Nollywood actress and governorship candidate of the African Action Congress in the November 8, 2025, governorship poll, Miss Chioma Ifemeludike, in this interview with IKENNA OBIANERI, speaks about her emergence as the AAC candidate and her ambition to govern Anambra and other issues concerning governance of the state. What were you doing before now, and why did you decide to go into the murky waters of politics? My name is Chioma Ifemeludike, I am from Eziowelle in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State. I was born in Jos, Plateau State, and I am a Nollywood actress and a filmmaker. First and foremost, politics is not murky water; it’s our leaders who made it appear so due to their bad leadership, and this is one of the things people like me are coming to correct. I will say joining politics is a decision that happened spontaneously. Let me not forget to add that I am a political scientist. I studied political science at the former Anambra State University, now Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University. It is not a coincidence that I am in this political race, even though it happened spontaneously because I did not plan some of the things that are happening right now, especially being a candidate for my party, the African Action Congress, but then in the course of my activism because I have been a human rights advocate, and in the course of doing all of that over 10 years, I have seen many things gone wrong concerning leadership both at the national level and the state levels. And being an activist has moulded me for leadership and so, this is the time, I decided to take up the position of leadership, so it is not just a mere coincidence, it is destiny fulfilling its purpose, and that is how I see it. Being a young woman, how did you emerge as the candidate of your political party? We organised our primary, and it was free and fair, and the delegates and party members elected me the candidate of our party. INEC officials were there to supervise it. We are a very peaceful party, and our message is good leadership, fair representation. It is as simple as that. Fairness, equity, and justice are our pillars, this is what leadership must be built upon so that people can have their rights protected, people can have their lives and properties protected, because in the last few years in Anambra, we have not seen lives protected. This means leadership has been lacking in Anambra, so we are here as a political party to represent everything good leadership stands for. What are your specific plans for joining the governorship race? There is no other plan, for the fact that I have been a human rights advocate means that I have that passion to step into leadership and stand up and speak for the people, the downtrodden and the oppressed people of our society, so, it is the same thing, the only difference is that when I was an activist, I was on the shouting side, but now, that I am a politician, I am in the active side, the action side and participating actively and finding myself on that round table where decisions will be made. So, this is the time to practice all the experience I have garnered and now put that passion into action and see how our people, Ndi Anambra, will have a better leadership and a better society. Have you handled a public office before, beyond being a Nollywood practitioner and human rights advocate? Yes, I have been in Nollywood for close to 15 years, and I devoted all that time because I love my career, I love my craft and I love to act, I am a born actress. And you know what that means, it means that God puts talents in me to do what I do. But aside from that, I am a humanitarian, it means I am a humanist, it means that I can feel about people in a different way than others. It means when people are not comfortable and happy, I feel it like blood flowing in my veins and because of this, I had to create an foundation called, ‘The Alexander Grace Foundation’. I think you need to also know that I am an evangelist, I am a born again Christian, I am a servant of God, I am a special woman, I am not just any woman, I am an anointed woman of God. So, what we do in the foundation, is to do outreaches, we go out in the communities to talk to people, and not just talking to people, we give them basic necessities of life, we give them food, we give them clothes, we intervene in their physical needs. I have actively served the public in various capacities. This is who I am. I was also the state chairman of my political party. Are you not afraid to take on the big boys like the current governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo of APGA and other male contestants in the APC, LP, PDP and others? I am not afraid of anything. I am not intimidated by anything. But I have equal respect for every human being that has blood running in their veins, it does not matter how rich, popular or whatever it is. I only respect them, but I do not fear them because fear is a dangerous thing, fear is a barrier and a limitation I will not entertain. In fact, I look forward to meeting the opponents in the political turf. It’s high time the people look into the faces of our leaders and tell them enough of bad leadership. The race for the governorship position of a state is not a tea party, you need consultations, finances for campaigns. How prepared are you for this journey? I know it is not going to be an easy one, if I say it will be easy, it means I am lying because my state is not just any other state. We are talking about Anambra State here and I am a woman. My greatest collaboration is with Almighty God, the one that made me and prepared me for this very task and my party, the AAC, which is the only alternative for Ndi Anambra and Nigerians, the only opposition that stand up and look bad leaders in the face and tell them that you people have destroyed this country. And another collaboration is the fact that I know that Omoyele Sowore is the chairman of our party, the Convener of Take Back Nigeria Movement, the voice of the voiceless, the man that stands up for the oppressed, the man that has put his life on the line too