2 days Ago By Guardian Nigeria
The ongoing feud between Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State and the Edozie Njoku-led leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) may pose a major threat to Soludo’s second term ticket ahead of the 2025 governorship election in the state, LAWRENCE NJOKU reports. There are pointers that the second term ambition of Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, may not be an easy ride.
The political underbelly has continued to thicken by the day with plots on how to remove him from power. Barely a year to the governorship election in the state, signals emanating from the state clearly indicate that he would need to go the extra mile to renew and realise his ambition of a second-term. Three years ago when he faced the election that brought him to office on the platform of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), it was almost a smooth sail as he not only trounced other aspirants at the party primary, but also secured landslide victory in the main election.
But the road to the November 2025 governorship election appears thorny as he will need to sit down and review his political arithmetic to be able to come up with the right equation that will solve the foggy atmosphere surrounding him and APGA. The economist turned politician is currently enmeshed in a supremacy battle with the leadership of APGA.The source of disagreement is his refusal to recognise the Chief Edozie Njoku leadership that has been bestowed on the party by the Supreme Court.
Months ago, the apex court drew the final sod on the age-long leadership crisis in the party when it pronounced Njoku as its national chairman. It equally ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to henceforth deal with Njoku on matters affecting the party. The development automatically ended the era of Chief Victor Oye, whose leadership was instrumental to Soludo’s emergence in 2021.
Soludo, who apparently would not bear the development had since been reported to have taken up arms against the new leadership, vowing not to submit to it and was accused of sponsoring a recent court case seeking the review of the Supreme Court judgment. Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman of the party, Chief Chekwas Okorie told The Guardian that Soludo was working against the progress of the party in fulfillment of his earlier stance against Njoku’s emergence. He said: “It is only Soludo that can tell the world what he really wants.
Soludo has not told anybody why he is doing what he is doing against the leadership of APGA and refusing to submit to the party leadership.” He invited the hierarchy of the party to invoke its relevant laws to sanction the governor. Two months ago, apparently as a way to demonstrate to the governor that the party remains supreme in every electoral contest, the Njoku leadership wielded the big stick and suspended some members of the party in Anambra State who decided to tango with the governor.
It accused them of insubordination but spared elected members including Soludo. Okorie said shortly after the suspension of the members in the state, “Nobody can claim to be higher or bigger than the party. It does not happen anywhere.
He (Soludo) has not been suspended. The ball is still in his court. There is a window for reconciliation and we think he should embrace it.
” Since the suspension and appeal, however, Soludo has remained unmoved. In fact, he demonstrated how unwilling he is to the call for submission to the Njoku-led APGA during last month’s local government area election in the state, where he supplanted the power of the party leadership to nominate and present the candidates to the electoral commission. Against all odds, the governor got the state House of Assembly to amend the law that vested power to submit candidates for the election to the electoral commission on the national chairman and secretary of political parties.
The new amendment vested such power on the state chairmen and secretaries of parties, and therefore, provided the leeway for Soludo’s faction to submit their own list of candidates. Despite the threats against the action even by other political parties, Soludo still had his way. He went ahead to conduct the election and swore in the winners while other political parties including the faction led by Njoku have resorted to court against his actions.
Asked what could happen in the event of the governor’s continued alleged recalcitrant attitude to the party, Okorie said: “The supremacy of the political party in all party democracies in the world is sacrosanct. There is no denying the fact that Soludo, has been persistent in rebuffing all entreaties by the Edozie Njoku-led leadership of APGA for him to facilitate peace and reconciliation in the party where providence placed him as the highest elected leader. “His personal option to take sides with the rebellious faction of the party and deploy enormous resources and energy to fight the authentic APGA led by Njoku as national chairman caused the party much setback.
The fact that the party has not activated the relevant constitutional provisions in its constitution to sanction him despite his unrepentant recalcitrant and anti-party activities underscores the elasticity of the tolerance and patience of the party leadership to allow him the latitude to turn a new leaf. “Prof. Soludo is holding the short end of the stick.
