By Desmond Ekwueme
With the handing over of the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag to Senator Andy Uba in the Villa by President Muhammadu Buhari as the party’s candidate in the November 6, 2021 governorship election, the stage is now set for the battle of who succeeds Willie Obiano as governor of Anambra State.
Before this event, there has been rancour over the election following INEC’s dropping of names of few candidates a decision hugely contested up till the court.
Charles Soludo and Valentine Ozigbo were the biggest candidates dropped as APGA and PDP flagbearers respectively as their names were replaced with names of other aspirants from factions within their parties.
All affected candidates sought redress in court and got their parties mandates back. Now the race has fully commenced as pundits even say the race is in the home stretch.
According to a top government functionary, the initial dropping of the names of the candidates created major set backs. It affected the planning of the candidates and also slowed down their campaigns. This gave opportunity for the likes of Godwin Maduka of Accord Party who left the PDP to prepare grounds for the election.
All that out of the way, the paths of all the candidates are now clear. It appears a four-horse race. The successor of Obiano will come from the quartet of Andy Uba of APC, Valentine Ozigbo of PDP, Charles Soludo of APGA and Senator Ifeanyi Uba of YPP.
ANDY UBA
Andy Uba will ride on the crest of the support from Abuja. But if we go by previous governorship elections in the State, Abuja may not influence much given that Anambra people know who they want as next governor. Candidates of the APC in previous elections in the state have struggled.
VALENTINE OZIGBO
With the division in the PDP, Valentine Ozigbo may not find it easy as most members of the other faction in the party have vowed to frustrate his plans by moving their bulk votes to any of the other three candidates.
IFEANYI UBA
Senator Ifeanyi Uba could be put in a strong fight to grab the keys to Government House, Awka. He got his Senatorial position on the platform of the Young People Party (YPP) when he failed to secure the tickets from the major parties.
He could pull the strings given his strong grassroots presence in the state coupled with his large youth support base. He has been able to use his sporting interests and business conglomerate to drive his ambition to a meaningful stage.
CHARLES SOLUDO
Charles Soludo remains the man to beat in this election. He is the flagbearer of the governing party in the state. He has the experience and contacts having served as Central Bank Governor.
Looking at the records, the last two governors of the state talking about Peter Obi and Willie Obiano come from the financial or banking sector. This has helped them to manage the resources of the state succeessfully according to stakeholders of Anambra politics