many times, that is the confidence that is reliable, and most importantly, the confidence from the people of Anambra State, to look at me as one of them, to see the passion in me to deliver good governance and good leadership to them. They need to see this, the alliance and confidence is very important to me, they need to align with this revolutionary change coming to them, without this, I will get nowhere, their confidence and alliance will determine my victory and they need to understand that this victory is not just for me, but for them. They need to understand that for the very first time, in the history of our country, one of them will become governor and they would be well represented and there will be equal distribution of our collective wealth, that some people will not take our money and tell us there is no money, that some people will not sit on our resources and make us suffer and our children are hawking on the streets like dogs, children are left without food, the people need to know that the universe is standing up for them and they need to align, everyone of them. What should matter to the people is the passion to deliver good governance, that must be the priority between me and the people of Anambra State. How do you intend to sell your party, which is relatively unknown in the South-East, to the people of Ndi Anambra? My party may be relatively unknown, but let me tell you what is known in Anambra State today. What we know in Anambra State today is that there is massive insecurity, we know poverty, I mean we can literally touch poverty, we know unemployment, we know illiteracy, we know many of our children are out of school, we know we don’t get the proper educational system that we require. These are the things that the people of Anambra know and together with the people, my party can convert what we know and make what we do not know to be known. What I am trying to say is that AAC is fielding a woman who is here to deliver leadership to the people of Anambra State and that is what matters. Change is constant and Ndi Anambra must be prepared for that revolution, and I can assure them that this is a change that they can live for their lifetime to celebrate, this is a landmark decision that will turnaround things for good for the people of Anambra State, not just in Anambra, in the South-East and in Nigeria, because the AAC stands for equality, equity and justice and this must be the foundation of every society. Now, the decision is for Ndi Anambra to make. You are aspiring to rule Anambra as governor, what do you think is missing that you are coming to offer? Leadership is missing in Anambra. Over the years, what we have had are people who play to the gallery, we have never had leadership. We have never had it in Anambra. We have never had people who want to come and do a proper paradigm shift. We have never had people who are passionate about the masses. People who care, people who love, people who want to see lives touched, people who want to see youths empowered. Anambra has never had leadership, we have only had businessmen in power, people who negotiate themselves to that very level and every other thing becomes business as usual. People who surround themselves with sycophants who are not ready to tell them the truth, they all just want to get what they want, stomach infrastructure. People who get appointment based on their alliance with those in authority and not what they can do to make governance better. How can these people provide leadership? Leadership is servitude, it requires people who can go to the roots to serve and make changes that will be seen. So, I am bringing quality leadership to Anambra. What can you fault in the current leadership of the state or what is the missing link? The current leadership is playing to the gallery. After ruling people for three years and you suddenly remember that you need to start working, you need to start talking, that is playing to the gallery. What happens from the very first day you took the oath of office? What will happen to those lives that have been lost due to insecurity because you were waiting for three years to start solving the problem of insecurity? What happened to your security votes? Why wait till election is near before you started talking tough on insecurity? These are the people Anambra have had as leaders. But for us, we are bringing something different, we are bringing accountability, transparency, the people are going to be involved in the leadership because they are the government. Anambra don’t have people who are ready to serve, they have only had people who want to be served and they have turned our people into slaves, they take the best jobs and leave the worst jobs for the people. All of these are what we are here to provide and to offer to the people of Anambra State. It is the decision of the people to make – freedom or slavery. By this, are you saying that the current administration waited for three years before tackling insecurity because election is around the corner? Absolutely. The current administration left it too late and guess what happens, we lost lives. Let us count how many people that have died since the last three years that this government was in place, we have lost thousands of lives, properties, who is going to account for it? As a good leader, you need to start putting any action into practice from day one. You don’t have to wait for three years, like the current governor is doing. The governor took too much time, he had to wait for people like us to start calling him out before he started taking action. And human lives are been treated as if they meant nothing in this part of the world, the state has lost so many lives due to the fact that the governor left the fight until three years. A banker was killed, so many others were killed, these people have children, relatives, if there was proper security from the day one the governor took office, these people would not have died. We cannot even know how many people were kidnapped, traumatized, who will account for this? Yet, the governor goes about as if nothing has happened. And then the governor