March 18: ‘Your Call for LP Candidates to Support My Govt Deceptive’ — Soludo replies Obi

By Ogochukwu Isioma

Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State says, Mr. Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) was being deceptive when he charged the LP’s House of Assembly candidates to support his (Soludo’s) government after attaining victory at the March 18 election.

metrowatchxtra.com reports that, Obi had during a closed-door meeting with the LP candidates in Awka, Anambra state capital, Friday night, urged the state assembly candidates to support the governor upon election, for the development of Anambra, irrespective of their political differences.

Obi said Soludo, a governor of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the state remained his brother, and that the governor should not fear being impeached by the Labour Party-dominated assembly, as all that was paramount was to bring development to Anambra.

But, reacting to the call, Soludo said all APGA members across the 21 Local Government Areas of the state must not listen to Obi but intensify the campaign to ensure a 30/30 (Assembly seats) victory for all the 30 APGA candidates at the forthcoming March 18 state assembly poll.

The governor, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Christian Aburime, in a statement issued over the weekend, noted that APGA is on top strategies to retain the State House of Assembly as ruling party in the forthcoming polls.

He maintained that the call by Obi was rather deceptive and was meant to lay landmines for the Soludo-led administration, noting that APGA had come to stay in Anambra and not Labour Party.

Aburime, therefore, urged the people not to relent in retaining APGA in the State House of Assembly, ”to avoid disorganizing all the economic and security strategies already put in place by the governor Chukwuma Soludo.”

The statement reads in part, “That call was inappropriate and meant to deceive Anambra people. Obi can not be talking about development in Anambra and also be talking about asking the Anambra people to elect lawmakers from an opposition party to work with Soludo.

“He worked with a legislature that was dominated by lawmakers from the PDP when he first came in as governor, and he knows that it was not easy for him.

“He even suffered impeachment because of that, and we hope it is not the same thing he wants to set Soludo up for.

“Anambra people should go all out next Saturday and vote for APGA if they want the developmental strides of Mr Governor to continue.

“You can not be talking of development and at the same time talking of electing opposition politicians into the House of Assembly, it is not done. It is deceit.

“Anambra people supported Obi during the presidential election, and besides, Soludo refused to interfere as the people trooped out to vote for Labour Party, and that was even before Soludo made the environment conducive for people to come out and vote.

“We have voted Labour Party in the presidential election, but for the House of Assembly election, we are voting for APGA, and we want Anambra people to know so.”