 Candidates of the upcoming Anambra elections hold a debate, speaking about topics ranging from insecurity to elections. And meet with Nandikanu, former president of Lushakon Basinjotel's President Buhari. This is PLOS Politics and I am Osaogi Ogbon. Welcome once again to PLOS Politics in preparation for the upcoming Anambra gubernatorial election, a debate between the three major candidates was held. The candidates are Andi Uba of the All Progressive Congress, Professor Chukuma Soludo of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, ABGA, and Valentino Zigbo of the People's Democratic Party. As expected, the candidates threw punches at one another, including an attempt by Soludo to fault the certificate of the APC candidate, while Uba, on the other hand, told the ABGA candidate that managing an outfit was not an assurance that such a person could perform as a governor. However, all the candidates agreed that they neither condemned nor support the agitations of the indigenous people of Biafra IPOB, insisting that the agitation should be tackled through dialogue, creation of jobs and youth empowerment. Joining us to discuss this is Francis Chilaka, a political analyst, Mr. Chukunae Okerike, a public affairs analyst, and Chinadu Ifechilu B, a public affairs analyst also. Thank you all for joining us this evening. Good evening. Good evening. Thanks a lot. Great to have you. Thanks for having us. All right. I'm going to start with Francis Chilaka. I'm sure that you also have seen the debate and, of course, the bits of information here and there concerning that debate. So I want to get your thoughts, first of all, on the three candidates. It seemed like some were better prepared or had a better understanding as to what exactly the demands were to be governor of Anambra State. Well, I took my time, I've taken my time to watch the debate once more. I would start by saying that we, yes, it was a wonderful debate, it was good. It's what we all aspire and want in this country, where we have people who want to lead us, talk to us, tell us their plans and all of that. But we also know that in the midst of all of this, the debate has not a new one actually in Nigeria. Having said that, I would say that, yes, Charles Soledad to the day, he came out prepared. He showed the fact that he was prepared for an election. He showed that he had plans and he had dreams which he believed would take Anambra State to the next level. The second person of my opinion is a PDP candidate here. So even though he countered some of the statistics before by Charles Soledad, but then you could see that these are two very brilliant men ready to work and ready to take the state to the next level. Now, if you bring it to the top candidate, that's the APC candidate, I wouldn't know where to replace him. But I think his own is the fact that he has been a career politician. So he thinks and he believes that it's all about career politicians. No, it's about what you have upstairs and what you're bringing to bear and how you intend to add value to whatever the format that one has done and to bring some form of lease of life to Anambra people. So yes, it was a good damn debate. I enjoyed it and I believe that at the end of the day, the Anambra people would decide their own words. It's also very, very interesting because not very often that we have debates for governorship elections like this. Inugu, for example, I'm not sure Inugu has ever had a governorship debate when it's time for election. So it's an interesting perspective that we're even talking about a debate for Anambra elections. Mr. Okerike, can you hear us? Okerike, if you can, if you can hear us, please unmute your device so we can hear you. But let's move to Mr. Ifer Chilobi and talk about one of the things that was spoken about and that is the challenge of insecurity. I remember that one of the things that was mentioned is says, and this is from Professor Soludos who said that the insecurity in the state is politically motivated to create voter suppression for one of the candidates to eventually win it. And then of course there was all the narratives put together by the other candidates. So quickly share your thoughts on their analysis on the security challenges in Anambra state. Yeah, well, of course, security is one thing that anybody who is going to be the next governor of Anambra state must address responsibly. It must be attacked because the southeast used to be one of the most peaceful regions in the country. But right now, not just Anambra state, but basically the whole southeast, you know, you can say, is boiling. So every governor that comes in must handle security as something that should be on the front burner. Okay. The governors, the five South Eastern governors have failed as long as security is concerned. In recent times, maybe past 12 months. So it's extremely important that whoever comes on or born at the seat of government in Anambra state must address security as a priority because without security, the economy cannot grow. People cannot do business. There won't be meaningful exchanges. So it's very important. It's very important, especially given that the current governors have failed to address the issue of security as against what you would have seen in the southwest part of the country where the governors came together, put together an outfit that they could trust, mobilized them, got the requisite law that they needed to have them legalized and mobilized them. And then you could see that basically all the arrests in that region has been arrested. So whoever is the current governor of any South Eastern state and the one who is going to be the governor of Anambra state must put that on the front burner and take care of security