Prof Charles Soludo, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, will contest the November 6 2021 governorship election in Anambra State, one of his aides has assured.
Soludo’s name was missing on the list of candidates for the poll released on Friday by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“Our millions of supporters in Anambra State and elsewhere in the world are advised not to be dispirited by the publication seriously. Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo will participate in the governorship election as the APGA candidate,” Joe C. Anatune, a leader of Soludo’s support group, said in statement released late Friday.
Soludo is a candidate of one of the factions of the All Progressives Grand Alliance the faction supported by current governor, Willie Obinao. The faction also has Victor Oye as chairman.
The list published by INEC had Chukwuma Umeorji, who belongs to the another faction of the party, as APGA’s candidate.
Umeoji got a judgement from JIGAWA State that INEC should recognise him as the authentic candidate, the group said in another statement.
“The INEC publication is based on a judgment by a High Court in Jigawa State, and the electoral body sensibly wrote that its inclusion of Umeorji as a candidate in the election is “By Judgment,” Anatume explained.
He declared that Soludo’s nomination “was strictly in line with the Electoral Law and INEC guidelines. INEC observed the APGA Congress on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, where he was nominated after winning 93.4 percent of the valid votes cast in a free, fair, and transparent manner which was broadcast live on national television networks as part of deepening the democratic process in Nigeria”.
The group has appealed what it calls the “Jigawa Judgment”.
“Our team of dedicated and competent legal experts has studied the judgment and is confident of overturning it effortlessly,” Anatume said.
