HOW PRESIDENCY STOPPED SOLUDO IN APGA

•Obi, Umeh fingered

The Presidency has been fingered in the disqualification of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, to run for the Anambra State governorship election on November 16 by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) screening panel.
Soludo had recently resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before casting his lot with APGA.
He had bought nomination form with the intention to contest the Anambra governorship election on APGA’s platform.

He was, however, not cleared for the race by a three-man committee that screened the aspirants at the party’s Abuja national headquarters on Friday.
His appeal against his disqualification was also dismissed by the appellate panel of the party on Saturday.
It was reported last week that the leadership of the PDP was plotting to stop Soludo from contesting the election on the platform of APGA.
The report had it that the leadership of the PDP was jolted by the entry of Soludo into APGA, which, it feared, would make the former CBN chief a candidate to beat in the election.
Daily Independent learnt that the former CBN boss was shot down from the governorship race by APGA following a ‘stop Soludo by all means’ order from the Presidency.
Dependable sources close to APGA told Daily Independent that the order not to allow him to contest the election came from the Presidency, first to Governor Peter Obi and later to the party’s National Chairman, Victor Umeh.
The source claimed that the Presidency was worried that if Soludo was allowed to contest the election, he may win, which, it was believed, will be an ill-wind for the President.
Daily Independent was told that the decision to stop Soludo was a hard one, as members of APGA screening committee could not find an easy way to do it.
A source close to the screening committee said, “It was real headache finding grounds on which to stop Soludo. Members of the screening committee were at a loss because they felt that it was a betrayal of the party’s chance to field a formidable candidate.
“But since the order was from the above, they eventually had to find whatever they could, to disallow Soludo. But I tell you, it was a nightmare for them.”
Daily Independent called Soludo’s GSM number several times to get his reaction to the story but he did not pick his calls.
His Media Assistant, Bonaventure Melah, who spoke to our correspondent, was rather evasive, saying he has not been briefed on any of the questions raised.

Source: Daily Independent