*Thanks President Buhari for credible conduct
*Congratulates Soludo as Governor-elect
By BASHIR ADEFAKA
The Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly Worldwide has congratulated Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo on his victory as Governor-elect in Saturday 6 November 2021 governorship election in Anambra State.
It also thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for ensuring a credible poll without interference, despite the involvement of his own political party, All Progressives Congress (APC), which remarkably came third in the contest that saw the candidate of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) as winner.
The DEFENDER recalled that amidst the avoidable heat, which turned the South East region of Nigeria to a ghost of itself, and a particular plot against possibility of holding the 2021 governorship election in Anambra State, Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly Worldwide was conspicuously about the only Igbo group that refused to be cowed down by the scares and panic caused as it stood for what was right, blaming leaders in the region for being complacent with activities of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Director General, Strategic Planning and Implementations, of the group, Amb. Tony Chiemelu Obizoba, who conveyed its message via a statement issued on Thursday, said it was the joy of Ohanaeze Ndigbo that the great ending he sought to the ugly scenario in the build-up to the election had come.
“We thank President Muhammadu Buhari for providing adequate security and enabling environment for free, fair and credible election in the state, despite effort by the unpatriotic elements not to make it happen.
“Thanking President Buhari on this feat is important because, if the President had, had interference with that election, the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) might not win.
“It is there remarkable that the President conducted an election in a federating unit of the country and his own party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) not even came second but third and there was no attempt whatsoever by him to manipulate the process.
“We give it to him. In the last 22 years of the democratic experience of the Fourth Republic, we have seen presidents and have seen how they fared in the conduct of solo election involving their party’s candidates. We saw do-or-die election, we saw where the situation was prewritten results in favour of their party’s interest. But under APC’s President Buhari, election victories have been won in ways that the losers have got no justification for disagreement.,” Ohanaeze Ndigbo said.
On the victor that emerged, the Igbo apex body said: “We congratulate the winner of the governorship election in the person of Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo over his resounding victory. We make bod to say that his success at the election makes us proud as Anambra people and we rejoice with him and the entire electorate, who came out, shunning the threats of the insecurity elements, and decided the fate of the state for the next four years in terms of governance.”
The Ohanaeze Ndigbo General Assembly Worldwide congratulated Soludo, who will remain in history as the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that effected the banking reforms started by late General Sani Abacha regime with the recapitalization policy of that apex bank that saved and has continued to sustain the Nigeria’s banking sector till today.
The Igbo socio-cultural organisation, however, called the attention of the Governor-elect to the pattern of his victory – winning 19 of 21 meaning that his victory was for the entire people of Anambra State and so urged him to be governor for all.
“He should reciprocate the magnanimity of President Buhari, who did not allow sentiment for his own party, the APC, to do interference that could have cost him his victory, by also being magnanimous in victory towards others in ensuring a collective effort for a greater Anambra State socially and economically
“We pray and wish him a successful tenure ahead. Congratulations!” Ohanaeze Ndigbo said in the Obizoba’s statement.
