Valentine Ozigbo is a leading contender for the Anambra State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship ticket. In this interview, he expresses displeasure over the party’s primary election held on Sunday, April 6, where Nicholas Ukachukwu emerged the candidate. He gives reasons for going to court, explains why he would have defeated Governor Charles Soludo under the APC, among others. JOY ANIGBOGU brings the excerpts:
You alleged that Governor Chukwuma Soludo destabilised the governorship primaries of the APC in Anambra State, can you speak more on this?
I thank God that you know when I ran under for the governorship office of Anambra State under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2021. I’m somebody that is very purposeful in politics. I like to make sure that things are done properly anywhere I am. That is why I’m very surprised over what happened right from the delegate congress that was conducted by the APC in Anambra State and I wrote to the leadership of the party because we wanted to go into the primaries. Look at how three prominent aspirants withdrew from the race. Has anybody bothered to investigate why they did that? They withdrew because they were frustrated by the process. Just immediately after the congress, another list manifested from nowhere. At some points, they abandoned all the process. When I lost the 2021 governorship election to Governor Chukwuma Soludo, I didn’t challenge him, I didn’t go to court. The reason Nigeria hasn’t progressed is that you see the so-called good people keeping quiet, it’s wrong. That’s why I said to the appeal committee of the party that this is wrong and that they needed to correct it, but it was jettisoned it and I felt that I should go to court. Why I am going to court is basically for the fact that the person they chose as the candidate of the APC in the state, Nicholas Ukachukwu was not even qualified for the primary and I will prove that in court. Governor Chukwuma Soludo has a hand in what is going on in the Anambra APC, I know that meetings have been held, I have my intelligence. I have my intelligence report on this. That’s why you can’t rule out these paradox that we get ourselves into. I’ll tender my evidences in court. The fact is that Governor Soludo is scared of having me on the ballot, it’s not the first time, I’m not afraid of saying it. Overtime you’ll see how this will play out. Look at what has happened so far and many people are deserting the Anambra State APC to join other parties. This is why we need to draw the attention of the leadership of the APC, including President Bola Tinubu that allowing this thing, we will further weaken the APC in Anambra State, which is why I need to protest.
Governor Soludo has said that the APC doesn’t exist in Anambra State and you have said that you have no regret for leaving the Labour Party, but some people feel that you shouldn’t have left the party that you have a great supporters there and that when you moved you did it alone and nobody would have supported you in the APC…
…I joined the APC from the Labour Party and I have made my case very clear. I didn’t just leave, the Labour Party’s case became like two knives, the one that is sharp doesn’t have a head and the one with head is not sharp. So, you have got to consider your moves and take some steps for posterity and for the future. Labour Party is not what the people think it is, it is in its dying days and overtime people are going to see this. A lot of people are leaving the party. I took a decision to go into the APC and I’m not here to justify the actions of the party. I’m here as a catalyst for change. This is the only thing we have to do now. Some people have to go there as agents of change and I see myself as one of those agents, which was why I moved. When I moved, it became talk of the town and even people still talk about it till this moment. So, for anybody to say that I went to the APC without supporters is wrong. I was invited by all the television stations to talk about why I moved to the APC, but Nicholas Ukachukwu moved just a month before me and nobody recognised that he moved into the party. I went into the APC as a change agent and I’m already adding value to the party. My movement into the APC in Anambra State changed the trajectory of the party. This allegation that President Bola Tinubu want Governor Soludo to come back because he is an opponent to Mr. Peter Obi is not correct. Even if it’s correct, it’s an inferior proposition. Soludo must have gone to people that APC is weak in Anambra State and that his problem is Labour Party that they should support him so that he could come back into office. You said APC is weak and Labour Party is strong, who is in the Labour Party there now. After I left the Labour Party for the APC, the APC is strong in Anambra State now. This is why I’m fighting and if you go to the real people in the APC they understand why I’m fighting. I don’t want this type of deal where Governor Soludo is in APGA in the afternoon and he is in the APC in the night. If you are in APGA, stay in the party and be proud of it, but the party is in the past now. I know what happened in the 2021 governorship election in Anambra State. That was why my Director General became Soludo’s Special Adviser few days after the election. A lot of people know what happened. If I’m on the ballot, particularly under the APC, Governor Soludo is gone and he knows it. They would gang up as much as they can to make sure that I’m not on the ballot, but they’re going to lose.
Why didn’t you go to court after the last election since you said you know what happened? Also, you have moved around a lot, so you are not different from them. You were in the PDP and moved to the Labour Party, do you have a problem with Mr. Peter Obi, do you still talk to him, are you still in good terms today after you left the parry because people wonder why you left the Labour Party just like that?
I moved from the PDP, we all know what happened in 2022 in the party, when they came up with zoning and they mismanaged the whole thing. So, when Peter Obi went to the Labour Party, I had to go and support him because I believed in his candidature and we did our best for the election. But we all know how it went. Now, moving from the Labour Party to the APC is not without a reason. I am totally disenchanted about how the Labour Party has evolved after 2023. I did my best to make sure that we put the party together. We lost every election and the issues continued and there were litigations everywhere. Also, if I start the process with Julius Abure as an aspirant in the Labour Party, and the Supreme Court sacked him the way it did, everything would have been null and void now. So, it wouldn’t make sense for me who want to rescue Anambra State people to be in a party with uncertainty. This is part of the reason I left the Labour Party for the APC and I have no regret. In APC, I believe my value would be more appreciated. They’re having multiple primaries and confusion in the Labour Party. On Peter Obi, I don’t have anything personal against him and our relationship has been how it has always been despite the fact I’m in another party today.
But you were one of the men of Peter Obi and you were everywhere with him during the 2023 general elections, what happened after the election that you left him?
Labour Party is in conversation on coalition for the 2027 general elections and we’re still in 2025, which was why I had to take my own path.
What did Peter Obi actually do to you because you were one of his entourage, you were so close then?
The fact is that I have a problem with the Labour Party and by extension, I would have expected Mr. Peter Obi to take certain steps to deal with some of those issues in the Labour Party. But I don’t want to be part of what is happening in the party now, so I had to move.
I would have expected the Labour Party to be properly organised.
We recently interviewed Governor Soludo and he said that Anambra is APGA state and that people are not going to look at another party and a leader of APGA in the state said that APC doesn’t exist there, so do you think the APC can take the governorship from Governor Soludo because people said that you would lose and that Abuja would later compensate you?
You should know that I’m not a transaction politician. I can’t be bought. I’m extremely focused and serious about what I do. Governor Soludo knows that with me as the candidate of the APC, he would not win that election. Some months ago, somebody on the social media asked that who would people like to be the next Governor of Anambra State. May be I should let you know that under the leadership of Governor Soludo, we have more debts in Anambra State than all the other governors combined.
Where is you statistics for that?
There are plenty of that, I can show you a document some civil societies got. It’s not just about the debts, but arrogance that goes into his leadership style, how he makes the people feel. APC was not a big factor in Anambra State, but not anymore. The party is doing well now whereas APGA is now down. Check all the analysis, do your investigation and let’s have a debate. I’m telling you that with me as the candidate in Anambra State, APC would win the election. We’ll win the hearts of the people, not just the votes because it’s not just about being declared the winner of the election.