By WILLY EYA
Barring any last minute change of heart by some principal actors in the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State, former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof Chukwuma Soludo will, next week, defect to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
The move, which is strategic, will see Prof Soludo, who contested the last Anambra governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), eventually emerging as the flag bearer of APGA in the November 16 election in the state.
Daily Sun gathered from an authoritative source that Soludo’s entry into APGA is part of the reasons for the sudden resolution of the political battle between Governor Peter Obi and the party’s National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh.
A major reason for Soludo’s imminent joining of APGA is to ensure that the party produces Governor Peter Obi’s successor at the end of his tenure early next year. Our source informed that the reason for choosing Soludo is to ensure that APGA fields not only a credible candidate but one that would be marketable to Anambra people in the coming election.
It was gathered that the presidency is interested in the candidature of the former CBN chief and may not care if Soludo wins the next Anambra governorship election on the APGA platform.
Recall that crisis had engulfed the party immediately its national leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu was buried in March last year. Immediately after the death of the Ikemba Nnewi, major stakeholders in the party had asked the National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh to restructure APGA but he refused on the grounds that some power brokers wanted to push him out of the party he had sacrificed so much for.
The party subsequently broke into factions due to alleged refusal of Umeh to restructure the party. One of the factions was led by Maxi Okwu while the other was under the control of Umeh.
From the litigations that bedevilled the party ahead of the election, various stakeholders including the leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, intervened to ensure resolution of the crisis before the election.
The trouble-shooting effort by concerned stakeholders paid off with Chief Umeh visiting Governor Peter Obi at the Government House, Awka on Monday.
The duo declared the end of the crisis in the presence of members of the Anambra State Executive Council, members of the state executive of the party, led by Chief Mike Kwentoh and members of the party at the executive chambers, and sealed their reconciliation with a kiss.
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