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Obi is daydreaming over 2023 presidency, says Soludo

*’He can’t win the election to Aso Villa’

By Ben Ogbemudia and Cajetan Mmuta
There seems to be no going back in the raging war between Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi.

Soludo, yesterday said the LP presidential candidate will not win in the 2023 general election.

He said this in an article titled ‘History beckons and I will not be silent (Part 1)’.

The governor’s outburst was a result of criticisms that trailed his recent comment on the worth of investment Obi made for the state when the latter was governor.

In a recent Channels TIV interview, Soludo said the N56bn investments by Obi for Anambra are now “worth next to nothing.”

Reacting to the criticism, Soludo said the LP candidate is well aware of the “game” he is playing, adding that with LP, Obi does not have the necessary structure in place to win the presidency.

“Let’s be clear: Peter Obi knows that he can’t and won’t win. He knows the game he is playing, and we know too, and he knows that we know,” the article reads in part.

“The game he is playing is the main reason he didn’t return to APGA (All Progressives Grand Alliance). The brutal truth (and some will say, God, forbid) is that there are two persons/parties seriously contesting for president: the rest is exciting drama!

“That many Americans may not like the fact that Joe Biden (79 years) and Donald Trump (76 years) are two frontrunners for president in their parties does not remove the fact that if both of them emerge as candidates, definitely one of them will be president in 2024.

“As my brother, I wish him well and even pray for him. I told him during his courtesy call that my prayer is that he or Prof Umeadi of APGA would win, so why not?

“That is from my heart, but I also told him that my head and facts on the ground led me to know that its probability is next to zero (what I cannot say before you, I won’t say behind you).

“So I already told him my opinion. Indeed, there is no credible pathway for him near the first two positions, and if care is not taken, he won’t even be near the third position.”

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Soludo further explained, “For full disclosure, let me state that Peter Obi and I are not just friends, we call ourselves “brothers”. But we have political differences: he left APGA for PDP after his tenure as Governor while I have remained in APGA since 2013. During the last two governorship elections in Anambra in 2017 and 2021, he led the PDP campaigns but APGA won a landslide in both elections.”

“By the way, in 2016, he visited and proposed that I defect to PDP and contest the 2017 election against the incumbent Willie Obiano, but I declined. After my victory in November 2021, he called to congratulate me as I did to him in 2010.”

“That is the Anambra way: we fight fiercely during campaigns but share drinks at the next social events. After all, it was the great Zik of Africa who taught us that in politics, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies but only permanent interests.”

“We sat next to each other during the Emeka Anyaoku lecture at Nnamdi Azikiwe University on 8th March 2022 and I made an offer for him to return to APGA and contest as its presidential candidate. Yes, I did. In my mind, it was time for Igbo to organise their region politically before stepping out to bargain power with other organized coalitions.

“On his part, he tried to convince me that he expected APC to unravel while PDP would be the “only one” standing. We debated and he proposed that we could meet later to discuss further. He attended my inauguration on March 17.

“A few weeks later, he requested and I obliged him to use the Anambra State government house facility to launch his presidential bid under PDP. I was surprised to read in the news later that he had defected to LP (a party with literally zero structure), thereby attempting to weaken the same PDP he saw as the saviour a few weeks earlier. He paid me a courtesy call as the presidential candidate of LP, and we had frank discussions.

“We noted that we were in opposing political parties and in response to my direct question as to how I might help him, he requested that I should just ensure a “level playing field” and let the people decide.

“In fidelity, my government has provided the atmosphere for him and his supporters to operate freely in Anambra without any molestation (compare with treatments to LP even in other South East states), and allowed his billboards which are, in many places, wrongly placed almost on the roads.

“As a person, I have several shortcomings but being petty is not one of them. We have shown him tremendous goodwill—which he did not extend to the same Labour Party when he was Governor (Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, as LP governorship candidate in 2013 was denied the use of Ekwueme Square for his rallies).”

“Someone reminded me that a mob has no head and hence cannot reason. The same Peter Obi was one of those who told Ndigbo that APGA was the vehicle through which Igbos would organize to engage the rest of Nigeria politically. He was said to have sworn to Ojukwu and publicly that he would quit politics the day he leaves APGA. The rest is history.”

 

*Ignore Soludo’s ranting, LP senatorial candidate fires back

Efforts to speak with the National Chairman of LP, Julius Abure, proved impossible as his mobile phone was not reachable.

However, responding to the governor’s statement, an Edo South Senatorial candidate for LP, Neda Imasuen, urged Nigerians to ignore Soludo’s statement.

Imasuen said Soludo is politically naive and has no moral justification to decide who Nigerians will vote for.

He said, “I think Prof Charles Soludo is a child of circumstance. He has forgotten how he campaigned with Peter Obi’s name before he eventually won the governorship election in Anambra state after several attempts.

“It is a pity that Soludo is politically naive to understand the political history of Nigeria and the current circumstances. Who can Soludo convince in Nigeria? Did he understand the current political wave of Peter Obi?

“I seriously call on Nigerians to ignore the Soludo. This is a man who couldn’t manage what is currently holding as a governor. Anambra people are crying because of his attitude to governance. Nigerians will surprise him comes 2023.”

 

 

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