ANAMBRA DECIDES: Mrs. Uche Ekwunife, PPA
From CHIDI NNADI, GEOFFREY ANYANWU and DAVID ONWUCHEKWA, Awka

Friday, February 5, 2010
The PPA standard bearer is hopeful to carry the day as the Director of Media and Publicity, Ekwunife Campaign Organization, Hon Elder Soge Sam Egbuna pointed out that “PPA is a party that has the largest membership in the 21 local government areas in Anambra.”



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Hon. Ekwunife



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Besides, he said that women in the state who constitute the largest percentage of the population in Anambra are solidly behind Ekwunife.

Hon Egbuna expressed confidence that the PPA would win in tomorrow’s election and would go ahead to implement its programmes “as they are in our manifesto and there is no need talking about what we will do if we don’t win because our victory at the poll is assured.”

He said that he believes that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is ready to conduct a free and fair election just as he said that security agencies should all be at alert.

Hon Ekwunife’s biodata

The Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) standard bearer, Hon Chief (Mrs) Uche Ekwunife’s, rise to the exalted position of a member of House of Representatives is a big boost to her political career. Her doggedness and resilience has continued to put her in the frontline of the contenders of the Awka Government House.

Before going into politics, the PPA guber candidate had distinguished herself in the banking industry. As a banker she showed her prowess in money management and brought her administrative acumen to bear on the banks she worked in, including Royal Merchant Bank, Equitorial Trust Bank and the then Standard Trust Bank where she rose to the position of an Area Manager.

Hon Ekwunife (Iyom) who has received many awards and chieftaincy titles is a Fellow, Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy in Public Administration. She holds an MBA in Business Administration, 2002, (Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State) and B.Sc (Hons) degree in Business Education (Accounting) 2001, University of Calabar.

She is the deputy chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, House of Representatives, where she represents Anaocha/Njikoka/Dunukofia Federal Constituency, Anambra State.

Mrs Ekwunife is happily married to Chief Larry Ekwunife, a successful businessman from Nri community in Anaocha Local Government Area, Anambra State.

[size=14pt]LIKELY TO WIN FROM THE REPORTS AM GETTING.[/size]

Dr Ngige’s history

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Dr Chris Nwabueze Ngige was born on August 8, 1952. He was governor of Anambra State from May 29, 2003 to March 17, 2006.

A medical doctor by profession, Ngige graduated from the University of Nigeria-Nsukka in 1979.

He immediately went into the civil service, serving at the National Assembly and State House clinics at different times. He retired in 1998 as a deputy director in the Federal Ministry of Health.

After this, Ngige entered into politics and was one of the founding members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). By 1999, he was Assistant National Secretary and zonal secretary of the PDP in the South East.

Elected in 2003 under controversial circumstances, he quickly broke ranks with his self-styled “political godfather” after an unsuccessful attempt on July 10, 2003 to illegally remove him from office through a fabricated letter of resignation which the state House of Assembly accepted.

A Federal Court of Appeal affirmed the nullification of Ngige’s purported 2003 election victory on March 15, 2006. This was after a lower Election Tribunal led by Justice Nabaruma had in August 2005 nullified his 2003 victory. The court declared that Mr Peter Obi, candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) was the bona fide winner of the election.

However, this nullification has not diminished Ngige’s popularity as he spent the 33 months in office executing populist, people-oriented programmes, especially road construction.

Ngige had accepted the court ruling as the Court of Appeal was the terminal court in governorship election petitions and to save the state from further crises arising from the support given to his traducers by the Obasanjo-led Federal Government.

His attempt to participate in Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted governorship election in the state in April 2007 was frustrated by INEC in complicity with the federal authorities through a dubious ‘disqualification’ even after a Federal High Court had voided the disqualification.

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Dr Uba’s history

Dr Andy Uba was born on December 14, 1958 in Enugu, Enugu State, to the family of Nze & Dame {Mrs} Philip Uba whose ancestry was derived from Uga, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State.

Having survived and surmounted the vagaries and disruptive years of the Nigerian civil war, with his parents and siblings, young Andy continued his education at Boys High School Awkunanaw, Enugu State and thereafter traveled abroad for further studies. He gained admission and studied Geology at Concordia University in Montreal Canada where he graduated in 1984.

Dr Uba who had further academic studies at the California State University later proceeded to Buxton University in the United Kingdom where he earned a Doctor of Science in Bio-Sciences in 1996.

He had lived most of his professional life in California, United States. Between 1985 and 1992 he worked for the Golden State Mutual Insurance of California and, with his team, established a chain of health clinics in different states of United States that specialized in conducting evaluations for the United States government on workers’ compensation claims.

It must be noted that while abroad, Dr Uba maintained contact with, and appreciable interest in developments in Nigeria. It was the quest to contribute to the socio-economic and political development in Nigeria that encouraged him to join in the United States the presidential campaign of PDP in 1998.

