By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the November 8, 2025 gubernatorial election in Anambra State, Mr. John Nwosu, has expressed confidence in winning the election, saying that only vote buying and apathy will stand in his way to victory.

He stated this during a signature television programme on Arise Television on Monday night.

Nwosu urged Anambra voters to come out en masse to vote, stressing that only by coming out in their numbers and shunning vote-buying would Prof. Amupitan’s promise of credible election bear fruits.

According to him, the poor performance of the incumbent Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo has removed the power of incumbency.

He said: "The coming of a new Chairman for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the person of Prof. Joash Amupitan, has provided fresh hopes that the governorship election would be credible."

On his move from the Labour Party (LP) to ADC, Nwosu said that he decided to move to the coalition platform of ADC when it became obvious that the nomination process in LP would run afoul of the Electoral law and Nigeria’s Constitution.

He added: “I was the one who built the structure of Labour Party in Anambra State.

"When I decided to run for governorship last year, I met our leader, Peter Obi, who advised me, that Labour Party does not have physical structure in Anambra State and that we need to go and build the structures and be visible.

“Then, I recruited a team, comprising His Excellency, Oseloka Obaze, the former Secretary to the Anambra State Government (SSG) and the campaign manager for Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Council, under which I served as the Director ICT.

“With him and the Rt. Hon. Ben Chuks Nwosu, who was the Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly, when Peter Obi was impeached; three of us moved down to Anambra State and set up the 21 Local Government Area offices for Labour Party, giving them N1million each.

"We went to our brother in Innoson Plastics, who made chairs and tables for them, with that, we built physical structure and started moving from one local government to the other; as a matter of fact, we travelled nook and corners of Anambra State about four times.

"Coming from private sector background like the incumbent governors of Enugu and Abia States, I'm sure to replicate the good governance and impactful service delivery in those neighbouring states.

While noting that ADC is sure to pull surprises in the November 8 gubernatorial poll in Anambra State, the ADC flag bearer observed that just as the election is the first under Prof. Amupitan, it is also going to be the coalition ADC’s first electoral contest after the coalition.

“Yes, under the name of ADC. As you know, ADC is a coalition of parties being represented by mostly PDP, from which I picked my deputy governor, Chief Dr. Ndubisi Nwobo, who was a local government chairman of Awka South under PDP, and also the state chairman of PDP.

“So, PDP forms the major part of the coalition, followed by Labour, which I came from Labour. So, major part of Peter Obi is of Labour, for which PDP got the position of the National Chairman of the party, while in the name of former Senate President David Mark.

“Then, the Peter Obi-led Labour Party was given the position of National Organizing Secretary, for which he nominated Hon. Chinedu Idigo, who represents them. So, it's a coalition of parties. There is no much optimism, Obi is definitely part of ADC, he stated.

On why he swore to an oath in court to serve only one term when elected governor, Nwosu noted that just as the current incumbent used three and half years to show that he has not done well for the state, the incoming ADC administration would use three years to make a difference.

Responding to the claims that Soludo has delivered, Nwosu said: “The point is that the indices are there for everyone to see, starting from insecurity. As a matter of fact, in the last three and a half years, Anambra State has lost illustrious children in the name of kidnappers and sundry brigandage.

“In fact, in Ihiala Local Government Area that houses Lilu, Mbosi, where my great brother and friend, Dr. Allen Onyema, the owner of Air Peace, hails from. In the past three and a half years, they have never been going home.

“As a matter of fact, they are now holding traditional wedding ceremonies and everything in townships. And even to bury the dead, you have to find a way to pay ransom and then get in there. So, insecurity has been a major challenge.

"The only project the incumbent governor could say he completed was the Government House, which was initiated by a former governor, Late Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju in 1999.

"When elected the ADC administration under my watch would change the narratives. What I am bringing on the table is e-governance, e-security, e-health, e-tax, e-transportation, e-commerce.”

The ADC governorship contender disclosed that his seven points agenda of good governance, under acronym SHEEEMS, where S stands for security, H for health, first E for education, and the third E stands for environment because Anambra is being ravaged by erosion and they're all man-made.

While noting that he has managed an ICT company for the past 31 and half years, the ADC Governorship hopeful said,, "What is the difference between managing a state and managing a company?.

"The only fair difference is that in a company you go for profit, whereas in a state it's about welfare of the people. But, accountability is everything; you must be efficient in the management of both human and their resources, which is what is lacking in this state as of today.

"As a matter of fact, we have issues of touts beating people with canes on the streets in the name of chasing them for tax.

“And after looking at it, you go back to review the IGR being generated by 36 states and the FCT last year, according to the Cable Times, Cable Index, you'll see Lagos State coming up top again at 1.26 trillion, followed by River State at 317 billion. Then looking down at the Southeast, where I come from, Enugu State came tops on the fifth position in the entire country about 180.69 billion, then my own state, which is being seen as a commercial nerve centre of the Southeast, coming distant 17th position at 42.69 billion.

“And what does it show? It shows that most of our IGR goes into private pockets because the state is not fully computerized. So, what I'm bringing to the table is e-governance so that we remove the touts from the street and allow people to pay their tax with ease, as it is in Enugu State and Delta State.”