• Ex-CBN governor and Uba brothers slug it out in forthcoming polls
The fault is definitely not in their stars but in their shortcomings and impotence as mere mortals. Notwithstanding their helplessness before its might, Nigeria’s crew of career governorship aspirants continually lust for political power.
Indeed, power corrupts nobility and reduces the most valiant of men to petty minions. While it imbues ordinary men with exceptional grace and charisma, it reduces extraordinary men till they keel over from their exalted states and become impotent masters of their fates.
This bitter truths easily manifest in the fates of Anambra state’s career governorship aspirants. For the umpteenth time, Charles Soludo, former CBN governor, Andy Uba and Ifeanyi Ubah have declared interest in the forthcoming governorship polls later in the year. The perennial gubernatorial candidates do not know when to stop. Like the proverbial governorship candidate, they persistently vie for and lose the race to the Government House. The political cycle is filled with news of their ill-fated exploits; they are yet to make history by earning and commanding the applause of a listening and faithful electorate. Nonetheless, they persist in their frantic plots to win their states’ gubernatorial election.
Some are independent candidates who lack the support of the major political parties or members of alternative and weaker parties. Others could be conventional candidates who can consistently win a party’s nomination, but because their district is gerrymandered their party can never win a general election. The candidate likewise, never gets elected thus these types are often pit-bulls on paper. Still others may characteristically run in primary elections for a party’s nomination and lose repeatedly. Career contestants, Soludo, Uba and Ubah have indicated interest to contest for the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket in the forthcoming Anambra governorship election later this year.
Soludo, Ifeanyi Ubah, Andy Ubah have all contested for the governorship seat in the past, either on the PDP or Labour Party platforms, but failed. According to the chairman of the APC, anybody with criminal records would not be allowed to join the party in the state. He maintained that there was no zoning arrangement in the party, adding that new members would have equal rights as old ones. These perennial aspirants have started parading Anambra constituencies and wards, in their desperate bid to upset the odds this year, and emerge as the elected Governor of Anambra State.
