One of Anambra’s leading political gladiators strongly touted as a would-be candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 18, 2017 governorship election in Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has publicly denounced any interest in replacing the present occupant of the Governor’s Lodge in Amawbia, Chief Willie Obiano. Instead Soludo said Ndi Anambra should give Obiano a second chance because he was doing perfectly well.
Delivering a public lecture in Awka at the weekend to mark Chief Obiano’s three years in office, the former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria commended Obiano for his achievements in the area of economy in the past three years.
The top-ranked Professor of Economics rated the state’s economy as the fourth biggest in the country. He said the economy of Anambra, which was not an oil producing state, had been well managed under Obiano, making it one of the most buoyant states after Lagos, Abuja and Rivers.
Soludo, who said the governor’s policy of encouraging private sector participation in Anambra was commendable and that gradually the state was becoming “investors’ destination” in the Southeast.
On the forthcoming governorship election in the state, Soludo who contested the All Progressives Grand Alliance ticket with Obiano in 2013, said he would not run for the election making it clear “there is no need for change at the moment.”
In his words: “We are in a crisis moment and you don’t change a general in the middle of the war; in Anambra, Obiano is the general.”
Soludo said many people were calling on him to come out and contest, but then added: “if Anambra is not broken, why fix it?”
Giving his unequivocal statement of endorsement, the former CBN declared: “There will only be vacancy in Anambra Government House in the next four years.’’
He advised Obiano to plead with the Federal Government to execute the second Niger Bridge and federal highway projects in the state. Soludo also urged the governor to hasten work on the Anambra cargo airport to fast track the state’s move to assuming an international status. (NAN)
