner after defeating 17 other candidates.
He was followed by Mr Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 53,807 votes; and Senator Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who had 53,807 votes.
The former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor would be the 22nd persons to lead Anambra State, nicknamed the “Light of the Nation.”
Out of the 21, 10 were military officers, one a police officer, while the rest 10 were civilians.
Tortuous journey to Government House
For the economics professor, it was a long and tortuous ride to the Awka Government House, which began about 12 years ago.
Soludo succeeded in becoming the Anambra’s number one citizen after three strenuous attempts.
He first indicated interest to contest for Anambra governorship in 2009 ahead of February, 2010 election year.
PDP picked him from amongst the army of contenders and amidst the litigations that stalled its primary, as a consensus candidate.
He, however, lost at the general elections to Mr Peter Obi of APGA.
However, his inability to make a headway, resulted in a bitter quarrel between him and the then Minister of Information and Communications, the late Professor Dora Akunyuli, who was also Soludo’s in-law.
Soludo is said to have been married to the daughter of Akunyuli’s eldest sister.
The late Akunyuli, in an interview said Soludo blamed her for his defeat: “He singled me out for attack because as his in-law and PDP chieftain, he thought I can single-handedly make him governor. I don’t have such powers.”
After the failed first attempt to actualise his aspiration on the platform of the PDP, he dumped the party in 2013 for APGA.
However, APGA disqualified him along with some of the aspirants during its screening in August ahead of the election.
In February 2021, Soludo again, officially declared his intention to run for the position of number one position in Anambra State under the platform of APGA.
After his declaration, he was attacked by gunmen in his hometown of Isuofia, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, during a political gathering in April. His security details were gunned down. But he survived the assassination.
Contentious primaries
In June, he was declared winner of the primaries conducted at the Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka by the Chief Victor Oye -led faction of the party.
Soludo polled 740 votes to defeat three other aspirants: Okwudili Ezenwankwo who scored 41 votes, Damian Okolo (7) and Ibeh Kenechukwu Christopher (4).
However, another faction led by Jude Okeke rejected Mr Soludo’s emergence and subsequently organised a parallel primaries on July 1.
Chukwuma Umeoji and Obiageli Orogbu emerged as the govrnorship and deputy governorship candidates of the party in the parallel primary election.
The discontents over the authentic candidate of APGA for the governorship was laid to rest by the Supreme Court which affirmed Mr Soludo the winner of the primaries in October.
Who is Charles Soludo?
Born on 28 July 1960, Soludo is a professor of economics and former governor and chairman of the board of directors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
At the CBN he spearheaded the historic banks consolidation and recapitalization, which slashed the country’s number of commercial banks from over 80 to 25, with minimum capitalization cap of N25 billion each.
He also held the positions of Chief Economic Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Executive of the National Planning Commission of Nigeria.
Soludo is a member of the British Department for International Development’s International Advisory Group.
