In what may be seen a reconciliatory move, Anambra State Governor, Professor Charles Soludo, has embraced the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi.
The duo met in Awka on Thursday, November 24, 2022, at the St. Patrick’s Cathedral during the Thanksgiving mass for Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor, the Catholic bishop of Awka diocese, in celebration of his 70th birthday.
Obi governed Anambra State between 2006 to 2014 before clinching the LP’s presidential ticket on May 30 in Asaba, the Delta State capital.
Both men have exchanged words after Soludo attacked Obi, saying the former Anambra Governor knows he cannot win the 2023 presidential election.
In a lengthy opinion piece on November 14, the former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor said Obi was playing a game with his election bid, adding that his predecessor did not have the necessary structure in place to win the Presidency on the Labour Party platform.
“Let’s be clear: Peter Obi knows that he can’t and won’t win,” Soludo said. “He knows the game he is playing, and we know too, and he knows that we know.
“The game he is playing is the main reason he didn’t return to APGA. 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,” Soludo said.
Soludo also berated Obi, saying his purported investment while he was the governor of the state was worth next to nothing.
However, the LP presidential candidate replied Soludo, saying the governor can do better for the state since he is now in office.
Obi who addressed participants at the Lagos Business School (LBS) 2022 alumni conference on November 15 said government is a continuum and that Soludo is a professor who can handle things better.
He said, “The one that they said is worthless is that we invested [$]3.5 billion in International Breweries. International Breweries is part of Ab Inbev, which is the biggest brewery in the whole world.
“We had a policy when I was governor that any company, foreign investor who wants to invest in Anambra state, we will buy 10 percent of the company, and under the condition, we started an agreement that they will give Anambra people work to the minimum of not less than 40 percent.
“They built a facility in Anambra state. That facility is there today employing, directly and indirectly, over 10,000 Anambrarians. They bring one of the highest revenue source for the state.”
Class Act: ‘As A Professor, Let Soludo Do Better Than Me As Governor’ – Peter Obi
Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, on Tuesday, November 15, 2022, said he did his little as governor of Anambra State and urged the incumbent governor, Chukwuma Soludo to do his best in the state as an economics professor.
Obi stated this at the 2022 Lagos Business School (LBS) Alumni Conference in Lagos.
The Anambra governor between 2006 and 2014 was reacting to Soludo’s comments that the investment he (Obi) left in government is worth close to nothing.
Also, Soludo on Monday had tackled Obi, saying he can’t win the 2023 presidential election.
Soludo Remains My Brother
Reacting on Tuesday in Lagos, Obi described Soludo as his brother.
“He (Soludo) remains my brother, we are very close. I remain prayerful for him. For other things which I didn’t succeed, God has given him opportunity to do it 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.
“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 government goes.”
The former governor said he left the office with savings of 75 Billion Naira, adding that his administration saved 50 million dollars each in Access, Diamond, and Fidelity banks with an interest rate of 6.5%.
He further clarifies, “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 was at a 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 said.
He said he left the office without owing any contractor, supplier who had executed their job, citing the examples of Innoson Motors and Zinos Computers.
Source: ChannelsTV
