By Uche Amunike
Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo has denied the allegation made via a viral message on social media which linked him to a secret plot with former Lagos State Governor and presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu to assassinate Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 general election and Labour Party flag bearer, Peter Obi, who came third in the polls, rejected the result and vowed to seek redress in court.
It was soon after this that a report came up in the cyber space and went viral, alleging that Governor Soludo had a meeting with Bola Tinubu and his son, Seyi Tinubu at the Imo State Government House where they agreed with Soludo that he would stop Obi from reclaiming his mandate and assassinate him.
The report also alleged that Soludo was paid $5 million to carry out the assassination plan and push the blame to the secessionist group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), known for their agitation for an independent state of Biafra from the South-East and some parts of the South-South.
According to the information, a helicopter landed in the Anambra State Capital, Awka at 1.30am and took Soludo to a secret meeting held at the Imo State Government House, Owerri. The message claimed that: ‘The agenda is Obi and how to stop him physically, politically and otherwise. Soludo was given $5million and Soludo promised to eliminate Peter Obi..’
Soludo released a statement through his Press Secretary, Chris Aburime, who stated that the former CBN Governor would never agree to harm any lawful citizen, stressing that no matter no matter the political differences between both men, Soludo remained a brother and friend to Obi and a father to all. He confirmed that there was no meeting attended by Soludo in Owerri, neither was he offered money to harm Obi who is his brother and illustrious son of Anambra.
According to the statement, the allegation was a plot put in place to disorganize the forthcoming Anambra State House of Assembly elections in the south east and was nauseating, infantile, mischievous and unnecessarily inflammatory.
Soludo maintained that he had been very busy in the state, preparing for the state assembly election of March 11 and wondered why anyone would intentionally make such false insinuations.
Hear him: ‘If certain people could sit somewhere and cook up a story of this nature, it becomes highly reprehensible and certainly deserved to be condemned by every right-thinking person’, Soludo said.
‘Ndi Anambra should also disregard all the insinuations in the write-up as mere falsehoods. They should come out massively and vote APGA(candidates) this Saturday for the State House of Assembly election’, he implored.
Recall also that in November 2022, Soludo predicted that Peter Obi would not win the election because of what he called a lack of political structure and poor voting strength of the south East region from where Obi hailed from. He also asserted that Obi’s entry into the race would help Bola Tinubu to win the polls.
This comment earned Soludo a lot of condemnation on social media by a lot of Nigerians, majority of whom are supporters of Peter Obi’s candidacy.