is also going about starting another round of campaign, he needs to account for the lives lost under his watch before Ndi Anambra will consider him if he is worthy to be re-elected and to add salt to injury, he has been going about saying he has no opposition or he is unopposed, that is a big lie, he has got opposition with the AAC, if every other party chooses not to oppose him, we will oppose him and he will account for everyday he has spent as governor for four years and the lives lost under his watch. A lot of Ndi Anambra, particularly APGA faithful, are of the opinion that the current administration has virtually done everything like building critical infrastructure like the new government house after 34 years, the Solution Fun City and building roads and hospitals in places like Okpoko. According to them, having done all these, there is nothing any other governor coming will do. What is your opinion about this? All the people saying this are the ‘otimpus’, sycophants, they are the people that fan praises of politicians and they are saying all of these because of what they will get from the governor and not because the governor is doing something extraordinary. And sadly, people are buying into their claims because in this part of the world people have not seen what real leadership is all about and when they see things like this, they get excited because we, as a people, we have been oppressed, dehumanised and subjected to all forms of ill treatment and when we feel that someone has done something little, we begin to get excited over nothing. First of all, the money the governor is using to do these projects is not his money, it is his job to do it and I can say it categorically clear that everything that the governor has been boasting about that he is doing in the last three years are things he should have done in less than six months to one year. But you know, just like the typical Nigerian politicians, they keep dragging it, they keep exalting it, when they build road, they take the pictures and they hang it on the billboards, that is mediocrity. And I am so embarrassed because this kind of behaviour should have been let go since the 19th century or so. This is 21st century when we are talking about technology, people are planning to go to space and we are here clapping for a governor for building road or hospital. No, he needs to be doing more, what we should be talking about is how much resources were available and how much development have we got side by side, do they correlate? Where is the transparency and accountability that is what we want to know, that will determine the scorepoint of this present governor. I cannot be excited because you built a hospital, the state should have these hospitals at every town by now, if they are not doling out the money to the praisesingers. If the governor is not spending much time on praise singers, he will spend much time working and the people will genuinely appraise the administration. If the governor feels he has done something, he should bring the system to account for it side by side with the resources available to him. These people singing his praises are not the voices of ndi Anambra State. And even if the people think the governor has done something, I will categorically say he has done nothing compared to those resources available to him, he could have done better. He should have put security in place to save thousands of lives that were lost. So, when they are celebrating with what the governor has done and the lives that have been lost, which do you think is bigger? I can’t celebrate mediocrity because I know mediocrity when I see one. And these leaders, instead of shutting these praise singers, they actually enjoyed the euphoria. But the governor and APGA members have continuously said ‘there is no vacancy’ and that there is no opposition… Who says there is no vacancy in Agu Awka, that is against the constitution of our country to say so. The constitution gives an elected governor a term of four years and after that you will be appraised and be allowed to contest for another election, nobody has the power to say ‘there is no vacancy’, it is against our constitution and anybody saying so should be arrested and prosecuted. The governor has opposition in AAC, if other parties say he does not have opposition, we are here to let him know he has opposition and we are going to meet at the poll in November. What do you think you are still coming to do when you are elected governor despite the fact that they said there is no work to be done again? Are you not intimidated by these comments? I am not intimidated and like I said I am prepared for this task. There is so much to do. They have not even scratched the surface. They have just been doing things on the surface to make it look as if they are busy, meanwhile, their agenda is different. There are so many thiings to do in the area of agriculture, not just agriculture, but mechanised agriculture, but our leaders have done nothing in that area and this is an area that can generate thousands of jobs for our youths. The petit farmers in the village are not been encouraged and these are the people that will come out to say, “hey, the governor is trying” without knowing that they can actually be empowered to become manufacturers through their farm produce. Has the government utilised the agricultural potential for the benefit of Ndi Anambra and do they have plans to? I can tell you categorically that they don’t have the insight to do so. Then, child protection is also a priority for us because there is a big cry in the state right now. Over 70 per cent of children in Anambra are on the streets hawking, and the most painful part of it is that this government takes money from them. Every child who hawks pays ticket to the government, these are children who should be in school. This is against humanity, and this will be our priority because we want to save Anambra State. We will work on transport, there is so much potential in transport sector but this government is not deliberate about it, we are also going to look at industrialisation, so that our youths can