In Nigeria’s 61 years as an independent country, there have been individuals who have gone from manning the nation’s coffers to becoming the Chief Security Officers of their states.
Charles Soludo, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria was declared the governor-elect of Anambra State on Wednesday after sweeping a majority at the polls. His rise to governorship has gotten Nigerians talking, but only a few Nigerians know he’s not the first of his ilk to make such steps up.
Clement Nyong Isong, CFR was born on 20th April 1920 and died on 29th May 2000.
Isong was a Nigerian banker and was appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (1967–1975) during the military regime of General Yakubu Gowon.
He studied at University College, Ibadan, Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, where he obtained a Ph.D. in Economics.
He taught economics in the University of Ibadan before joining the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as secretary, later becoming director of research.
Isong was seconded to the International Monetary Fund as an adviser in the African Department, also Soludo has been a visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund, the University of Cambridge, the Brookings Institution, the University of Warwick, and the University of Oxford as well as a visiting professor at Swarthmore College (USA).
After retirement from the CBN, Isong entered politics and was elected the first civilian Governor of Cross River State from 1979 to 1983 on the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) platform.
Isong sought reelection in 1983 but was opposed in the elections by the leader of the NPN party, Senate President Joseph Wayas and also the senator representing calabar senatorial district, Senator Joseph Oqua Ansa.
They both supported Senator Donald Etiebet as Governorship candidate of the party.
Etiebet won the NPN nomination and the subsequent election, taking office in October 1983 before the President Muhammadu Buhari’s coup of December 1983.
Like Isong, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo was also a former CBN Governor before becoming a state Governor.
Soludo joined the federal government in 2003. He held the positions of Chief Economic Adviser to former President Obasanjo and Chief Executive of the National Planning Commission of Nigeria.
In May 2004, President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Soludo as the CBN Governor.
On 16 September 2019, the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, appointed Soludo as a member of a newly formed 8-member Economic Advisory Council (EAC) which would report directly to the President.
After retiring as CBN Governor, Soludo in September 2009, announced his aspiration for the seat of the Governor of Anambra State, in the south-eastern Nigerian state’s election of 9 February 2010.
On 9 October 2009, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) elected Soludo as their consensus candidate from a field of 47 candidates, after repeated attempts to hold elective primaries were stalled by court injunctions.
However, Soludo’s nomination was contested by 23 of the 47 aspirants, citing lack of transparency in the process.
After this initial rancour, 36 out of the 47 candidates, and several top shots of the PDP affirmed their support for Soludo on Wednesday, 14 October 2009.
Soludo went on to lose to Peter Obi of APGA in an election which was largely considered free and fair according to major election observers.
As the 2014 election season was approaching, Soludo switched from PDP to APGA in preparation for the guber election in the state.
He did not compete in the APGA primaries as he was disqualified alongside a few other aspirants, paving the way for the incumbent governor, Willy Obiano, to clinch the APGA ticket and succeed Peter Obi.
Soludo didn’t contest the 2017 election as he supported Obiano’s re-election.
In return, Obiano supported Soludo to win the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) ticket and eventually wining the last Saturday’s election.
He won 19 of the 21 local governments areas including Ihiala LGA which had its own election done on Monday.
Soludo polled 112,229 votes, thereby defeating his closest rivals, Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party who polled 53,807 votes, Senator Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress who got 43,285 votes and Ifeanyi Ubah of the Young Progressive Party who polled 21,261 votes.
He was declared winner of the election by the state Returning Officer for the election, Florence Obi, on Wednesday.
With Soludo’s victory in the election, he will be inaugurated in March 2022 as the Executive Governor of Anambra State to succeed Mr Willie Obiano.
Isong and Soludo; both reputable academics and economists, impressive CBN Governors, and now state governors. Is the CBN a vehicle for exposure into politics for technocrats?
Recall that a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Adebayo Adelabu also vied for the Oyo State Governorship in 2019. More than directing the Nigerian economy, a CBN Governor may have learnt enough to compete in Nigeria’s murky political waters.
