Stop Obsessing Over Obi, NDC Candidate’s Camp Replies Soludo
The media team of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, has asked the serving Governor of Anambra State, Chukwuma Soludo, to stop obsessing over Obi and face governance in his state. Obi was a former governor of Anambra State.
Obi’s team’s response follows a publication credited to the state’s ruling circle urging the Anambra electorate to reject Obi and the opposition.
However, Obi’s Media Adviser and Spokesman, Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR), Mr. Idris Zekeri Jnr., dismissed the publication, saying the camp chose silence over a full-scale exchange to avoid dignifying what he termed institutional absurdity.
Citing Igbo philosophy, Zekeri said: “Adighi ibua ayi ara” — you do not join a mad person in the public square.
Zekeri alleged that insiders in the Soludo administration had lamented that the governor spends half of executive council meetings discussing Peter Obi.
“Insiders in the administration had recently lamented that Governor Soludo spends half of executive council (EXCO) meetings obsessing over Peter Obi, treating his fixation on Obi as more vital than pressing state matters,” he said.
He added, “If the governor’s obsession borders on clinical psychosis, stakeholders should promptly advise him to seek professional psychological aid rather than dragging the entire state into his mental fixations.”
The statement said the state’s fortunes were declining while the fixation grows, citing a recent meeting in Port Harcourt where the National Emergency Management Agency reportedly noted that Anambra “only truly had it good under Obi” in managing disasters and public safety.
“They were talking about the state’s preparedness for the recent flood that took lives in the state. The only reason they gave to justify what the flood destroyed was that NIMET announced the impending flood, after they failed to follow the preemptive NIMET prescription,” Zekeri said.
He recalled that as governor, Obi engaged UN-Habitat to formulate comprehensive master and structure plans for the state’s major cities and implemented them, to the extent that by 2010, Onitsha was globally recognised among the fastest-growing cities in the world.
According to him, rather than building on such foundations, the current administration has abandoned the frameworks to focus on political planning against Obi.
Zekeri further alleged that the state government recently mobilised over 500 internet trolls to attack Obi, with a promise to scale the number to 1,000 based on performance.
He described the strategy as a misallocation of state resources, saying public funds were being channelled into “digital vandalism.”
The media office said it was putting the administration on record so it could not claim Obi was responsible for its failure to deliver.
“Instead of obsessing over Obi, the governor should use those hours to tour Anambra and see how state funds are being wasted on roads that crumble while construction is still ongoing,” the statement said.
The camp cited massive turnouts at events such as the Nnewi Cathedral and the coronation of the Igwe of Adazi-Ani as evidence of Obi’s bond with the people, adding that “no amount of propaganda can erase the deep-seated bond between Ndigbo and Peter Obi.”
Zekeri called on Anambra elders, religious leaders, traditional rulers and stakeholders to call Governor Soludo to order.
He also contrasted economic and development indices of both administrations, claiming Anambra has dropped from 1st position on the Phillips Consulting State Performance Index during Obi’s tenure to 27th under the current government.
The statement noted that while Obi operated on an average federal allocation of about N3 billion monthly, the current administration receives about N25 billion monthly, meaning what Obi managed in a year now comes in two months.
“Anambra people are aware that his Commissioner for Finance was his houseboy. Why would things not go wrong?” Zekeri queried.
The camp further alleged that higher institutions have not seen new buildings and schools have not received positive interventions since Obi left office, with NECO results slipping, while the state is being described as one of the dirtiest and ecological erosion ravages communities.
“When a leadership facing monumental challenges chooses obsession with an individual over governance, something is seriously wrong,” he added.
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