Charles Soludo: What You Must Know About APGA Gov’ship Candidate

A former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Charles Chukwuma Soludo has emerged as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State.

Soludo emerged at the party primaries conducted on Wednesday in Akwa.

He scored 740 votes to defeat three other aspirants namely Hon Okwudili Ezenwankwo, Sir Damian Okolo, and Thankgod Ibe who secured fourteen votes, seven votes, and four votes respectively.

Here is a profile of Soludo:

1. Charles Soludo CFR is a Nigerian economist, a professor, a one-time Governor and chairman of the board of directors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
2. Professor Charles Soludo was also an aspirant for the Anambra State governorship seat in south-eastern Nigeria’s state election of 2010.
3. Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo was born on the 28th of July 1960. He hails from Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria.
4. On completing his secondary school education, he proceeded to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where he studied Economics. He graduated with a first-class degree in 1984.
5. He obtained his Master’s degree (MSc) in Economics in 1987, and a doctorate (PhD) in Economics in 1989, from the same University graduating as the best student on all levels of his study.
6. Charles Soludo is married to Nonye Soludo, and they are blessed with six children.
7. In 1998, Charles Soludo became a professor of economics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and in 1999, he became a visiting professor at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, USA.
8. Professor Charles Soludo joined the Nigerian government in 2003 as the Chief Economic Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Chief Executive Officer of the National Planning Commission of Nigeria.
9. In May 2004, he became the Chairman of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Also, he got an appointment from the Nigerian President – Mohammadu Buhari, to be part of the newly formed 8-member Economic Advisory Council (EAC) on the 16th of September 2019.
10. Soludo contested the Anambra State Governorship election in 2010 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but eventually lost the election to Peter Obi.
11. On 17 July 2013, Soludo resigned from the PDP after writing a letter to the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
12. He later joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance in preparation for the November 2013 governorship race in Anambra state. In mid-August 2013, he, along with five other qualified aspirants, were disqualified by the APGA Screening Committee.
13. On 31 March 2021, unidentified gunmen disrupted an interactive session between Isuofia youths and Soludo at the town’s civic centre, leading to the death of three police officers.[21]
14. In February 2021, Soludo officially declared his intention to run for the position of Governor of Anambra State under the banner of APGA.