Igbo elders have urged the Anambra state governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo to shut up and stop embarrassing himself and Ndigbo through his utterances against Labour Party presidential candidate and former governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi.
Prof. Chukwuma Soludo
Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Professor ABC Nwosu, Achike Udenwa, Chekwas Okorie, and Professor Fabian Osuji on Wednesday, expressed dismay at the lengths to which Soludo would go to demonstrate his animosity toward Peter Obi, who has never done anything to offend him.
I am thoroughly embarrassed- Prof.Fabian Osuji
Former Minister of Education, Prof Fabian Osuji said he was embarrassed that a man like Soludo who has received overwhelming support from Ndigbo for much of his career life could be the one to pull down his brother.
" I am thoroughly embarrassed about the level of hostility being exhibited by our brother and friend, Prof Charles Soludo towards Peter Obi. Soludo cannot claim to be self-made.
“People like us participated in making him. I was Pro-chancellor and Chairman of the Council at the University of Nigeria when his papers came for approval for Professorship. I could have found reason to withhold or deny assent.
Prof. Fabian Osuji, Image:Sundiata Post.
"But we put him out and praised his work. That made President Obasanjo appoint him as Economic Adviser without hesitation.
“Three years later, three of us: Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Oby Ezekwesili, and myself were attending a Conference in Brussels when President Obasanjo called Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who was Finance Minister to ask for the nomination of Governor of Central Bank. We gave a unanimous vote for Prof Charles Soludo.
"As Ndigbo, we were proud to support our brother. He was not the sole candidate. Obasanjo gave him the position. Everyone rejoiced. That was the power of Umunna.
“Years later, I cannot imagine the same person who benefitted resoundingly from the support of Umunna being the one to pull down his brother who is enjoying overwhelming support elsewhere.
“I am truly ashamed of Soludo. Ndigbo should not allow him to get away with this. He should be made to withdraw all his damaging statements against Obi. There is still time for him to reverse himself in this matter. Ndigbo must not allow him to get away with this”.
I'm shocked- Dr. Ezeife
Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife
Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, a former governor of Anambra State said he was shocked by Soludo's comments and felt he may have gone into hiding following the backlash that greeted his utterances.
“I’m shocked. I’ve tried calling him and he is not answering. By now, he would have understood the impact of what he did and should go into hiding. But we must talk to him. It’s highly embarrassing. Someone who hasn’t done anything to you,” Ezeife said.
I feel scandalized, it is heart-rending- Chekwas Okorie
The founder of All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Chekwas Okorie said he felt scandalized by the entire development,
adding that the remarks that Prof. Soludo made about Peter Obi were not necessary and should stop.
“Honestly, I feel scandalized by what is going on. I feel scandalized because I am the founder of APGA. Peter Obi was the one I gave the nomination to be governor for eight years.
“Soludo is the one that has become governor on that platform now. And despite what happened during my time, Peter Obi and I have reconciled. And we have put that behind us.
“Now, I have returned to APGA and am working on rebuilding it into a national party, as that was its original purpose. APGA is a national party for engagement so the Igbo people should have a platform.
“Such opportunities never presented themselves except when Dr. Azikiwe was around. He used NCNC and NPP at various times for engagements.
"We saw an opportunity now that there is increased confidence in the electoral process than before.
“So, for this kind of thing to begin to happen, between two prominent Igbo sons, who are all products of APGA, notwithstanding that Peter Obi is now in the Labour Party, is heart-rending. That is why I said I feel thoroughly scandalized.
“Now, going beyond that, I also without any equivocation believe that Prof. Soludo did not conduct himself properly. This epistle he wrote as part one, for me is uncalled for.
Chekwas Okorie, Image:Vanguard News.
"I didn’t see how Peter Obi provoked him in his campaigns or anywhere. And honestly, everybody should be happy for Peter Obi as he is making the wave only Dr. Azikiwe made during his time.
“And even when I join the train as I still intend to, I will not crosswords with Peter. Instead, I will be looking at how APGA and the Labour Party will go into an alliance for better results when the time for alliance comes.
“Those types of relationships come close to election time. By then, people would have been able to tell themselves basic home truths about possible outcomes.
"But to come and engage in this type of fight amongst ourselves, I am sure I am not the only person embarrassed.
“I will urge Soludo not to go further with the so-called part two or three as he may want to call it.
“He should now listen to the voice of reason including myself as I occupy a center in the history of APGA. I am saying that he should stop. If he doesn’t want to support Obi’s presidential bid, he should just keep quiet.
“APGA is one of the two oldest parties registered in Nigeria since 1999. But, it is not good enough that in 20 years, APGA has suffered such stunted growth. So, every concerned person should be talking of how to expand it, and let Peter Obi be."
It’s unfortunate but nothing strange — Achike Udenwa
For Achike Udenwa, former governor of Imo State, what is happening should be expected as part of politicking.
“Well, there is nothing strange about it. There is no way you will come out to run for an office, even at that level of the presidency and you expect everybody to say yea.