His time with APGA is fast running out. It will be dangerous and indeed suicidal for the party to sponsor a blatantly disloyal party member for any election whatsoever on its platform. The option to redeem himself and return to the APGA family rests with him, but let me repeat that time is running out on him.
” A source indicated, however, that the problem is that Governor Soludo still recognises Sly Ezeokenwa, who emerged last year from a factional convention as the national chairman of the party despite the apex court ruling. It stated that the governor still sees the duo of Okorie and Njoku as non-members of APGA, adding that “he believes they want to reap where they did not sow.” The source added that the governor’s stance had been amplified by the fact that since the initial leadership crisis that erupted in 2004, the segment that produced Soludo as governor had sustained the party, while those claiming leadership at the moment were either not there or contributed to the crisis.
It insisted that some of those “ordering” the governor to respond to Njoku had earlier resigned from the party or booted out along the line, stressing that “their credibility will continue to be questioned going forward.” Although Njoku had been in court since he emerged from a convention in Owerri Imo State in 2019 against Victor Oye, who was produced by another convention held in Awka, Anambra State, same year, that matter was sustained in courts until Oye’s tenure ended in May last year, leading to the election of Ezeokenwa as the national chairman. At the same convention that produced Ezeokenwa, a former governor of the state, Willie Obiano was also named as the chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) with Oye; former Minister of Information, Frank Nweke jnr, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe; Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Ojukwu; former governor Virgy Etiaba among others as members.
Ezeokenwa, a lawyer and former national legal adviser of the party was Commissioner for Special Duties to Governor Soludo before his election as national chairman at the Awka convention. He continued on the stead until June this year, when the Supreme Court recognisedNjoku as the authentic national chairman of the party and urged INEC to accord him the necessary recognition and support. But Governor Soludo’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, Dr Alex Obiogbolu, stated that the governor has not created any obstacle to the progress of APGA, adding that he was always amenable to anything that could bring peace to the party.
“The matter will be sorted out. The governor has sustained the legacy of APGA and worked hard to ensure that the party remains a household name in Nigeria. So, he will not be involved in anything that will inhibit its progress”, he stated.
Obiogbolu stated that the second term ticket of the governor under the APGA remains sacrosanct. He said that Soludo’s achievements so far should be something of pride to any political party, adding that it was a yardstick that could win elections for any political party at any given time. “So I want to tell you that there is no worry about his second term ticket or his winning the election.
He will definitely return to office. He has done exceptionally well and carried the party along. It goes beyond reconstruction of roads and what have you but given governance a meaning in the state”, Obiogbolu added.
A chieftain of the party, Sir Jude Orji however, believes that there was need for every grey issue surrounding Governor Soludo and the Njoku leadership to be solved before the November election next year, insisting that each of the segments would be grossly affected in the event of going into the election without finding permanent solution to the disagreement. He further explained that APGA remains a political party because of its dominance in Anambra State politics, stressing that any further slip would deal a great blow on the party. He said, “It is on record today that what has sustained APGA as a political party is the victories so far recorded in Anambra State elections, otherwise by now, there may not be a name like that in our politics.
This is why the new handlers of the party should be strategic and give it all their best to ensure that no segment is badly wounded. “The Njoku leadership came onboard and started replacing what already existed as structures in the party; that is not the way to go. You do not jettison a winning team basically because you think they did not support you.
The most you can do is to wait until their tenure elapses or you fuse them into what you are doing and march on. This is the challenge. “Whether anyone likes it or not, there is already a structure of the party in almost every part of the country before Njoku was recognised as the authentic leader.
This structure has been loyal to Soludo as its leader being the governor. So, dismantling them cannot happen overnight. This is something they may have failed to realise in trying to force Soludo to submit to them,” he stated.
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