Comrade Louis Arupuo and Chukwuebuka Onyemelukwe put this exclusive together for Louis Response Media….
In this exclusive interview, State Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Ezinifite Town Union President‑General, Hon. Chief Sylvanus Udezuka tells Louis Response Media that the party’s landslide victory, including at the recent Anambra South senatorial by‑election, highlights the Governor’s achievements and sparks fresh expectation for Nnewi South.
LRM: “Let me first and foremost congratulate you and your party on your victory at the polls. I want to know how you feel about the just concluded elections.”
Chief S.U: “The victory is overwhelming and it was expected. I knew before hand that APGA was going to win because our amiable Governor, Professor Charles Soludo, had done critically well in the last four years. I wouldn’t want to start mentioning his many achievements, ranging from the employment of thousands of teachers to enhance academic excellence in Anambra State, to building of roads across the length and breath of Anambra State. Many kilometers of roads are being completed and alot of new ones are awarded waiting for completion.
He championed free medical care, free delivery, and free education, in both public and Private schools in Anambra State. I want to say categorically that in the history of Anambra State we’ve never had it so good.Soludo Solution is our great leader therefore Anambra State is on the rise and this has been confirmed by the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Ahmed Bola Tinubu, during his visit in May, in Anambra State . The President collaborated on these achievements, hence his assertion “Anambra is on the Rise”. So I had no doubt that the Governor would be returned for his second tenure in office. 4+4.
So this election that APGA has won, twenty one over twenty one, (all 21 LGAs in Anambra) has proven me right that our people are solidly with our Solution Governor, that our people are happy with his achievements hence he was returned on the 8th of November for a second term in office as the Executive Governor of Anambra State. We are proud of him and all of us in the APGA family are sharing in this success. We are also very happy with him.”
LRM: “As the State Organizing Secretary of APGA, Anambra State chapter, your office wields a highly influential status. What role did you play in the achievement of this victory?”
Chief S.U: “As an APGA Chieftain, I am fully committed because I benefitted from APGA as a political party. The party gave me a platform to became the Honourable Councilor 1 representing Ezinifite ward 11, in Nnewi South legislative council, in 2013.
From there I took it up and became the Assistant State Auditor of APGA, Anambra State chapter. I served for four years after which I was returned to serve as ex-officio 3, representing Nnewi South constituency 2. I served for four years also, then I was returned in the 2023 APGA congress as the State Organizing Secretary of the party in Anambra State for four years which is concurrently running. Having gone so far, coupled with the fact that the party gave me that leeway to serve, I decided to be consistent in other to repay the confidence the party reposed on me. I have not changed to any political party apart from APGA since 2013. And that my consistency has paid off. I have been a member of the State Working Committee, ranging from state assistant auditor for four years, 2019, to ex officio 3, which elapsed in 2023 before I was returned also to be the state organizing secretary in the 2023 congress.
So, I decided to repay the direct confidence reposed on me by APGA, in every electoral contest I make sure I work for the party. APGA is beyond a great political party, it’s not even a political party, it’s a movement that needs to be sustained. That’s why we work with the philosophy of “Onye Aghana nwanne ya” which means ‘don’t leave your brothers and sisters behind’.
We must also share our values and that is why we are progressives. During the campaigning period, I keep telling people that APGA will emerge victorious because of their progressive nature, because of their great achievements, and because of their people-oriented policies, I said, then, that Chukwuma Soludo was going to have a landslide victory in the November Gubernatorial Election and this has come to pass on November 8th, when the people spoke through their votes. Our amiable Governor, Mr. Governor, Charly Nwamgbafor, has overwhelmingly returned to serve his second term in office, and of course you can see it’s overwhelming .
The landslide victory recorded, the gap is least to be imagined, the gap is overwhelming. The people spoke loud and clear with their votes and we thank God for that.”
LRM: “Tell us about your relationship with the distinguish Senator Chief Emmanuel Nwachukwu, _Onodu Ugo_”.
Chief S.U: Distinguish Senator Emmanuel Chibuzor Nwachukwu, the Senator representing Anambra South Senatorial district, is a very good friend of mine, and my political ally, a trusted political ally, and I worked for him because I trust him. I believe he will give us a very sound and purposeful representation. Because of his ideals and our closeness, I know him as a perfect gentleman, a square peg in a square hole.
