Ahead of the 2024 Anambra State Governorship election, the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has urged party’s leaders and stakeholders to ensure the defeat of Governor Chkwuma Soludo and his All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Ganduje who gave the charge while inaugurating the APC state consultative council in Abuja on Wednesday, declared that Anambra was long overdue to be in the mainstream of national politics.

He maintained that Anambra is one of the most strategic states in the country that should not continue to be left in the hands of the opposition parties.

The APC chairman insisted it was politically incorrect for a region with five states to be controlled by four different political parties, saying APC has two states while APGA, Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hold sway each in the remaining three states in the region.

“With this division, what is your bargaining power in politics at the centre? What is your political investment? This is the crux of the matter. It is time the region came to the centre of Nigerian politics.

“Once we are able to leverage politically for APC, we assure what happened in the Second Republic would also happen to the South East geo-political zone.

“I beckon on all to come out strong and support the repositioning of this party, for the overall interest of members, and the betterment of the people of Anambra,”he said.

In his remarks, deputy national organising secretary of the party, Nze Chidi Duru expressed hope that APC is now in good stead to dislodge APGA as the ranks of the party is more united and solid than before.

The party state chairman, Chief Bazil Ejike asked the council members to begin to draw up strategies that will enable APC to collectively confront the task of taking over the seat of governance in the state in 2025.

“It is pertinent to reiterate that the Party has a target; which is to take over the Agu Awka Government House this time around. In other words, all hands must be on deck, especially in this Council, which is a boardroom of sorts, for incubation of ideas for the good and benefit of the Party,” he said.