Anambra Governorship Election: 6 Things We Noticed About the Candidates

• The much expected Anambra governorship debate was held on Monday, November 1 at the state capital, Awka
• The event which was organised by Arise TV in conjunction with Enough is Enough Nigeria featured three major candidates
• Valentine Ozigbo of the PDP, Charles Soludo of the APGA, and Andy Uba of the APC had civil but heated exchanges at the debate

Awka - The Anambra governorship debate has come and gone but remains a trending topic among political watchers in Nigeria.

The debate gave Nigerians the first-hand opportunity to know the candidates and their plans for Ndi Anambra.

Legit.ng monitored the debate and lists 6 things noticed at the heated debate.

1. Soludo is a born orator

Chukwuma Charles Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) is a gifted public speaker, extremely eloquent, and effectively skilled in holding his audience spellbound. At the debate, the former Central Bank of Nigeria governor displayed his skills in public speaking and even his fellow contestants will admit that he is a fine speaker.

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2. Andy Uba is not much of a talker but a doer

Senator Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress (APC) struggled to match the public-speaking skills of his fellow contestants. Those who know Senator Uba from his time at the Nigerian Senate would not be surprised as he has always been an individual who does not say much. That, however, does not take away his fine administrative and leadership skills.

3. Valentine Ozigbo is young, trendy, and classy

By making references to the #EndSARS protests, digitalization, and focus on the youths, Ozigbo has shown where he is priority lies. The 51-year old chartered accountant kept on hammering on what he will do for young Anambraians and his comments showed that he is in tune with the challenges that the average young person in the state faces.

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4. Soludo has an intimidating CV

It is not every day you get a complete professional in the political sphere. Professor Soludo is not just an asset to Anambra state but to Nigeria and indeed, Africa as a whole. The economic guru used the opportunity to display his intimidating CV which includes a national honour, former economic adviser, former CBN governor, a professorship in his 30s, a Ph.D. among others.

5. Andy Uba's reference to the government at the centre

Senator Uba's plans are very obvious. He is in a hurry to connect Anambra to the government at the centre and attract major federal projects to the state. At every given opportunity, the Uga-born politician expressly reeled out his plans to ensure that Ndi Anambra benefits from the federal government if they vote for him and the APC which is presently the ruling party in Abuja.

6. Ozigbo references Peter Obi, PDP state governments

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Ozigbo is a proud party man. At every given opportunity during the debate, he made references to the giant strides recorded by PDP sub-national governments across the country and a former governor of the state, Peter Obi, also a PDP chieftain, reputed for his integrity. The PDP has also produced very fine administrators like Seyi Makinde, Udom Emmanuel, and Ifeanyi Okowa.

INEC raises alarm over ineffective polling units ahead of Anambra guber

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday, October 29 revealed that 86 out of the 5,720 polling units in Anambra state have no voters.

As a result of this, the commission said it would not deploy personnel and materials to the polling units without voters.

Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu made the disclosure at a special consultative meeting with political parties in Abuja, saying 894 representing 15.6 percent of the polling units have between 1 and 49 voters.

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Election observer group blames INEC for disenfranchising eligible voters

In a related development, a group, Yiaga Africa has blamed INEC for failing to distribute Permanent Voters Card (PVC) to the 76,104 newly eligible voters.

The group said in a statement said:

“Yiaga Africa is worried that, with less than 8 days to the elections, the commission is yet to commence distribution of PVC to the 76,104 new eligible voters who recently got registered during the Continuous Voters Registration in the state.

“This, if not addressed, could potentially disenfranchise eligible voters.”

Source: Legit.ng