Fides Media Living the Faith
…It’s a Measure of Our Hard Work – Ozigbo
By Jude Atupulazi
If the survey conducted by an international policy and governance Think-Tank, Council on African World Affairs, is anything to go by, the next governor of Anambra State will be Mr. Valentine Ozigbo, guber aspirant on the platform of People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP). He has been tipped as having the highest chances of winning the Anambra governorship election slated for November 6 this year.
Ozigbo, immediate past President and Group Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp, described the rating as a result of the hard work he and his team had put in.
The business mogul who stated this during a zoom meeting with media executives, said the rating would spur them on to cover more grounds and ultimately win the main election.
‘I’m not surprised by the result of the poll. My track records speak volumes and stand me out above other contenders. ‘I will leave no stone unturned if Ndi Anambra give me their mandate,’ Ozigbo said.
According to the survey, about 62 per cent of participants believe that the next governor would emerge from Anambra South Senatorial Zone.
The survey which was carried out by an Abuja consulting firm, Eagle Badger, was made known in a statement made available to newsmen last Wednesday, May 26, 2021, by the Council on African World Affairs, a Washington DC based Think Tank.
Professor Afam Ifedi, Executive Director of the Think Tank, who signed the statement, said that as a non-partisan organisation, it was interested in deepening and strengthening democracy in Nigeria by supporting political institutions in the conduct of credible elections.
‘We have been providing these non-partisan interventions in Nigerian elections and we aim to provide research-based, evidence-based information that will guide policymakers and educate Nigerian voters,’ Professor Ifedi said, noting that plans were in progress to carry out similar research exercises for the upcoming Osun and Ekiti gubernatorial elections, as well as the 2023 general elections.
‘The research for 2023 is ongoing, and the first report will be out in a couple of weeks. This is to provide credible empirical information to the public and the political parties and institutions with a view of expanding the democratic space and making Nigeria better.
‘We commissioned this survey for all the political parties participating in the Anambra 2021 governorship election, and what we are giving to you today is the report on the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) report, which is the first to come out,’ Ifedi, a political economist who teaches at Howard University, said.
A copy of the survey showed that the research was carried out in the 21 local government areas of the state through telephone, with five criteria.
‘At the end of this survey, Mr. Valentine Ozigbo received an overwhelming majority of the votes, with 50% of the 981 PDP delegates surveyed, saying they believed that he was most likely to win the November governorship election of the 16 PDP aspirants.
‘Senator Uche Ekwunife came a distant second place with 16 per cent, and Dr. Obiora Okonkwo came third with 13 per cent.
‘Mr. Godwin Maduka had 10.92 per cent; Mr. Chris Azubogu polled 7.69 per cent; Mr. Tony Nwoye had 1.49 per cent and Mrs. Chidi Onyemelukwe scored 1.24 per cent from the polls. Also Mr. Winston Udeh 0.74 per cent, among others,’ Mr Ifedi said.
The Think-Tank said it also looked at the state’s zoning arrangement and found that over 62 per cent of the delegates favoured that the next governor of the state be elected from the Anambra South Senatorial Zone.
The report revealed that the poll focused on the ability of the individual aspirants to tackle insecurity, unemployment, infrastructure, education, and healthcare in the Southeastern state.