I Offered Obi APGA’s Presidential Ticket, But he Declined – Soludo
By Abdulsalam Mahmud,
Barely few days after ‘rubbishing’ the investments of Peter Obi as Anambra State helmsman between 2006 and 2014, Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, has again come hard on the Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections.
Soludo, contrary to popular belief, said he offered Obi the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, to contest in next year’s poll.
But according to him, Obi rather opted for LP, after earlier assuring him that his presidential ambition would sail through under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Soludo, a former Governor of the Central Bank, disclosed this in a statement while reacting to tirades that greeted his interview with Channels TV, regarding the “investments” Obi made with Anambra State Revenues.
In the statement titled, “History Beckons and I will not be Silent,” the Anambra State Chief Executive noted that he would not have asked Obi to return to APGA and become the party’s presidential candidate if he is envious of him.
He said: “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 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.
Read Also:
“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 Igbos to organize 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”.
While maintaining that Obi joined LP after realizing PDP won’t consider him either for the presidential or vice-presidential ticket, Gov. Soludo, however said the LP Candidate will get some votes, and may probably win in Anambra state – as “home boy”.
“But Anambra is not Nigeria. If he likes, I can even campaign for him but that won’t change much. From internal state by state polling available to me, he was on course to get 25% in 5 states as at August this year. The latest polling shows that it is down to four states, and declining. The polls also show that he is taking votes away mostly from PDP.
“I hope that after February 2023, Peter Obi will return to APGA (the party that made him everything he is politically) as I offered him on 8th March, 2022 and begin the hard work, if he truly wants to be president of Nigeria.
“It won’t happen by desperately jumping from one party to another or by unleashing a social media mob on everyone who slightly disagrees with you. I decided to pen my views personally — again for the records. On this, I don’t mind being a one man minority. As history beckons, my conscience and sense of duty to my people dictate that I should never be silent. I will happily accept the judgment of history for standing by the truth”.