That leadership vacuum that has been in Anambra south and that quality representation that has been lacking, I know that he’s going to provide it. As for Anambra south, in recent times, APGA as a political party has not actually produced a senator of Anambra South extraction, but it has come to pass under Professor Charles Soludo as the executive Governor of Anambra State. APGA as a political party has not produced a Senator of Anambra South extraction before now, it had been PDP affairs in the past. But we’ve come to establish the party as a people-oriented party and as a movement. So, Emma Nwachukwu was nominated by our party to represent Anambra South senatorial district in the by-election held some months back, because of the core values he believes in. He’s a technocrat and a seasoned banker of high repute . The Governor himself trusted him, and the party, of course, trusted him also to give us a fair representation, hence our faith in him. We worked for him and, through the ballot paper, he was victorious and was returned as the Senator representing Anambra South Senatorial district in the Red Chambers, the hallowed chamber, and so far so good, he has done very very well.
Anambra South is happy and because he is my political ally I know what he is up to, I know he will deliver. A gentleman to the core, he has a listening ear, he shares your burdens and worries. I don’t have any iota of doubt that he’s going to do well to the benefit of Anambra South in general. So, distinguish Senator Emmanuel Nwachukwu is my friend, my political ally and, now, my political leader. Known as Onudugo Adiro Egbe Mma, we are happy that he is our Senator. As you witnessed, on the 8th of November, our Governor was overwhelmingly voted for in Nnewi South, and indeed across Anambra. We won as a political party and delivered him. So I am using this opportunity to congratulate Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, Oluatuegwu Anambra, Oluatuegwu Ndigbo, for his victory during the Gubernatorial polls. And as he commences his second term in office, which will take the next four years, I pray that Anambra State will continue to be on the rise and that the development will be across board. I know he has done wonderfully well by building roads in so many parts of the State. As an Nnewi South native, I know that the giant strides are coming to Nnewi South, and we pray we will all benefit from his second tenure which, I know, will favour us because we are part and parcel of the success and we are going to share in the success story of Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo in the next four years.”
LRM: “What are the expectations from the people of Nnewi South?
What are your expectations from the Senator and the Governor for your people?”
Chief S.U: “The expectations are very very high, the stake is high. In fairness, we’re within the corridors of power in Anambra State, and we know the challenges we have. We know the needs of our people, their problems, and I know that our people are all eager to see development coming into Nnewi South. I want to assure them that we, the super stakeholders, are working assiduously to ensure that development will be delivered in terms of good roads, erosion control, and provision of other social amenities. A typical example: our honourable Commissioner for Environment, Chief Dr. Engr. Felix Odimegwu, a son of the soil, myself, and other relevant stakeholders are working hard to ensure that Abanator market square as well as Umudiala Umuike Ukpor road is flagged off very soon. The Governor promised, openly, during his rally tour in Ukpor to look into those roads, and he didn’t stop at that, he went ahead to send his Commissioner for Works to scope the work and report back to him. The Commissioner for Works has, in collaboration with the stakeholders in Ezinifite, gone to the sites for assessment, trekking from Abanator market square to Umuike ukpor road, where the road stopped. It’s a linkage road to Ukpor, a gateway to Ukpor and the road is about 3.2 kilometres to Ukpor. The road has been visited, scoped and is at the drawing level. As soon as it’s concluded, by the special Grace of God, it will be flagged off by Mr. Governor, which he has promised to flag off. The moment the road is flagged off, we will start witnessing the trickling in of development as expected by our people.
So, I am telling you emphatically that very soon the road will be flagged off by Mr. Governor. Also, it is not as if he is not aware of the erosion at nkwozu and the menace ravaging that site. He has promised to take it up and continue where Obiano stopped so as to stretch it a little bit further and save the residents, while tackling other things the community is seeking for. Just about one month ago, I personally made submissions to the State Government, our charter demands which ranges from that road, erosions, and a whole lot of challenges Ezinifite is facing so that they will be incorporated in the 2026 Anambra State budget.”
LRM: “In the spirit of sportsmanship, the election has come and gone, what advice do you have to offer the opposition that lost out?”
Chief S.U: “Everybody performed very very well. Political contest is like a race. J F. Kennedy of the U.S contested over three times and won on the fourth attempt. Any political actor can contest, re-contest and, by God’s grace, eventually emerge a winner in God’s own time because there’s time for all of us, so it’s a victory for all of us.”
LRM: “Finally, what’s your message to ndi Anambra?”
Chief S.U: “My message to every Anambrarian is to have hope on professor Charles Chukwuma soludo, a technocrat of high repute. He knows where and how Anambra state will be fixed and he is ready to do the needful to see that Anambra State is happy. So let us support him fully to actualize his mandate. At the end of the mandate, Anambra State will be celebrated as one of the leading states of the federation . Thank you.”
LRM: “Thank you.”
