Former CBN governor Charles Soludo in pole position to govern Anambra after winning Apga primaries

FORMER Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Professor Charles Soludo is in poll position to become the next Anambra State governor after he clinched the gubernatorial ticket of his party the All Progressives Grand Alliance (Apga).

Professor Soludo, 60, an economics academic, was the CBN chairman between 2004 and 2009, during which time he presided over the consolidation of the Nigerian banking industry. On 16 September 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari, appointed him as a member of an eight -member Economic Advisory Council, which reports directly to the president.

Yesterday, Professor Soludo won Apga's primary elections, defeating three other aspirants ThankGod Ibe, Okwudili Ezenwankwo and Damian Okolo, scoring 740 votes out of the total 792 votes. He will now be on the ballot paper for the elections which take place on November 6 and automatically becomes the frontrunner as Apga is the ruling party in Anambra State.

Incumbent governor Willie Obiano is said to be backing Professor Soludo, which helped facilitate his landslide victory.  In the election Okwudili Ezenwankwo got 41 votes, ThankGod Ibe 10 votes and Okolo Damian seven votes.

Speaking immediately after the declaration, Governor Obiano said: “I want to commend the national working committee and the state working committee for the peaceful conduct. Just know that the job has just started and we are going to win 21 over 21 local government areas again as we did in 2017.”

Professor Soludo thanked the members of the party in his acceptance speech and promised to unveil his manifesto for the election in August. Five other aspirants Akachukwu Nwankpo, Nonso Okafor, Carter Dike, Chuma Umeoji and Ifeanyi Ozoka, who were disqualified, boycotted the exercise.