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The Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has stated that poverty in the state doubled under Peter Obi as governor, adding that he has access to verified information which he would not like to share for the sake of modesty.
Obi, who is the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, ruled the state between 2006 and 2014, and has during his presidential campaigns and in several forums made claims of bringing humongous investments to the state.
Soludo meanwhile on Monday in a long article titled “History Beckons and I Will Not Be Silent (Part 1)” seen by SaharaReporters, said Anambra doubled in poverty under Obi.
The governor was reacting to mixed feelings that trailed his earlier statement that Obi’s investments as former governor of Anambra were now worth next to nothing.
In the article by the governor released on Monday, Soludo said, “Everyone knows that I don’t follow the winds nor succumb to bullies, nor shy away from a good fight especially when weighty matters of principles and the future of the people are involved. One lesson I learnt from my former boss and mentor, President Obasanjo, is never to be on the fence. I learnt that one must always take a stand: for better or for worse. I do so with every sense of humility, and leave history to judge. Most people have commended me for “tactfully avoiding being drawn into the Peter Obi issue” until now. Since I am now being forced into the Arena on this matter, I have a duty and a right of reply, if only for the records, and to also give the social media mob something substantive to rant upon and rain their abuses for weeks.
“In this preliminary response, there are some things I will refrain from saying here because, in the end, February/March 2023 will come and go, and life will continue. Yes, poverty more than doubled under Peter Obi and more than 50% of Ndi Anambra were in poverty under him. Go and verify! I am Governor and sitting on privileged information which I will not want to use against a political opponent. But on matters of facts, I will always state the same as is. As the saying goes, you can fool some of people some of the time but never all the people all the time. Enough said for now.
“Where do we go from here? I listened to my friend Gov El-Rufai on TV explaining why the northern governors decided that power should shift to the South. According to him, they asked themselves what would their founding fathers—Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa or Aminu Kano have done in the circumstance. Today, I ask my people, Ndigbo: do we ask what Azikiwe or M.I. Okpara or Akanu Ibiam would do in the present circumstance? I worry that Ndigbo as Nigeria’s foremost itinerant tribe and with the greatest stake in the Nigerian project does not yet have a strategy to engage Nigeria—politically! Every four years, we resurface with emotive Nzogbu Nzogbu political dance (“it is our turn dance” but without organization or strategy) and fizzle out afterwards while others work 24/7 strategizing and organizing.”
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