Anambra Guber: A chequered victory replete with political lessons
Anambra Guber: A chequered victory replete with political lessons
For Charles Chukwuma Soludo, it was a journey that began some 12 years ago. The road was snaky and the aspiration very shaky. There were bumps and crevices, betrayals and backstabbing. He was humbled by what he suffered, but he persevered. In the early hours of Wednesday, November 10, 2021, posterity made good the golden opportunity he lost in 2010.
At exactly 1.15 am, the Returning Officer for the governorship election, Prof. Florence Obi, declared, “That Charles Chukwuma Soludo of APGA, having satisfied the requirements of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected.”
It was a glorious moment that banished every doubt that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) standard-bearer would sustain his winning streak, which was briefly arrested by the postponement of the ballot in the Ihiala Local Government Area of the state.
While voters in Ihiala waited to cast their votes, the state was put on edge in apprehension over the delay in concluding the enthralling poll. With the intervening period, Prof. Soludo, perhaps reflecting on his quest to serve the Anambra people from the position of governor, dropped some philosophical lines on his social media handle.
He wrote: “A cool Sunday evening. It is indeed the Lord’s Day and we must first thank God Almighty for his mercy. Indeed, “many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him from them all.” Good evening my people.”
Not quite long after, children from his Isuofia community thronged his country home and he addressed them. After asking the mostly children visitors what their mission was and learning that they were in his place to offer prayers that God will crown him with success in the supplementary ballot scheduled for the following Tuesday, Soludo, told them, “it is like God has already answered your prayers.”
The APGA standard bearer then sang: “Who can battle with the Lord, I say nobody.” Although the children chorused that Christian worship song, their young minds could not understand the depth and rich meaning hidden in that singular melody.”
In that one song, the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor summarised his travails in the 11-year-journey to breast the tape in his race to be governor of Anambra State. Those who remember the former top banker’s odyssey would not fail to observe that it was not an easy journey.
The fact that courage and determination pays is exemplified by the many ups and downs that characterised Soludo’s efforts to transform from a boardroom and classroom giant to a political leader.
From conversation to conversion
BY his accounts, Prof. Soludo disclosed that it was two former Nigerian Presidents, namely, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and late Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua that talked him into considering serious participation in partisan politics.
In a well-circulated essay in 2013, after he had lost two successive attempts to be governor, the Professor of Econometrics, narrated how his wife, who had a vehement distaste for partisan politics had informed him to return a verdict of ‘No’ to Yar’Adua as the outcome of his consultations with political leaders in Anambra State over the call on him to aspire to be governor.
“The date was Friday, March 17, 2006. At the morning prayer session with President Olusegun Obasanjo at the ‘red carpet’ in the Villa, I raised a special prayer point and asked the congregation to pray for the new governor of my state, Anambra, Peter Obi (who was on his way from Abuja to Awka to be sworn in same day), as well as for Anambra State, so that Obi’s regime may mark an end to the brigandage and misrule in the state. We were all upstanding.
“The President cut in, and pointing in my direction, remarked: “We shall pray as you have requested, but the problem with you people from Anambra is that those of you who have something to offer shy away from politics and hooligans have taken over your state”.
“To the best of my recollection, that was the only prayer point during the four years of daily devotion that received a commentary. ‘Baba’, as we fondly call him was basically telling us to ‘get involved or stop complaining’. Periodically, the three of us from Anambra who were regular members of the prayer group (Oby Ezekwesili, Rev. William Okoye and I) had cause to brainstorm on the challenges and limitations of participation in politics especially by those of us who were ‘technocrats’. While we were obsessed with ‘good governance’, we had little interest in the process of acquiring power,” Soludo stated.
Those conversant with Prof. Soludo’s bitter experience in his attempt to take “interest in the process of acquiring (political) power” knew what he was alluding to through the praise worship song he raised for little children of the Isuofia community.
It was obvious from the governor-elect’s narrative eight years ago that he was an unwilling politician, but definitely not an accidental leader. According to him: “After leaving office as governor of the central bank, I was in London when twice in June 2009, I received calls from Alhaji Mangal to the effect that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua wanted to see me anytime I was in Nigeria.
“I returned with my family in late July and on Sunday, July 26, I received a call that the President wanted to see me by 9:30 pm. After a few banter, he asked what I was doing abroad. As I explained the three offers I was considering, he was shaking his head.
Being a studied leader, President Yar’Adua seemed to know the attitude of public intellectuals to partisan politics and therefore, did not offer Soludo the opportunity to dismiss the proposal, as he was wont.
Though it is said that to obey is better than sacrifice, the following 11 years were to witness, not only huge sacrifices on the part of the former CBN governor, but also to bring him face to with the cloudy details of what makes the Nigeria political waters very murky.
First in the 2010 governorship contest, despite the support of party leaders, including Mr. Fix It, the late Chief Tony Anenih, Soludo’s emergence as the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate could not receive ultimate Presidential support at the main election.
Anambra Guber: A chequered victory replete with political lessons
On account of Yar’Adua’s ailment, which took him to Saudi Arabia, the acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, had his own plans, preparatory to the larger picture of 2011, decided on a political alliance with Mr. Peter Obi of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Obi was supported to win his re-election with the understanding that he would in turn support Jonathan in 2015.
In his account, Soludo explained: “Conspiracy theorists took over and I saw treachery, intrigues, blackmail and mischief at their most banal forms. Propaganda was hatched and effectively marketed that Soludo is not contesting for governor; he is preparing to contest for president in 2015.”
As the sentiment mobilised those with Presidential ambition against the former CBN governor, he effectively lost the governorship ballot. Having lost the election, Soludo went back to his business of offering consultancy services to international organisations and foreign countries. At the approach of the 2013 governorship poll, Sir Victor Umeh and other party leaders lured him into APGA, with the promise of an automatic ticket.
At the end of the day, not only was he disqualified alongside the consensus candidate of Anambra North Senatorial District, Dr. Chike Obidigbo, much money went out of his pocket by way of donation for the party’s mobilisation.