because we, I'm from the Southeast, we are an industrious people and trade is our business. Commerce is our thing. That's our specialty. And, you know, insecurity threatens quality trade, quality exchanges, quality transactions, and that must be taken care of. If not, the region is going as long as I'm concerned. Okay. Still trying to connect with Chicanoia. Okay. I'm not sure why we're having difficulties with that. But Francis Chilak, I want to bring you back in, you know, with regards the narrative that all five Southeast and governors have failed with regards political leadership of the Southeast. And that's the reason that the IPOB was able to feel that void and feel that space that political and traditional leadership had failed. So I want you to share your views on, these three candidates are going to be stepping into one of those positions of the five Southeast and governors. What do you think should be the demands from either of these three people if they need to actually wake up the political leadership in Anambra State to have some power, have some control over the state? Because that seems to be completely missing currently. I have always felt the superior that it is a failure in governance in the entire Southeast and has actually led to the best of IPOB. Each time people gather they keep talking about the federal government, the federal government. But we seem to try to pretend as if we do not know what comes to the state governors, the resources that they collect from the federal, what do they use them for? We're talking about development of the Southeast which is not there. It's not the federal government that is holding that development. So it is complete failure of governance in the entire Southeast. Now bringing it to Anambra and talking about leadership in Anambra, the first thing anybody who's going to be a governor of Anambra needs to do is to assure the people, create employment, create a government where the people can relate with those who are governing them. Unfortunately, what we're also playing out, not only in the South, is an entire idea that during the election election campaign, these people are closer to the people. They seem to be very, very good to be ordinary Nigerians and ordinary citizens. But once they get into power, they build a block stopping the people from getting to them. They no longer listen to people. They only listen solely to themselves and the cronies they have around them. So I think whoever is going to win the next election in Anambra, needs to understand that there is need for reconciliation. There is need for unity and there is need for peace. And that should be the, you know, the tenant of the governor who is going to be the next governor to come after the election. They should be ready to carry the people along. All the people want is to be carried along in governance. That is what the people want. Provide the necessary amenities for the people to enjoy good governance. Okay. Well, I don't know how they would pull that off. You know, but good luck to whoever it is that takes that mantle of leadership. Ms. LaFetula, let's now talk about, you know, commerce. And one of the things that they spoke about, they kept mentioning petrochemical and, you know, the gas and, you know, resources in the Anambra state. They spoke about renewable energy. They spoke about Onitsha and Nehwi and Orkan, some of all those places and having to, or being able to revive those places, which are really good business hubs for Anambra state. Did you listen to any of them that did strike your attention and as someone who knew what it was talking about with regards to the economy of Anambra? Yes. First of all, I want to say that any governor of Anambra state or any coming governor of Anambra state that's talking about petrochemicals and gas has already failed the people at the point of entrance because crude oil is on its way out. The crude economy is almost on its way out. So if you're going to lead the people, you have to bring in the future now. You can't be talking about petro gas when the people can't feed themselves. You can't be talking about petro gas when the people can't produce basic amenities inside the state where they live, that they can have an exchange with and of course live a quality life. So nobody should be talking about petro gas. But to answer your question, I've looked at the manifesto of both the two candidates actually have meaningful manifestos and that's the PDP candidate and the ABGA candidate. And when it comes to commerce, the PDP candidate has a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant manifesto when it comes to commerce because he is looking at the specialties, the local content in different areas of the state and he has built them into clusters. The Onishak cluster, the Nehwi cluster, the Oka, Anyacha and I think Idemili cluster as well. And he's talking about developing the natural resources and the natural talents that you have. I mean the natural potentials that you have in these areas to build a great economy for the state and for me that is brilliant because you cannot start from what we don't have. I don't want to talk about petro gas but we can't start from what we don't have. We want to build industries. We'll build industries along the lines of the raw materials that are existing already in the state so that you don't have to go beyond the state to get the materials you need to build the products that are required both for the people to use for their consumption to make it cheaper for them but also for them to have meaningful transactions with both the rest of Nigeria and the outside world. And the South basically has the potential of being an individual economic giant. I move around, I see all the