Ahead of the November 8 gubernatorial election in Anambra State, the National Coordinator the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Media Warriors, Evangelist Chinedu Obigwe speaks with OKEY MADUFORO on his expectations of the election

Recently, the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) announced that there is no pact with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. What is your take on that?

This is laughable and indeed funny for someone who claims to be a politician to say that. Mr President came here on a State Working Visit and saw what Governor Charles Soludo has done so far, and expressed his happiness about that and even commissioned some projects.

We all heard him at the Alex Ekwueme Square where he described Soludo as a friend and a brother, and don’t forget that the governor is a member of the President’s Economic Team. He also praised him for the infrastructural transformation that is going on in Anambra State.

The governor on his part, made it clear that there are two political parties that are progressives and they are APGA and APC and the progressives are working together. What other pact does Ukachukwu want? When the President arrived at the Anambra Airport, they exchanged pleasantries and that was the end.

They boasted that Tinubu would hold a meeting with his party members but it did not hold. They also boasted that he would announce the endorsement of Nicholas Ukachukwu and the President did not do that. That goes to tell you about the body language of Mr President and that also means that the President is not interested in all those grand standing that the Anambra APC is clamoring for.

But the President presented a flag to him and his running mate?

It is routine and expected that he would give them flags but that doesn’t transcend to what he claimed that Mr President told him. Who were there when the President spoke to him? We have State House Correspondents who should have reported the event but we saw nothing online or in the newspapers or even on NTA News.

The President has a Media Spokesman who should have issued a press release on that, rather Ukachukwu now wrote the press release for the President and it appears that he wants to take over the job of Mr. Bayo Onanuga.

That means someone is being economical with the truth and you know when someone talks about his dream last night, you have no right to question him because he is the only person that had the dream. So, the only person that had the dream where Mr President told him that he has no pact with Governor Soludo is Ukachukwu and Anambra people were not there to challenge the dream.

But his argument is gaining grounds?

It is not true. Rather it is gathering no sand and Anambra people know him very well. Those days of name dropping are gone and our people cannot be deceived by that and our people are not just the kind of people that you wake up one morning to tell them such stories. Remember in one of those elections they said when the then President Muhammadu Buhari comes to Anambra he would raise the hand of Tony Nwoye the party candidate and Willy Obiano would be history.

Buhari came and said nothing about Tony Nwoye and all that he did was to say ‘young man, I wish you good luck,’ and left. On election day it was 21 over 21 (all round victory for APGA), including the local government area of Tony Nwoye. It will also happen on November 8th and the first person that would congratulate Governor Soludo is President Bola Tinubu.

But Ukachukwu has a pedigree as an experienced politician and this is to his own advantage?

The last time I knew was when he contested for the Senatorial ticket of Anambra South Senatorial District and he could not even win the main election. Before now, he tried to shake the table and possibly become the candidate of APGA, and it did not work and there was one that disqualified him before the primary elections.

So, where is the experience that you are talking about? His mates are gradually retiring from politics, and after this election they would all retire including the one in the Labour Party. We need to change this habit of recycling old politicians and inject new blood and tonic into the political landscape.

Since 1999 the same people are contesting election and a child born in 1999 should be 25 years old and can contest election. Now the child would be contesting with his father in 2025 so there is no transition.

But Soludo is one of them in terms of age?

You are mixing things up. As at 1999, Soludo was still in school teaching until he was appointed by President Olusegun Obasanjo as Adviser and from there he moved on to this stage. Today, he is the governor and he has been consistent in politics and he is going to finish stronger than ever. He is laying solid foundation for Anambra State and the governor that would come after him would follow that template.

In the unlikely event Ukachukwu comes in he would be fighting a vendetta war and all those points of departure that Soludo had put in place would be rubbished. That is why we cannot go back to the days of Egyptian captivity where Anambra tax payers’ money would be used to compensate for political loyalty.

But it is being argued that the issue of federal might may play out?

That is where some people get it wrong. There is nothing like federal might in Anambra State and Nigerians know that fact, and no one will attempt it. Besides, you don’t expect and elder statesman like President Bola Tinubu to speak from both sides of the mouth. After scoring Governor Charles Soludo ‘Excellent’ he now turns round to say another thing and we know that he can’t say that.