The candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, for the November 8 Anambra governorship election, Mr John Chuma Nwosu, has thrown his weight behind those who are asking that the appointment of the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should not be left in the hands of the President alone.

In this interview, he spoke on a wide range of national issues, including the claim that Governor Chukwuma Soludo was yet to turn Anambra into Dubai-Taiwan, as he promised.

The past two years have come with real challenges. While the president and his team have shown commitment through certain reforms, gaps in execution have held back the results Nigerians hoped for. With better coordination and a more aligned strategy, there’s still strong potential to move the country forward.

We need to restructure to stabilize and develop fully. Our present structure has made the nation dysfunctional and our federalism very weak; power and resource sharing remain contentious. If need be, let us formalize the seven political zones structure. Each zone has some comparative advantage that they enjoy and can bring to the table. The present over-centralized power structure weakens the zones and states; clearly, most feel there is no equity.

That is correct. By fiddling with local governments’ funds, the concerned state governors disobey existing Court orders and provisions of the 1999 Constitution.  The 1976 Local Government reform made the Local Governments the third tier of government and a federating unit.

I believe certain provisions of the 1999 Constitution also provide the LGs with legislative and statutory powers similar to those of the federal and state governments. Local Government autonomy gives them the discretion to regulate their affairs. The aim is to promote rapid grassroots development.

Nigerians blame state governors for the poor democratic culture in the country, as a governorship hopeful what would be your attitude towards grassroots governance at the LGs?

Governance is simply about expeditious and sustainable service delivery. I am bringing into governance a commitment to best practices and efficient service delivery with our Security, Health, Education, Economy, Environment, Markets and Social Welfare, SHEEEMS, governance platform. We will replicate and improve on Peter Obi’s ANIDS governance model.  Most of our leaders no longer have the fear of God. So, they make promises they don’t intend to keep and siphon public resources that are not theirs. I offer, with all humility, a different approach to governance. Our governance performances will always be grassroots-friendly, benchmarked and measurable.

We should not be overly concerned about individuals as we should be about weak national institutions. But, given our sad past national electoral experiences, we must put into electoral offices, people who are credible and accountable, as well as people who show moral probity and respect for the rule of law. Since the INEC chairman is a referee, he should not be appointed by a player, in this case the president. There should be a way of communally selecting or electing the INEC chairman, so he is not beholden to the person who appointed him, but to the Constitution.

Anambra as a state should be first among equals. We have the financial and human capital resources. We are an oil producing state. Historically, Onitsha, Nnewi and Awka, the so-called ONA-axis, tilt naturally to commerce, industry and enterprise. We need to leverage these core areas. We are mindful that there are problems which are peculiar to Anambra. Therefore, those governance needs that are peculiar to Anambra must be accorded the highest priority. There will be less window-dressing. We will consult broadly and listen to advice and superior logic. We shall also walk the talk.

It was Peter Obi that asked that question. Anambra is not cursed. The value disorientation you refer to pervades the entire nation. In response, we will continue to rejig our mindset and our priorities. There are core values that must be respected and upheld at all times. Leadership is by example, and I’m sorry to say that some of our past leaders have not exactly been exemplary.

Those remarks are attributable to the incumbent Governor Charles Soludo. Interestingly, he is either struggling or working hard now to fix a state he said was not broken. There are inherent contradictions or elements of deceit and mischief at play. Today, he is focusing on infrastructure at the expense of peace, security and quality of life in Anambra. He promised the people Dubai and Taiwan, and delivered zilch.

Former Governor Peter Obi developed and bequeathed to his successors an optimal governance model, called ANIDS. The model was aligned to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). That blueprint remains available as the best option and model for developing the 21 local government areas and 179 communities of Anambra State simultaneously.

What is being done is not working and it can never work. It has never worked anywhere. Today, we are talking about technology. You must marry technology vis-à-vis the conventional security system. You must train the conventional security men, pay them well, and equip them with the right modern paraphernalia.

Then, we have to apply the use of technology in areas of command and control, putting Artificial Intelligence, power, CCTV, in the key locations of our state, especially Onitsha, Nnewi, Ekwulobia and Awka, the state capital.

And then, our airport; it is unbelievable that our airport, the only airport we have in the state, has no CCTV. So, we don’t know who comes in and who goes out. As a matter of fact, the people we are fighting may be coming in through that means with ammunition and going away.

So, talking about security, again light is a major factor. If you light up the state, then 50 percent of the security problems are solved.

I remember that His Excellency, Peter Obi, during his term, was involved in a Public-Private Partnership to build a power plant in Onitsha, which is a major industrial centre for our state.

I don’t know what has become of that. We are going to revive that and make sure that there is electricity in the state. With that, we will light up the cities overnight, and I can bet you 50 percent of security will be solved.

Without security, you can’t talk of bringing in both foreign and local investors. The state must be secured before anybody can do any meaningful thing in the state.

Integrity is like pregnancy. You are either pregnant or not. You either have integrity or you don’t. If you lose your integrity, it’s like a miscarriage. There is hardly any recovery. Pedigree is a given. If you have it and you protect it, there will always be benefits. Integrity and pedigree work in tandem with leadership recruitment. But, above all, we must restore faith and trust in our leaders. The distrust gap between our leaders and the followers remains quite wide.

INEC manifested fully the weakness of our national institutions. Its handling of the 2023 general elections was sub-optimal. As an umpire, the blame for the less than stellar performance and the resultant electoral outcome rests squarely with that institution.