As Governor Charles Soludo enters his second term in office, his Deputy, Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim, speaks to OKEY MADUFORO on the politics and expectations for the next four years

Since after the election, it appears clear that no other political party can unseat APGA after your boss’s second term?

Our party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), is not just a political party but a mass movement and the people of Anambra State and indeed Nigeria have come to terms with this fact.

This party has been in the saddle for 20 years now, and will be there till the next four years making it 24 years by the grace of God. There have been several attempts by the opposition parties to sabotage the rising profile of the party but they have always failed, because the people of Anambra State can bear witness to the humongous developmental strides of the party.

There was nothing the opposition could tell the electorate during the last campaign because our party impacted positivity in the lives of the people, including the opposition.

Out of frustration they described the roads built by our government as substandard but we have had three to four rainy seasons and the roads are intact and there have not failed and that is to their disappointment.

So APGA as a party has come to stay in Anambra State, and there are sustained moves to expand our coast further and you already know that we have APGA elected State and National Assembly members across the country and that is a step in that regard.

There are fears that the second term of Governor Soludo would witness heavy taxation to the frustration of the masses who voted for him?

No. That is from the opposition parties and they always want to be heated at all times. People are not afraid at all and they have been paying their taxes and you know that the administration of Governor Soludo has also introduced the best full-proof mechanisms of revenue generation and it is highly electronic.

The era of payment through the manual process has all gone and what we have in place makes it difficult to experience revenue theft.

The Anambra Internal Revenue Services (AIRS) are on top of the moment and Mr. Governor is indeed deliberate about what he is doing and this is a departure from the past.

There are some sessions of people that are exempted from paying tax in view of their situation and someone is somewhere talking about heavy taxation.

Go to our markets and you would see responses to tax payments and our people are doing that because they are seeing what Mr. Governor has been doing and that is Anambra tax payments money at work.

People are not comfortable paying tax when they do not see the impact of the taxes on the socioeconomic and infrastructural development of Anambra State.

So, people should disabuse their minds about the tax issue because Mr. Governor has no such plans that are anti people; but we urge our people to pay their taxes and there is no introduction of a new tax but the old ones.

Naturally people don’t like to pay tax but they expect so much from the government and it is that tax besides our allocations that we use to provide basic infrastructures for the state.

The Governor recently presented the 2026 budget proposal of N757 billion. What does that portend in the coming year?

You were there at the state House of Assembly when Mr. Governor presented the budget and it is tagged Changing Gears 3.0 Solution Continues. What that means is consolidation of what we have done so far and moving further to a new point of departure.

The 3.0 has to do with completion and fresh construction like the three new cities of Awka 2.0 , Greater Niger and Aerotropolis and New Industrial Commercial City Mixed Used Industrial City We already completing the Solution Innovation Center as well as the one of the largest shopping malls in Africa and also 10-storey five start hotel which the pilling has been completed.

So basically, what you would see in this coming four years is deepening and consolidating the foundations already laid.

There is this argument about who takes over from Soludo in Anambra Central, what is your take being from Anambra Central?

Why are people trying to play God all the time? We have just concluded our election and our first term is not over because it will end on March 16th next year but people are talking about who will be Governor after the next four years.

Yes, it would come to Anambra Central which is my zone but APGA as a party is not talking about that now but to consolidate and focus more on what we are doing for the people.

Mr. Governor is more occupied with the mantra of Changing Gears 3.0 which would further take Anambra to the next height because Anambra is on the rise and when we get to the bridge, we shall know how to cross it.

How about Soludo joining the APC after the second term inauguration?

There they go again! But you know that the Progressives are working together and who are the Progressives? The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the All Progressives Congress (APC). So what else are we talking about? Let us concentrate on what we are doing and not to allow ourselves to be distracted by this thing about defection to another political party