Top Politicians Jostling to Fly Labour Party’s Flag – THISDAYLIVE

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

 David-Chyddy Eleke lists politicians who are jostling to fly the flag of Labour Party

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 for years been the ruling party in the State and because of its formidable nature, only political parties deeply rooted in Anambra will be able to challenge it.

One of such parties is the Labour Party (LP), and this is because of the dominance of the former governor of the State, Mr. Peter Obi, who is deemed to have a huge fan base in the State; even though many think such dominance is waning.

In Anambra, Peter Obi, using his acceptance and popularity was able to engineer the election of many politicians into the State House of Assembly, the Federal House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2023 general election.

The aftermath of it is that Labour Party today has a caucus in the Anambra State Assembly, a crop of formidable politicians in the national assembly, and a huge support base. This is so much so that even Mr. Valentine Ozigbo, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election has long moved, to pitch his tent with LP. He and many others are the aspirants of the party that will be slugging it out for the ticket of the party for the November election.

Valentine Ozigbo

Former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp and former banker was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2021 election in the state. He lost to now incumbent governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, but was then touted to be well positioned for the seat. The support of former Governor Peter Obi helped him to win the hearts of the people of the state, and it was believed that he had solutions to the problem of the State. Though he was largely regarded as a gentleman with a weak outward appearance, how he maneuvered to win the governorship ticket of the PDP in a contest populated by very experienced politicians remained a mystery to many. He went ahead to make a good showing in the governorship election and was on the verge of winning the ticket, but was said to have been betrayed by many PDP bigwigs who worked with him. He has however left the party and joined Labour Party, and was the first aspirant of the party to declare his interest in the contest. He has been a critic of Soludo and has insisted that if Soludo was doing well, he would not have had any reason returning to the contest a second time. He has a strong following among members of the party

 John Nwosu

Mr. John Nwosu is another strong aspirant in the LP. He is a businessman from Nnewi, an ICT expert and owner of Jetlink Group, an ICT-based company that provides services for top banks across the world. He has showed interest in the governorship position of the party and insists that he has all it takes to move the state forward. He is particularly interested in the security of the state and has promised during an interview with journalists that he would leverage his experience of ICT to solve the problem of insecurity in the state. He is contesting on the platform of the LP and has already garnered the support of some key stakeholders in the party, especially that of Mr. Oseloka Obaze, the former Secretary to the State Government under Mr. Peter Obi and the governorship candidate of PDP in 2017 governorship election in the state. He said he plans to use the acronym SHEEEMS to solve the problems of the state. He described SHEEEMS as an acronym representing; Security, Health, Education, Economy, Environment, Markets and Social Welfare. Though he is optimistic of the party ticket, he told journalists that if for any reason he fails to clinch the ticket of the party, he will work with anyone nominated to ensure the victory of the party.

 George Moghalu

He is the immediate past Director General of National Inland Waterways Authorities (NIWA), and a former chieftain of APC has all his political life been a faithful party man, staying in one party, joining it to mergers when need be. He was an ally of former President Muhammad Buhari and joined Buhari’s CPC to form an alliance with other parties to form APC. In 2024, in what was seen as a surprise, especially as he has been known for his loyalty to one party since his political career, Moghalu dumped APC and moved into LP, and subsequently declared his intention to contest for the governorship position on the platform of the party. He hails from Nnewi and has insisted that if given the opportunity, he would serve for just one term to complete that of his kinsman, Soludo who is from same zone. This he said is to honour an existing zoning arrangement that allows each zone to govern for a two year term of eight years before it moves to another zone. Moghalu is known to be a strong politician, a grassroot mobiliser who had previously contested for the position. He has all along remained confident that he will win the ticket and move ahead to with the main election in November.

Bart Nwibe

Though he has contested for the position before, Bart Nwibi, an engineer by profession is a businessman from Aguata, which makes him a kinsman of the incumbent governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo. He is the Group Managing Director of Segofs Energies Limited. Not much has been heard of him since after he lost the primary election in APC some years back, but the Port Harcourt Rivers State based oil engineer is touted to be looking forward to the contest on the platform of LP. He is also known to be very loaded with cash – a major requirement for the contest of governorship, especially in a state like Anambra.

Though he has not been visible recently in the political space in the state, but his name keeps cropping up as one of the contestants for the ticket of the party. He is said to have declared his intention recently in Igboukwu his community.

Tony Nwoye

Currently Senator representing Anambra North zone, Senator Tony Nwoye can be described as a cat with nine lives. He has been everything any politician can aspire to be and has seamlessly ascended to many political positions despite his young age. Nwoye right before many other established politicians in the state grew from being a student union leader to PDP state party chairman, member of House of Representatives, and now a Senator of the Federal Republic. All of the above-mentioned positions were not attained without serious opposition from established politicians, but he seems to have mastered his art of wriggling through to get what he wants. He has at other points been governorship candidates of major political parties, including PDP and APC. He has come short of clinching the governorship position of Anambra State on both occasions. His contest this time if he makes it will see him contesting on the platform of the LP, same party that allowed him to become a senator in 2021. He will be the only aspirant of the party who will be contesting for the ticket, who is not from Anambra South Senatorial Zone, where it has severally been argued is the favoured zone.

He has a cult like following among young people and has a way of oiling his friendship with both the youths, women and men, especially rural people. His empowerment of his zone last year is still talked about to this day. His entry into the race would make the ticket of LP a coveted prize, and will certainly increase the stake, but many argue that it would be insensitive for him to join the race after his kinsman Chief Willie Obiano left the position just three years ago.