Top politicians jostle to raise Labor flag – THISDAYLIVE

Anambra State will go to polls in November this year to elect a governor.

David Chyddy Eleke lists politicians fighting to fly the Labor Party flag

In November this year, Anambra State will go to polls to elect a governor. The incumbent governor of the state, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, is expected to seek re-election on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). APGA has been the ruling party in the state for years and due to its formidable character, only political parties with deep roots in Anambra can challenge it.

One of these parties is the Labor Party (LP) and this is due to the dominance of the former governor of the state, Mr. Peter Obi, who is believed to have a huge fan base in the state; even if many think that this dominance is waning.

In Anambra, Peter Obi’s acceptance and popularity helped secure the election of many politicians to the State House of Assembly, the Federal House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2023 general elections.

The result is that the Labor Party now has a caucus in the Anambra State Assembly, a group of eminent politicians in the National Assembly and a huge support base. So much so that even Mr. Valentine Ozigbo, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the election, has long since moved to pitch his tent with LP. He and many others are the party’s candidates who will vie for the party’s nomination in the November election.

Valentine Ozigbo

The former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp and a former banker was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2021 elections in the state. He lost to the incumbent governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, but was then considered well positioned for the seat. The support of former governor Peter Obi helped him win the hearts of the people of the state and he was believed to have solutions to the problems of the state had. Although he was largely considered a gentleman with a weak physical appearance, it remained a mystery to many how he managed to win the governorship of the PDP in a contest filled by highly experienced politicians. He performed well in the governorship election and was close to winning the ticket but was allegedly betrayed by many PDP citizens who worked with him. However, he left the party and joined the Labor Party and was the party’s first aspirant to express interest in the contest. He was a critic of Soludo, insisting that if Soludo had performed well he would have had no reason to return to the competition a second time. He has a strong following among party members

John Nwosu

Mr John Nwosu is another strong contender for the LP. He is a businessman from Nnewi, an ICT professional and owner of Jetlink Group, an ICT based company that provides services to top banks around the world. He has shown interest in the party’s governorship position and insists he has what it takes to move the state forward. He is particularly concerned about the security of the state and promised in an interview with journalists that he would use his ICT experience to solve the problem of insecurity in the state. He is running on the platform of the LP and has already won the support of some key stakeholders in the party, notably that of Mr. Oseloka Obaze, the former Secretary to the State Government under Mr. Peter Obi and the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate in the 2017 gubernatorial election in the state. He said he plans to use the acronym SHEEEMS to address the state’s problems. He described SHEEEMS as an acronym representing: Safety, Health, Education, Economy, Environment, Markets and Social. Although he is optimistic about the party’s ticket, he told reporters that if for any reason he fails to secure the party’s ticket, he will work with all the nominees to ensure the party’s victory.

George Moghalu

He is the immediate past Director General of the National Inland Waterways Authorities (NIWA) and a former chieftain of the APC who has been a stalwart throughout his political life, remaining loyal to a party and joining it in mergers when necessary. He was an ally of former President Muhammad Buhari and joined Buhari’s CPC to form an alliance with other parties to form the APC. In 2024, Moghalu split from APC and switched to LP, which was surprising especially since he was known for his loyalty to one party since his political career, and subsequently declared his intention to run for the governorship position on the platform of the Party. He hails from Nnewi and has insisted that if given the opportunity, he would only serve for one term to complement that of his relative, Soludo, who hails from the same zone. He said this was a recognition of an existing zoning system that allows each zone to govern for a two-year, eight-year term before being transferred to another zone. Moghalu is known as a strong politician, a grassroots mobilizer who had previously run for office. He was confident all along that he would win the ticket and advance to the November primary election.

Bart Nwibe

Bart Nwibi, an engineer by profession, has applied for the position previously but is a businessman from Aguata, making him a relative of the incumbent governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo. He is Group Managing Director of Segofs Energies Limited. Not much has been heard from him since he lost the primaries in the APC a few years ago, but the Port Harcourt Rivers State-based oil engineer is said to be looking forward to contesting on the LP platform. He is also known to have a lot of money – an important requirement for the governorship, especially in a state like Anambra.

Although he has not been visible in the state’s political space lately, his name keeps cropping up as one of the candidates on the party ticket. He was said to have declared his intention recently in his community, Igboukwu.

Tony Nwoye

Senator Tony Nwoye, currently Senator representing Anambra North Zone, can be described as a cat with nine lives. He was everything a politician could be and despite his young age, he easily held many political positions. Nwoye rose above many other established politicians in the state from student union leader to PDP state party chairman, member of the House of Representatives and now Federal Senator. All of the above positions were not achieved without serious opposition from established politicians, but he seems to have mastered the art of forcing his way through to get what he wants. At other times, he was the gubernatorial candidate of major political parties including PDP and APC. In both cases, he failed to win the position of governor of Anambra State. If he makes it this time, he will run on the platform of the LP, the same party that made him a senator in 2021. He will be the only aspirant of the party who will contest the ticket not from Anambra South Senatorial Zone which has been repeatedly argued to be the preferred zone.

He has a cult-like following among young people and manages to maintain his friendship with both the youth, women and men, especially the rural population. His strengthening of his zone last year is still talked about today. His entry into the race would make the LP ticket a coveted prize and would certainly raise the stakes but many argue that it would be insensitive for him to enter the race after his relative Chief Willie Obiano left the position just three years ago.