“You will receive a lot of backlash from here and there; some true, some false. There is nothing strange about it. These are personal opinions. That someone expresses his personal opinion doesn’t mean that the opinion is correct.
“Looking at it from the point of Igbo attacking Igbo is a myopic outlook to it. Peter Obi cannot make it if he is presented as an Igbo candidate. He is not an Igbo candidate.
Achike Udenwa, Image: The Sun Nigeria.
“There is nobody that comes out at that level that doesn’t receive a backlash. Even in your own family, you will get it. That is what is in politics. I don’t think that signifies a lack of unity among the Igbo. It is politics.
"Tinubu is running for the same office. Read the papers every day, the social media, and everybody is attacking him. Atiku is running too, check the North; a lot of them are attacking him.
“Please, let us not take it as a sign that the Igbo are not together. There is nobody that will come out and all Igbo will like him. When Zik came out in 1979 to run for the presidency, of course, under the NPP, a lot of Igbo were in the NPN.
“They were attacking him, they did not work for him. So, it is nothing strange. I will be surprised if anybody comes out and all of us support him. I will be very surprised."
How did an interview on the biggest budget in Anambra degenerate into attacks on Obi?— Prof ABC Nwosu
Reacting to the development, Prof. ABC Nwosu said that Soludo is distracting himself and may waste his four years tenure if he fails to focus on the many issues confronting Anambra state.
He said, “I am still dumbfounded on how Peter Obi’s governance which ended eight years before Soludo’s own could now be the issue.
Prof. ABC Nwosu, Image: Punch Newspapers
“Soludo went for a TV interview on the 2023 Anambra Budget. When Soludo was asked about Emefiele who came on board as CBN governor several years later, he reminded the interviewer that he would not be trapped with that question.
“Soludo didn’t talk about the immediate past Governor of Anambra State. Why did he talk about Peter Obi? And when he was answering the Obi question, you could see his face, and his body language, he was enjoying himself.
“For me, I usually look at how things began before I jump into the middle. Soludo has never uttered a word about his predecessor who left him debts.
“My feeling is that it is not ordinary. How did an interview on budget, the biggest budget we have seen in Anambra, degenerate into tirades on Peter Obi?
“This person is from Isuofia, and Peter Obi is from Agulu. They are neighbors. It is shameful and Soludo must accept the blame. He is the governor of Anambra State currently.
“You can’t imagine Sanwo-Olu saying such a thing about Tinubu. Or Fintri saying such a thing about Atiku.
“What is the problem? You have a masquerade from your village dancing, and you will enjoy knocking it down in the arena when other people are watching. It is disgusting.
“How can you blame two people when one slaps the other, and the other hasn’t slapped back? It is Obi’s followers that are attacking him.
“The first comment by Peter Obi was at Lagos Business School. Of course, people will say Peter Obi is like my son, I don’t deny it. But if Soludo won’t support him, he should keep quiet.
“We supported Soludo when he was sworn in. Immediately he was sworn in, I told him that if he needs us, we will be there. I have even recently called some people and said if you see Soludo struggling, we will form a group and support him.
"In this matter, we are focusing on Soludo as he is the governor of the state. He carries a heavy burden. He is a professor and if he fails, the next professor that wants to come up will find it hard.
“Soludo is distracting himself and if he continues this way, four years will pass in a jiffy and other people will come to contest with him again. There are many issues in Anambra he should focus on but as I said, it is not ordinary.”
Soludo is derailing -Labour Party
Labour Party logo, Image: The Guardian.
In a statement made available to Daily Post on Wednesday, signed by Chief Innocent Sunday Okeke, the National Vice Chairman,( South East) Labour Party, the party berated Soludo for allowing hatred to blind him to the fact that as governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi saved for the future.
According to the statement, “Anambra State Governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo is highly respected and adored by Ndi Igbo as one of the shining lights and great academia from the highly rich culture of the Igbo great kingdom.
"He achieved just like many Igbo great men of today coming from the background of nothing to becoming a human dynamo.
“He was neither born with a silver spoon nor did he descend from blue blood, but he broke the jinx of poverty. From his rustic village of Isuofia in Aguata LGA of Anambra state, he rose and flew across the world to live his dreams.
“With these, Ndi Igbo and the whole of Nigeria see him as one of the great Igbo leaders with dignity and respect.
“But just like the story of the crumbling packs, Professor Soludo has started somersaulting from his pinnacle of dignity and respect, falling short of the expectations of the people who looked up to him to be a shining example of the new Igbo leader.
“Soludo, an astute professor of high repute, allowed his narrow-minded nature to betray him,” he stated.
“Soludo through his hate for Peter Obi was quick to forget that the investment and the fiscal savings came together. The incontrovertible fact remains that Obi saved for the future of his state (Anambra) N75b naira, $50m in each of the three existing commercial banks of today, and 3.5b in the International Brewery.