have jobs, there are many other sectors we will look into too. Most parties have zoned their ticket to Anambra South saying it is the turn of that zone to produce the next governor and you are from Anambra Central, don’t you think this might affect your chances at the poll? Zoning is narrative politicians propagate to deceive the people. What the people should look out for is the quality leadership and not mundane issues like zoning. That should be in the past and I tell you I am bringing quality leadership to the table and that is what is most important. Judging by your record, you are still single, do you think Ndi Anambra would want to entrust you with power? Ndi Anambra must be ready to make a change. Being in marriage does not mean the person is credible and being single does not make a person irresponsible. Tribalism, ethnicity, sentiment all of these belong to one group and that is in the past. We must start playing politics beyond sentiments, the marital status of the person does not matter, what matters is the idea. We must be idea-driven, we must be a people with ideology, what is the ideology behind this person? Of what difference does it make if a person is married or not? You also hear a narrative that, ‘oh, if she was married, we will be able to know if she can control her home or not’ who says that? Who says that the person who is married is a determinant that that person can manage public office or govern a state? Ndi Anambra must centre their choices on someone who has compassion and empathy, leadership must be centred on credibility and character, these are the things we must start looking out for in our leaders before sentiment. What is your opinion about women’s participation in politics? I think women should get up and take over their space. We have been sleeping for too long, we need to get up and own our space. Women must learn to set the pace for the younger ones, we cannot continue to remain a pity-party blame game forever, nobody is going to hand us freedom, we should get up and demand for freedom. I tell you when you look at oppressors in the eye and demand for your freedom, they give you what is rightfully yours. So, women should get up and demand their space. Women should let go of petty things and stop wanting men to validate them. Trust me, this current Nigeria will be shaped by women, women will lead the revolution in this country, we should not undermine the timing. This is my voice echoing to the women to get up, we cannot continue to be doing the blame game.

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There were 109 minutes on the clock at Old Trafford when Lyon forward Alexandre Lacazette effectively ended Manchester United's season. Thousands of fans headed for the exits with United 4-2 down on the night, 6-4 on aggregate, 11 minutes left. Game over. "United need more than a miracle," Rio Ferdinand said on TNT Sports commentary. Then the miracle unfolded. But as the famous song goes, Man Utd will never die. Bruno Fernandes, perhaps the only United player to have done himself justice this season, pulled one back from the penalty spot after Casemiro was kicked during a frantic scrabble. Six minutes remaining. In the 120th minute, substitute Kobbie Mainoo cut inside his man and bent a stunning, curling strike into the bottom far corner. It's been a difficult campaign for the young England midfielder after shooting to stardom last season, but this was a moment befitting of his quality. All square on the night and on aggregate. Penalties looming, six weeks after suffering shootout elimination in the FA Cup. Not today said Harry Maguire, the ultimate scapegoat figure of United's steady decline who continues to step up in big moments. Less than a minute after Mainoo struck, Maguire was wheeling away in delerious celebration after heading in the winner. Bedlam. "I've never seen anything like that as a spectator. It was an amazing thing. We saw so many fans leaving when it was 4-2 and you thought that was over," former United defender Rio Ferdinand said on TNT Sports. "I said on commentary it would take more than a miracle to get back into it and now I'm actually a believer because that was outrageous." Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson was similarly gobsmacked on BBC Radio 5 Live. "The scenes inside Old Trafford are something else," he said. "I have seen nothing like it. Bedlam. The stewards are on the pitch, fans are on the pitch and staff are on the pitch. Andre Onana is doing laps of celebrations. Old Trafford has not seen scenes like this for many a year. "I don't think I have ever seen a game like that. They looked dead and buried. I have not seen that character from them all season. "Superlatives, you run out of them." Never before have five goals been scored during a period of extra time in a European knockout fixture. United's comeback was as ludicrous as it was improbable, but when the Theatre of Dreams is concerned, strange things have been known to happen. "You've seen special things happen at this club. I think back to the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer against Liverpool [in 1999]. It reminded me slightly, I know that's only 2-1 and this was 5-4," said former United midfielder Paul Scholes on TNT Sports. "I always feel like when you get one here you've got a chance." Perhaps United defender Leny Yoro summed it up best. "Honestly, I don't understand what's happened. It was crazy! The fans helped us to do it. When you hear the fans, even at 4-2 you know we can do it," he told TNT Sports. "We needed to believe and if you don't believe you cannot win. This is what the fans deserve - they give everything at every game." United are 14th in the Premier League and will finish the season with their lowest-ever Premier League points tally. But now they have something to play for. Get past Athletic Bilbao in the semi-finals next month, and they will contest the final at Bilbao's San Mames. Win that and they will play in the Champions League next season. Fans won't be thinking about that though - they'll be reliving the scenes at Old Trafford on Thursday for years to come.