Anambra 2025: I Am Set to Unseat Soludo – Ozigbo
Former President and Chief Executive Officer of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria PLC (Transcorp), Valentine Ozigbo, has said he is set to unseat the incumbent governor Prof Soludo.
Ozigbo who was the 2021 Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said he had decided that he would contest the 2025 governorship election in Anambra State because the incumbent governor of Anambra State, Prof Chukwuma Soludo had performed below expectations.
He made this known in an interactive meeting with journalists in Awka on Saturday, stating that he waited to assess Governor Chukwuma Soludo after two years in office before he could throw his hat in the ring for the Anambra guber race.
“I’m here to share my thoughts with you, what I think and no matter how you see what he (Soludo) is doing, you will be more proud when I mount the saddle.
“We need to change the narrative and look for a way to survive. We must fight to rescue Anambra. I’m a non transactional politician. I have several things I can do, but my worry is how we can recover the state and put her on the path of development.
“I waited for two years to assess Soludo but he has abysmally performed below expectations. I am not impressed with Soludo’s performance at all.
“We have seen the leadership of Soludo in two years and some of you may be impressed but I’m not. After last election in 2021, I called and wished him well and moved on and we have never spoken again. My decision was to assess him after two years, and having done that , I’m not impressed and I want to start holding him accountable,” he reiterated.
On zoning, he maintained he would go for a single term of for years to complete the zoning arrangement which favours the Anambra South Senatorial District where he and Soludo hail from.
“Zoning is a good thing, but it must be combined with competence to make sense. Don’t pick a renegade just because he is from a certain zone, and don’t pick him, when you know you can pick one that is better.
“I am prepared to take an oath of agreement to serve only one year in office if elected in 2025 as the governor of Anambra State. The leader of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, knows my plans to just do one term
“I respect zoning, and I will be making a case for a single term of four years. Anyone who sees what Alex Otti is doing in Abia will know that four years is enough time to do a lot of work.
“I will honour that principle of zoning, and I will not need anyone’s push or prompting to do otherwise. I will be ready to do an agreement and do an undertaking that I will do just one term. I also wish to tell you that Obi has been consistent that a southerner who emerges will only do one term.
Ozigbo said he intends to keep faith with the agreement.
Lateefah Ibrahim
