Valentine Ozigbo, the 2021 governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Anambra State has announced his plan to run against Governor Chukwuma Soludo in the forthcoming 2025 governorship election in the state.
Ozigbo who resigned his membership of the PDP and joined the Labour Party in the buildup to the 2023 general elections told journalists in Anambra State on Saturday that he will be contesting the election because governor Chukwuma Soludo has not shown the capacity to lead the state after two years.
Ozigbo who said that he respects the existing zoning arrangement in Anambra State revealed that he will do a single four-year term if elected in order to preserve the zoning formular in the state.
He said:
“We have seen the leadership of Soludo in two years and some of you may be impressed but I’m not. After the last election in 2021, I called and wished him well and moved on and we have never spoken again. My decision was to assess him after two years, and having seen it, I’m not impressed and I want to start holding him accountable.
“I’m here to share my thoughts with you, what I think and no matter how you see what he (Soludo) is doing, you will be more proud when I mount the saddle.
“We need to change the narrative and look for a way to survive. We must fight to rescue Anambra. I’m a non-transactional politician. I have several things I can do, but my worry is how we can recover the state and put her on the path of development.
“Zoning is a good thing. But it must be combined with competence to make sense. Don’t pick a renegade just because he is from a certain zone, and don’t pick the best, when you know you can pick one that is better
“I respect zoning, and I will be making a case for a single term of four years. Anyone who sees what Alex Otti is doing in Abia will know that four years is enough time to do a lot of work.
“I will honour that principle of zoning, and I will not need anyone’s push or prompting to do otherwise. I will be ready to do an agreement and do an undertaking that I will do just one term. I also wish to tell you that Obi has been consistent that a southerner who emerges will only do one term.
“It is a settled matter that I intend to run for just one term. I intend to keep faith with the agreement.”
Although it is not clear if Labour Party will field Ozigbo, the former MD of Transcorp Hilton Abuja according to his supporter is confident he will clinch the LP ticket.
Despite, Ozigbo’s confidence, a candidate of the LP in the last election who spoke to FACTSHEET on the condition of anonymity said that “Val Ozigbo does not have the capacity to displace Soludo because he is not ready to accommodate others.”
“Val believes he knows it all and even Peter (Obi) now understands that the people really have to be carried along,” the former LP candidate concluded.