By Chidi Levi
A few days away from the Anambra gubernatorial election, The Source has reliably gathered that just as the Edo and Ondo elections, President Muhammadu Buhari has given stern warning to security agencies and Federal Government apparatchiks not to interfere in the exercise.
The President, the Magazine was informed, do not actually have a prefered candidate in the election even though he presented APC’s flag to the party’s candidate in the election.
“The much-touted “federal might” will not roar in Anambra.You can take this to the bank.
“The President does not only want a level playing field in Anambra, he also wants a free, fair and violent free election.Those hoping to ride to power on the crest of the so-called federal might will be utterly disappointed” , an Aso Rock insider confided in the magazine.
The Source was informed that some Aso Rock cabals sympathetic to one of the Anambra gubernatorial candidates were instrumental to the emergency rule kite flown by the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN,early this month following a spike in insecurity in the state.
Said the source: “They did so hoping that the President will buy into it; they actually tried, albeit fruitlessly to get the President to make the declaration.
“If the President was interested in foisting a governor on Anambrarians, he would have declared a state of emergency in the state and use the instrumentality of government to have his way.
“Had emergency ruled been declared in Anambra, they would have simply influenced the posting of a pliant military administrator that will smoothen installation of their prefered candidate”
Recall that Anambra’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Nwachukwu Orji, recently enthused that “the election will be embarrassingly transparent”.This magazine gathered that feelers from the Presidency as to the President’s resolve to stay neutral hugely dictated the REC’s comment.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, it has been alleged that Governor Willie Obiano reached an understanding with the Presidency to the effect that Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, candidate of the ruling party in the state, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, will defect to the All Progressives Congress, APC few months into his first term in office as governor.
This, it was further alleged, accounted for the President’s warning to his aides and security agencies against interference in the polls.
Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, COCSO, gave a flip to this allegation recently when it declared in a press conference that “the Presidency has privately endorsed the reform-minded former Central Bank of Nigeria governor who consolidated the Nigerian banking system between 2005 and 2010, earning him the world’s Central Bank of the Year award for two consecutive years.
“An internationally recognized economics Professor, Soludo is a member of the President Buhari Committee of Economic Advisers”
However, an aide to the Governor pooh-pooed the alleged pact describing the rumour as handiwork of idle minds. Said he: “Before His Excellency’s re-election in 2017, they also circulated a similar rumour that he would defect to APC after victory but did this happen? The truth of the matter is that our candidate, Professor Soludo, will win this election with a landslide. APGA does not need a pact of any sort to achieve victory because it is popular and well accepted in Anambra”
On November 6, 2021, the people of Anambra will file out to elect a sucessor to Governor Obiano who assumed office in 2014 and was re-elected for second term in 2017.
Keen watchers of Anambra politics predict victory for four candidates they describe as front runners namely Soludo of APGA, Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Andy Uba of APC and Senator Ifeanyi Uba of the Young Progressive Party, YPP.
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