By Our correspondent
Labour Party stalwart and frontline Governorship hopeful in Anambra State, Valentine Ozigbo, has lamented that citizens and residents of the state have lost hope in the ability of Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo deliver on their safety and welfare.
Speaking on AIT’S ‘Nigeria Right Now’ programme on Wednesday night, Ozigbo regretted that the state has not done well under Governor Soludo such that citizens with investible funds are scared of coming home to invest because of the climate of insecurity enveloping the State.
According to Ozigbo, a former President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Transcorp Plc, “We haven’t done well under Governor Soludo and there isn’t much to hope for. People have actually given up. The conclusion is that he doesn’t know what to do particularly in the most part of insecurity, which is the primary purpose of government – safety and welfare of the citizens. And if you get it wrong, you can’t succeed in every other thing.
“The game changer in Anambra State is partnership. How do you make Anambra money work for Anambra. These billionaires particularly those in diaspora are hungry, are eager to come home and invest. They are so scared. They can’t come home. Those in Anambra are running away. Go to Asaba, go to Aba, Owerri or Enugu, Anambra people are all over. And go to Awka and you won’t find these investors because they are scared.
“What is even sad is that instead of solving the insecurity problem you met on ground, rather, the Governor is creating more. There is hardly any part of Anambra where there is peace. Just a simple thing as electing a President-General of a town union, you see petty politics in there. Oh, you are not form APGA, you cannot be PG irrespective of if the person is what the town want. That creates its own insecurity.
“We deserve better leadership and I had thought that people with big names, big titles, when they get into government, they will translate it into better governance. But they are two different things.
“And there is absolutely no reason why Anambra won’t be gember where that standard for quality governance can be set because everything we need to achieve that is domiciled in Anambra State. I am so proud of the intellectual capacity, the resourcefulness, the DNA is there. The money is there. The mind is there. So, if we can actually come together, we can show an example of what is possible.
“It took Alex Otti one year in Abia State to show what governance should be like. I am happy there is a reference I can point to so that it won’t be just that I am playing politics. On the cluster side, I have not seen enough. Onitsha is still not the commercial city I want it to be. Nnewi is an industrial hub. I am not saying he has to achieve these within one year or two, but let us see the trajectory, the incremental progress.”
Ozigbo, who reconfirmed that he will be contesting the Governorship of Anambra State in next year’s November election, said that the whole essence of his quest to govern the State is to see it fulfil its name as ‘Light of the Nation.’
The whole philosophy is to let Anambra blossom. Let Anambra shine. Let Anambra be prosperous. Let it just be the light. We call it the light of the nation. Let it be truly that light. Let us light the candle, not just for Ndi Anambra, but for the rest of Nigerians. It is not about me. It about the Igbo race. It’s about Nigeria.”
Explaining why he is not impressed with the Governorship stewardship of Soludo, Soludo stated: “We contested with Governor Soludo in 2021 and he was declared the winner and I called him the same day and congratulated him and moved on. I decided that in the first two years of his Governorship, I will say no evil nor hear any evil. I didn’t want to be part of any distraction to what is going on because I started seeing things go wrong right from day one. I actually want him to do well because it is my State.
“However, having reviewed the past two years, I am not impressed. If you look at sectors, from infrastructure, it is not power we solved. It is not security we solved. Roads, there are some minimal result there. That’s all. When it comes to education, healthcare, agriculture, sports, tourism, entertainment, I have not seen enough.
“I am surviving, thanks be to God. I am certainly doing well. But it won’t be a total reflection of how the totality of Nigerians are feeling. When I say this, it is not just about people at the base, but the entirety of Nigerians. I have seen billionaires who are hemorrhaging seriously because of the difficulties facing the country.
“You also talk about those in the middle class that are going down economically. And if you now talk about those at the base, I saw some pictures from the Northern part of Nigeria and it reminded me of pictures of children that reminded me of kwashiorkor in the days of Biafra. We saw those pictures and they puts our minds back to those days and then you to begin to wonder, are we retrogressing or are we progressing?
“Look at the minimum wage, can we pass the bill with electrifying speed? Can we look at the things that bother those people at the base – hunger, insecurity? What can we do with proper efficiency and speed like the national anthem? You are buying vehicles for National Assembly members or the executive or the speed like we didn’t hear of the coastal road and demolitions started happening already.
“Let’s prioritise well. Let’s shift our minds to things that are important and I am saying this with all sincerity. I am begging, let’s shift our minds to the things that would touch the minds of the people particularly those at the bottom of the pyramid.
“I am in politics to contribute my quota to changing the story of the black man in the world. We are being looked down upon for far too long and it is unacceptable to me.
The story has to change. Nigeria is home the greatest number of black people in the world. This is where it has to change.”
