ABUJA, Nigeria – Valentine Ozigbo, a leading contender for the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial ticket in Anambra State, has accused Governor Chukwuma Soludo of funding Nicholas Ukachukwu, the party’s declared flagbearer, in a bid to destabilise the APC ahead of the 2025 election.
Speaking during a live interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, May 2, 2025, Ozigbo alleged that the governor, a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), was meddling in APC affairs to prevent his emergence as a strong opposition figure.
“Soludo is funding Nicholas (Ukachukwu) to weaken APC,” Ozigbo claimed.
“The only way we can prove this is invite all of us here and bring Bible to swear.”
Ukachukwu won the APC primary on April 5 with 1,455 votes, trailed by Ozigbo who polled 67.
Other aspirants, Edozie Madu and Johnbosco Onunkwo, received 8 and 26 votes respectively.
Ozigbo, who was the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the 2021 election, joined the APC in 2023.
Reiterating his claim of electoral fraud in the 2021 race, Ozigbo said, “I defeated Soludo. I repeat this again on national TV. He knows why he’s scared of me becoming a candidate, but I was rigged out.”
He added that despite his misgivings, he had called Soludo to congratulate him after the election and chose not to contest the results in court.
However, Ozigbo said the scale of irregularities in the APC primary left him with no choice but to challenge the outcome legally.
Ozigbo has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Awka, seeking to nullify Ukachukwu’s candidacy.
The lawsuit lists the APC, Ukachukwu, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as defendants and urges the court to declare him the rightful nominee.
In the same interview, Ozigbo questioned Ukachukwu’s political credibility, noting his repeated failures in previous electoral contests.
“How come he has never won anything since after he became house of rep member in Abuja?” he asked.
“How come every single election he shows up?”
Referencing online polling data, Ozigbo claimed widespread public support.
“There have been polls… 93% voted me. Even if you allow 20% margin of error, nobody in the history of Anambra politics has got this kind of momentum.”
Reacting to the allegations, Christian Aburime, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Soludo, dismissed the claims as unfounded.
“That is laughable. It is a figment of Ozigbo’s imagination,” he said in a statement to TheCable.
“The governor is a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and has nothing to do with the APC. Ozigbo should face Ukachukwu and leave Soludo out of their problems.”