His zeal, dedication and material contribution to the campaign earned him the commendation of the team and admiration of presidential candidate, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (as he then was). With the PDP wining the 1999 presidential election, President Obasanjo invited Dr back to Nigeria and, having noticed his deep sense of loyalty, self drive, energy and resourcefulness appointed him to what may now be described as a very delicate, enviable and challenging Office of Special Assistant to the President on Special Duties and Domestic Affairs.

While politics, in some aspect, connotes the art of possibilities in the propagation of public policies and satisfaction of group interests, it is still not like the game of football, where the goal scorer is publicly known and acknowledged.

However, between 1999-2007, it cannot be denied that Dr Uba pulled many strings, in terms of policies and appointments, which impacted positively on many interests and groups across Nigeria, including the South East.

Still determined to render further public service to his people, Dr Uba as PDP candidate in the 2007 gubernatorial election in Anambra contested and won the governorship ticket.

His determination to utilize the historic 2007 mandate obtained through a vigorous and well conducted campaign under the Slogan ‘Igwebuike’, has remained most civil and tortuous, if not agonizing, yet the man Dr Uba has remained calm, resolute and unruffled.

He has remained a cheerful philanthropist to the needy and under privileged, as well as supporter of noble goals and initiatives. In specific terms amongst his contributions to Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka is the Nze Philip Uba endowment building for Mass Communication, named after his late father.

Dr Uba, a devote Christian and knight of Anglican Communion also holds a national honour of Member of Federal Republic of Nigeria (MFR). He is married and blessed with four lovely children.

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Prof Soludo’s history

Prof Chukwuma C. Soludo, born on July 28, 1960, has an outstanding profile. Trained as an Economist, Soludo had worked in several places, including the Central Bank of Nigeria where he introduced reform programmes that transformed the Nigerian banking industry.

Specifically, in December 2004, the Institute of Directors (IOD), an umbrella body of Nigeria’s top executives and captains of industry recognized him as the public sector reformer of the year 2004, by conferring on him the IOD 2004 Nigeria Enterprise Award, citing his achievements in designing Nigeria’s National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) and the revolutionary reforms of the Nigerian financial system.

Other key stakeholders have also recognized Prof Soludo’s leadership qualities. He has received the 2004 Kwame Nkrumah Africa Leadership Award in Ghana; the Most Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka by the University Senate and Community; The Sun Newspaper 2004 Man of the Year; and the ThisDay Newspaper 2004 Banker of the Year.

Soludo has over 76 academic and professional publications, including ten books and publications in top-class economic journals.

He has been voted the best Central Banker in Africa 2006 by Euromoney; the Smart Regulator in Africa 2006 by Africa-Investor; and the Global Best Central Banker 2006 by London’s Financial Times (FT) Group’s; the Banker and the Best Central Banker in Africa 2007 by the African Banker magazines. The FT described Soludo as a “Great Reformer.”

Soludo has lived and worked in Nigeria, Ethiopia, United Kingdom, and the USA. In 1998, he was promoted to the rank of Professor of Economics at the University of Nigeria and in 1999 he was appointed visiting professor, Swarthmore College, USA.

He has also worked in various capacities at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, UNCTAD; European Union (EU); Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); United Nations (UN), New York; United States Agency for International Development (USAID); African Development Bank (ADB); Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA); and the African Union (AU), among others.

Prof Soludo has worked at the World Bank and served as Senior Technical Advisor/Consultant as well as a visiting scholar at the IMF since 1994. He also taught IMF’s Financial Programming and Policy course to senior staff of Central Banks in West Africa and other developing regions.

He has served as: Member, Technical Committees that drafted economic and trade policies for the Federal Government of Nigeria; and Executive Director of the African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE). He is currently a Member of the International Advisory Group for the UK-DFID.

In 2003, Prof Soludo joined the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the Chief Economic Adviser to the President and Chief Executive of the National Planning Commission.

His key achievements include leading the team that prepared the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) and the State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (SEEDS). He restructured the National Planning Commission (NPC) and the Federal Office of Statistics (FOS) prior to his appointment as CBN Governor in May 2004.

The history of Nigeria’s banking sector has now been categorised into the pre-Soludo and post-Soludo era. His tenure as Governor and Chairman of the Central Bank of Nigeria led to the consolidation of over 80 weak banks into 25 strong entities which subsequently transformed banking in Africa, especially in Nigeria’s banking sector with concurrent accelerated boom in financial services, mortgage banking, insurance, pension and micro-banking.

He also launched the first indigenous multinational development banking institution, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and also launched the Financial System Strategy 2020 (FSS2020) with a view to position Nigeria as a banking and financial hub in Africa. Prof Soludo was subsequently appointed Member of the Chief Economist Advisory Council of the World Bank and, most recently, was also appointed by the President of the UN General Assembly as a member of the 10-man Commission of Experts on the Reform of the International Monetary and Financial System,