It is now official that Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, has been elected as the new governor of Anambra state following the end of the governorship election which commenced on Saturday November 6, 2021 and ended with a supplementary election on Tuesday November 9, 2021.
He was announced as the winner by the Returning Officer of the Anambra Governorship Election, Prof Florence Obi on Wednesday morning at the INEC office in Awka, Anambra State.
The 61-year-old defeated his closest rival, Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party, who polled 53,807 votes, and Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress who got 43,285 votes.
Who Is Charles Chukwuma Soludo?
Charles Chukwuma Soludo was born on the 28 July 1960. He hails from Isuofia in Aguata Local Government Area.
He is a Nigerian economics professor and a former governor and chairman of the board of directors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Soludo was appointed governor of the CBN on 29 May 2004 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He is also a member of the British Department for International Development’s International Advisory Group.
Academia
Soludo has been a visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund, the University of Cambridge, the Brookings Institution, the University of Warwick, and the University of Oxford as well as a visiting professor at Swarthmore College (USA).
He has also worked as a consultant for a number of international organisations, including The World Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the United Nations Development Programme.
Soludo is a core professional in the business of macroeconomics. He obtained his three degrees and then professorship at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, Enugu State. Soludo graduated with a First Class Honours degree in 1984, an MSc Economics in 1987, and a PhD in 1989, winning prizes for the best student at all three levels.
He has been trained and involved in research, teaching, and auditing in such disciplines as multi-country macro-econometric modelling, techniques of computable general equilibrium modelling, survey methodology, and panel data econometrics, among others. He studied and taught these courses at many universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, and Warwick. Soludo has co-authored, co-edited, and authored a number of books on this subject matter.
In 1998, Soludo was appointed to the position of professor of economics at the University of Nigeria; the next year he became a visiting professor at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, USA.
Politics
Soludo first announced his aspiration for the seat of the Governor of Anambra State in September 2009, in the south-eastern Nigerian state’s election of 9 February 2010.
On 9 October 2009, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chose Soludo as their consensus candidate for the position from a field of 47 candidates, after repeated attempts to hold elective primaries were stalled by court injunctions. However, his nomination was contested by 23 of the 47 aspirants, citing lack of transparency in the process.
After this initial rancour, 36 out of the 47 candidates, and several top shots of the PDP affirmed their support for Soludo on Wednesday, 14 October 2009. Soludo went on to lose to Peter Obi in an election which was largely considered free and fair according to major election observers.
On 17 July 2013, Soludo resigned from the People’s Democratic Party after writing a letter to the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur. He later joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance in preparation for the November 2013 governorship race in Anambra state. In mid-August 2013, he, along with five other qualified aspirants, were disqualified by the APGA Screening Committee.
On 31 March 2021, unidentified gunmen disrupted an interactive session between Isuofia youths and Soludo at the town’s civic centre, leading to the death of three police officers.
In February 2021, Soludo officially declared his intention to run for the position of Governor of Anambra State under the banner of APGA.
On 10 November 2021, the Independent National Electoral Commission announced that Soludo is the new Governor of Anambra State.
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