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The candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the Anambra governorship election, Mr John Chuma Nwosu, has said that poor performance in office by Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has stripped him of the advantage of power of incumbency in the coming election.

Added to this, he said, is the coming of a new Chairman for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, who provided fresh hopes that the governorship election would be credible

Speaking when he appeared on the signature television programme of Arise Television on Tuesday, Nwosu urged Anambra voters to come out en masse to vote, stressing that only by coming out in their numbers and shunning vote-buying would Prof. Amupitan’s promise of a credible election bear fruit.

He said he is sure to win the November 8th poll barring the incidences of vote-buying and voter apathy.

On his switch from the Labour Party (LP), the ADC flagbearer disclosed that he decided to move to the coalition platform of ADC when it became obvious that the nomination process in LP would run afoul of the Electoral law and Nigeria’s Constitution.

He said: “I was the one who built the structure of the Labour Party in Anambra State. When I decided to run for governorship last year, I met our leader, Peter Obi, who advised me that the Labour Party does not have a physical structure in Anambra State and that we need to go and build the structures and be visible. “Then, I recruited a team, comprising His Excellency, Oseloka Obaze, the former Secretary to the Anambra State Government (SSG) and the campaign manager for Peter Obi’s Presidential Campaign Council, under which I served as the Director of ICT.

“With him and the Rt. Hon. Ben Chuks Nwosu, who was the Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly when Peter Obi was impeached, three of us moved down to Anambra State and set up the 21 Local Government Area offices for Labour Party, giving them N1million each,” he stated.

He added that he went to Innoson Plastics, which made chairs and tables for them, and with that, he built a physical structure and started moving from one local government to another, “As a matter of fact, we travelled to the nooks and corners of Anambra State about four times”.

Nwosu remarked that, coming from a private sector background like the incumbent governors of Enugu and Abia States, he is sure to replicate the good governance and impactful service delivery in those neighbouring states.

He said that ADC is sure to pull surprises in the November 8 gubernatorial poll in Anambra State, adding that just as the election is the first under Prof Amupitan, it is also going to be the coalition ADC’s first electoral contest after the coalition.

His words: “Yes, under the name of ADC. As you know, ADC is a coalition of parties, being represented mostly by the PDP, from which I picked my deputy governor, Chief Dr. Ndubisi Nwobu, who was a local government chairman of Awka South under the PDP, and also the state chairman of the PDP.

“So, PDP forms the major part of the coalition, followed by Labour, which I came from. So, a major part of Peter Obi is of Labour, for which PDP got the position of the National Chairman of the party, in the name of former Senate President David Mark.

“Then, the Peter Obi-led Labour Party was given the position of National Organising Secretary, for which he nominated Hon. Chinedu Idigo, who represents them. So, it’s a coalition of parties. There is not much optimism. Obi is definitely part of ADC.

On why he swore to an oath in court to serve only one term when elected governor, Nwosu noted that just as the incumbent used three and a half years to show that he has not done well for the state, the incoming ADC administration would use three years to make a difference.

Responding to the claims that Soludo has delivered, the ADC governorship hopeful said: “The point is that the indices are there for everyone to see, starting from insecurity. As a matter of fact, in the last three and a half years, Anambra State has lost illustrious children in the name of kidnappers and sundry brigandage.

“In fact, in Ihiala Local Government Area that houses Lilu, Mbosi, where my great brother and friend, Dr. Allen Onyema, the owner of Airpeace, hails from. In the past three and a half years, they have never gone home. As a matter of fact, they are now holding traditional wedding ceremonies and everything in townships. And even to bury the dead, you have to find a way to pay ransom and then get in there. So, insecurity has been a major challenge.”

Nwosu regretted that the only project the incumbent governor could say he completed was the Government House, which was initiated by a former governor, Late Dr Chinwoke Mbadinuju, in 1999 that he completed.

He said that when elected, the ADC administration under his watch would change the narratives, declaring, “what I am bringing on the table is e-governance, e-security, e-health, e-tax, e-transportation, e-commerce.”

The ADC governorship contender disclosed that his seven-point agenda of good governance, under the acronym SHEEEMS, where S stands for security, H stands for health, first E stands for education, second E stands for economy, and the third E stands for environment, because Anambra is being ravaged by erosion, and they’re all man-made.

“As you know, I have managed an ICT company for the past 31 and a half years. So, what is the difference between managing a state and managing a company? The only fair difference is that in a company you go for profit, whereas in a state it’s about the welfare of the people.

“But, accountability, everything, you must be efficient in the management of both human and their resources, which is what is lacking in this state as of today. As a fact, we have issues of touts beating people with canes on the streets in the name of chasing them for tax.

“And after looking at it, you go back to review the IGR being generated by 36 states and the FCT last year, according to the Cable Times, Cable Index, you’ll see Lagos State coming up top again at 1.26 trillion, followed by Rivers State at 317 billion. Then looking down at the Southeast, where I come from, Enugu State came tops on the fifth position in the entire country, about 180.69 billion, then my own state, which is being seen as a commercial nerve centre of the Southeast, coming in distant 17th position at 42.69 billion.

“And what does it show? It shows that most of our IGR goes into private pockets because the state is not fully computerized. So, what I’m bringing to the table is e-governance so that we remove the touts from the street and allow people to pay their tax with ease, as it is in Enugu State and Delta State.”#