Dr Uche Ifediba, National President of the Advocacy for Transparent Governance and Promotion Initiative (ATGPI), in an interview with Sunday Sun, urged Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State to fulfil his campaign promise of transforming the state into the “Dubai of Africa” as he begins his second term in office.
When he was asked to react to Governor Soludo’s recent political comments, in which the governor stated that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) would not field a presidential candidate in the 2027 general elections and further predicted that President Bola Tinubu could secure re-election with votes from the South-East region, he said, “Being at the vantage position as a governor, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo might be seeing something most of us aren’t seeing.
“Nevertheless, that statement appears bold and perhaps too bold.
“I want to see this as indeed, a prediction. But I’m afraid it will come to pass because Ndi Igbo are not politically monolithic. Yes, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) may decide not to field a candidate, but that doesn’t mean voters will follow a predetermined path, especially if Peter Obi will be contesting.”
He stated that if Peter Obi appears on the ballot in the 2027 general elections, he would become a major political factor that cannot be ignored, not only by the Igbo electorate but by Nigerians as a whole.
He noted that while President Bola Tinubu enjoys the advantage of incumbency, such advantage does not automatically translate into electoral victory, as endorsements—whether implicit or explicit—do not always determine voting outcomes. According to him, Nigerian voters have increasingly demonstrated independence in recent elections.
He further observed that politics is evolving, adding that voters, particularly in the South-East, are becoming more individualistic in their political choices. He said bloc voting is not traditionally entrenched in the region and, where it has appeared in the past, it was not necessarily due to endorsements but rather the cumulative result of individual decisions.
He advised politicians seeking votes in the South-East to focus on performance and credibility, stressing that they must either deliver effectively or convince the electorate that they can perform better than their opponents. He pointed to Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s first-term performance and his landslide victory in the previous election as evidence supporting this view. Read_More…