“He handed over this investment to a new manager (governor), who has never denied knowledge of the investments. Whether the manager (governor) took good care of the investment is another day’s discussion. And the former handed over to Soludo, now Soludo casting aspersions on Mr. Obi after 9 years he left office with verifiable savings and investment is uncalled for and condemnable by the entire Igbo race and Nigeria at large.
"The international brewery as we know it today employing 10,000 Anambrarians is not a bad investment and the depreciation of stocks is a Nigerian issue that has affected every company’s stock.
“Soludo should have employed the wisdom of silence even if he so much hated Mr. Obi, but for the sake of the Nigerian project stand with the mass of the people.”
The party advised the Governor to tread cautiously to avoid creating serious embarrassment for himself and the government, considering that he also needs the support of the people to succeed.
This may be the start of an end to his political sojourn as Anambra state Governor- Ohaneze.
The apex Igbo socio-political organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, said the body will support any efforts by the state House of Assembly to impeach Soludo as the governor of Anambra state for undertaking to destroy Peter Obi's presidential ambition.
Speaking with Daily Post, the Secretary General of Ohaneze, Okechukwu Isiguzoro said Ndigbo will also ensure that Soludo does not get a second term as governor.
Isiguzoro said, "The people of the Southeast will now see him as an enemy and the chief political undertaker against the chances of the Southeast to emerge in 2023.
“There must be political repercussions and one of which is that the Ndigbo would task the Anambra State House of Assembly to do the needful.
“Ndigbo will look away to remove all those bad eggs who have mortgage our political interest, those who have portrayed us in a bad light that we are not united.
"For him to have shown and demonstrated that he was being enrolled to come and thwart being the Governor of two presidential candidates, APGA and Labour Party in 2023, and is the best person to be hired as an undertaker to bury Peter Obi’s presidency, this has begun the end of his political sojourn as the Governor of Anambra State.
"In the nearest future, the Igbos will encourage anything that would make the Anambra House of Assembly remove Soludo out of the way.
“Ndigbo will rise in any gathering to challenge the views of Soludo to the great Igbo nation. Soludo’s activities in the last few days have been an affront and slap on the Igbo nation, and Ndigbo would return such with a very big sanction, and the political sojourn of Soludo as the Governor of Anambra State is over.”
My family and I are being punished over comments on Peter Obi’s investment – Soludo.
Meanwhile, Governor Chukwuma Soludo has complained that his family members are being harassed over his comments on Peter Obi’s investment in Anambra state.
Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.
In an article published on his Facebook page on Monday, the Anambra state government claimed that some persons angered by his comments have left the issue to attack him and his family.
According to him, “sadly, several of the comments left the issue of the interview to probe or suggest motives, inferred from my response on “investment” that I am opposed to Peter Obi’s ambition and therefore committed a “crime” for which the punishment is internecine abuse and harassment even to my family.
“Some people even suggest that the gunmen who went to attack a checkpoint at my hometown on Saturday 12th November but were gunned down were part of the mob reaction.
"I used to think that for decent people, certain conducts are off-limits and that in Anambra politics is not warfare”.
Let Soludo do more as a professor- Peter Obi
Speaking in Lagos at the 2022 Alumni conference of the Lagos Business School (LBS) on Tuesday, the LP Presidential candidate urged the incumbent Anambra state governor to pick up from where he (Obi) left off and ensure that the state benefits from his ( Soludo's) wealth of experience.
“He (Soludo) remains my brother, we are very close. I remain prayerful for him. For other things which I didn’t succeed at, God has allowed him to do them and succeed.
" So, if there is anything pending, governance doesn’t finish, people are still in government in America, so you stop where you will stop, other people will continue from there,” Obi said.
Peter Obi
"He is the governor of the state; he is my senior brother, he is even more intelligent than me because he is a professor, I am a trader, so he knows more and will be able to do things better than I am doing it.
“I have done my little own as a trader, now the professor is there he will do his own as a professor, the schools I didn’t roof he will roof them, that’s how the government goes.”
Clarifying further Obi said, “The one they said is worthless, we invested 3.5 billion Naira in International Breweries…that facility is there employing directly and indirectly over 10,000 Anambarians. The shares were at the time being sold at N50, today the shares is about N5 or so.
“When you spread your investment some will go up some will come down but overall the company is still there, the company is still doing well, it is still part of the global chain and everything. I needed to explain it not because I am defending comments by my brother,” the LP candidate noted.
Count me out, I am "obedient."- Ozonna Soludo.
Ozona, the 28-year-old son of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has said he prefers Peter Obi to other presidential candidates.
Ozonna Soludo, Image:Daily Post
Reacting to a post on social media criticizing his father's scathing comments on the former Anambra state governor, Ozonna, a UK-based musician wrote on his Facebook page, “I am not an extension of anybody. I have my own opinions and have always said I think Peter is the best candidate. All this has nothing to do with me."
Incumbent Governor Soludo in a television interview claimed that the investment that Peter Obi left in Anambra state is worth close to nothing and that
Obi cannot win the 2023 presidential election.
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