resources that we have the palm trees, the rice mills, the rubber plantations, even the silica and the limestone that we have in the southeast but no leader has yet tapped into these massive resources to build massive industries for the southeast and get the people working, get the people employed and get the economy vibrant. Very important. Mr. Chilaka, I also want you to speak on that and the failure to tap into the enormous resources that the southeast has. No political leadership has been able to actually achieve that. And now they're talking of petrochemicals and renewable energy and some of all of that with regards to commerce and industry in Anambra. Well, you see the thing is our leaders have always combused us with all kinds of grammar. So what you see playing out is they're trying to tell you of lunch days, of study time. It doesn't put food on the table of what marry Nigeria and what marry another person. You know, like Chilaka just said the government should think out of the box and that there is no possibility. They should be thinking, they shouldn't even be talking about petrochemicals and all of that right now. This is an anti-age. This is an age where you need to become innovative, create employment. That is what they need. Set up cottage industries. And look, I mean, our nature market should be well developed. It will be a first class market. There's so much money to be made from that place. And in talking about that, the second one must also be for sure of the fact that they need to get the federal government to open seaports around this house. It is very, very important. Because if you look at the cost of moving products from megas to the southeast, it's actually cheaper bringing the products from China to Nigeria. So this is where the government, whoever is going to win the election, will come us and not petrochemicals. As far as I'm concerned, focus on commerce, focus on IT and Anambra State will develop faster than any other state in the southeast. Okay, and also because we've run out of time, one of the things that was mentioned, I think that was from Chukumasuludo, he blamed the PDP for the insecurity in the state and said that they were responsible for the start of kidnapping and insecurity in Anambra State. Francis Chilaka, did you understand his point at the point he was trying to make then? Well, I wouldn't blame anybody other than the government of the day. I wouldn't blame anybody for instigating Anambra in the entire southeast other than the fact that the government of the day have not done the needful. We keep hearing of a non-gunman. Who are these non-gunmen? They should tell us who they are. If you're blaming PDP, put the facts. For me, I'm tired of all these blame games that do not add value to what is going on. If you're telling me that you were attacked or somebody was attacked and you're saying you're suspecting your political opponent and you have no evidence to show it, then you're just going about and blabbing all over the place. The point is that the security challenge in the southeast has gotten out of hand. The state government cannot do much. The federal government also is not helping them. So this is a time we should be looking at creation of state police. It is very, very important at this point in time. Okay. And Mr. Ifetulobi, they also spoke about dialogue with regards to the IPOB. All three candidates said that they believed that dialogue was very important in order to achieve peace in the southeast and peace in Anambra. Well, because the truth is that the people that you're thinking or planning to dialogue with, I don't think that they are ready for dialogue. You know, when you hear their leader speak, he says it is cessation of death. Okay. That's what he keeps saying. And you know, if that is the word of the organization, then I don't see them dialoguing. But of course, at every point in time, dialogue is always a solution. Even the group that is asking for cessation, they should have sought dialogue first because their activities are hurting the region heavily. You know, businesses are suffering. People's lives are in danger. People feel insecure. They can't come out to do the things they need to do as a result of the situation of insecurity that has been created as a result of their activities. So they should have sought dialogue, first of all, meaningful dialogue to see if there was a way to go around what was happening. But since they didn't do that and they've come as far as they have, I see them as a group, you know, the proverbial shark that has tasted blood or perceived blood around him and is going for the strike. So I've not seen any blueprint from them. I've not seen any plan in place to say this is exactly how they want to go about what they are doing. But it seems by their chant that this is a cessation of death that they are not ready for dialogue. But of course, dialogue will always go in conflict resolution and seeking peace. Dialogue is always the best way to go, always the best way to go. Okay, well, we're going to have an extended conversation about that after this break. But for now, it's a thank you to Francis Chilaca and Chinadu Ifet-Chilobi. Thank you both for sharing your thoughts with us concerning Anambra State. The election comes up this weekend and I look forward to speaking with you again next week to, you know, maybe do a follow-up on where we live in the conversation for today. But thank you both once again. It will be my pleasure. It will be my pleasure. Thank you. All right. Thanks for staying with us. We'll take a short break and then when we come back on Plus Politics, former President Ulysses Goura Bassenjo advises President Buari to speak with the IPOB leader, Nambi Khan. We'll be right back.