President Bola Tinubu says his administration is working hard to ensure Nigerians feel the impact of governance that works
• We are comfortable with Soludo, President says
• Governor, Anyaoku urge progressives to support Tinubu
• Anambra monarchs confer ‘Hero from another land’ on Tinubu
• Ozigbo: Bringing Tinubu to inaugurate overhyped projects won’t mask Soludo’s failure
• APGA committed to re-election of Tinubu – Bianca Ojukwu
President Bola Tinubu’s visit to Anambra State, the home state of Peter Obi, yesterday, scored a huge point in his political bridge-building and consummation of bipartisan strategies towards his own re-election in 2027.
Despite division among stakeholders, the President used his visit to endorse Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s second term and in return, he got a rousing adoption by the dominant party in the state, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Also, traditional rulers yesterday conferred a chieftaincy title of ‘Dike Si Mba’ of Anambra on the President.
The traditional rulers, led by the Chairman of the Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council, Igwe Chidubem Iweka of Obosi, gave the President the title in Awka during his official visit to the state.
‘Dike Si Mba’, which loosely translates to ‘Hero from another land’, was given to President Tinubu by the traditional rulers representing all the communities in Anambra.
The President inaugurated the state’s first-ever Government House on Thursday, marking a historic milestone more than 30 years after the state’s creation.
He also inaugurated several other projects done by the administration of Soludo.
It is the President’s second visit to the South-East this year, after visiting Enugu State in January.
Given that the President had begun the year by commissioning some projects put together by the Governor of Enugu State, Dr Peter Mbah, critics maintain that most of the ‘legacy’ projects embarked upon by Soludo were for prestige purposes.
While welcoming the President during a town hall meeting between the president and critical stakeholders of the state, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaoku, described Nigeria as a “complex task” to govern but called for prayers for President Tinubu to continue to successfully steer the country.
Anyaoku said: “The first time I had the pleasure of welcoming you to Anambra State was 12 years ago when you joined me in coming to celebrate my 80th birthday.
“As every discerning observer knows, governing Nigeria is a very complex task.
“I am sure many others like me will continue to pray that God will continue to give you wisdom to continue to steer the ship of this country in the right direction.
“As a NADECO champion, it inspires my confidence that you will successfully steer the ship of our country to the destination that we, the citizens of this country, desire.”
But the moment the president was waiting for came when APGA officially adopted him as its candidate for the 2027 presidential election. While making the declaration, Governor Soludo stated that APGA and the All Progressives Congress (APC) would work together during the election, as both parties share a common belief in progressivism.
Recalling that before joining APGA, the party had a policy of supporting the president and the ruling political party at the centre, Soludo reaffirmed that this policy remains in effect.
“In 2011, before I joined APGA in 2013, APGA took an official position to support and work with the political party and government at the centre,” Soludo said.
“Indeed, in that year, APGA adopted the sitting president as its presidential candidate, and I want to report that policy by APGA has not changed.
“Coincidentally, Mr President, at this moment in history, the government at the centre is the one that also professes progressivism.
“Then, as the foremost progressive party in Nigeria, APGA is strategically and ideologically aligned with the centre. And so far, Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the progressives are working well together,” he said.
In the same vein, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, said APGA is committed to the re-election of President Tinubu in 2027. The Minister, who is a member of the Board of Trustees of APGA, said she has no intention to defect to the APC, even though she is a cabinet member of the APC-led Federal Government.
Asked to comment on how she felt over the President’s visit to Anambra State, the wife of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, said: “It’s a momentous occasion. The President’s visit to Anambra State yesterday has demonstrated how magnanimous he is in his political affiliations. It has showcased his spirit of inclusivity, and he has shown all and sundry that he is a president for all Nigerians, regardless of political party affiliations, tribe or creed.”
Asked if she was in agreement with the governor, who said that APGA has adopted him as the Presidential candidate in 2027 despite the fact that they are not in the same party, she said there has always been an understanding between APGA in the state and the party at the centre.
Bianca said the declaration made by the governor to the effect that the APGA has adopted him as its Presidential candidate in 2027 was a consensus by the party.
“Yes, it is a consensus of the party. We have done that with the People’s Democratic Party in times past. In the state, we are the All Progressives Grand Alliance, but when it comes to support, we key into the centre. We did that with the People’s Democratic Party, and we are, as a party, committed to the second-term aspirations of our president.”
However, Valentine Ozigbo, an APC governorship hopeful in Anambra, said President Tinubu’s visit to inaugurate projects in the state cannot “mask” Soludo’s “poor performance” in the state.
In a statement issued by the businessman, Ozigbo said the event felt like a “film trick” designed to distract the public from mounting socio-economic challenges in the state.
Ozigbo described Soludo’s administration as a “glaring theatre of missed priorities, misplaced ambitions, and media optics masquerading as progress. Governance is not a film trick. Governance is not about cutting ribbons on facades while the foundation rots,” the statement reads.
“In over three years in office, Governor Soludo has delivered zero public housing, zero real investment inflow, and zero structural transformation of our economy.
“Instead of addressing the escalating cost of living, the housing crisis in Awka, the crumbling infrastructure across LGAs, or the deepening insecurity that has made daily life a gamble, the governor has chosen to showcase an amusement park. This facility should rightly have been left to private investors in a healthy economic climate.”
According to Ozigbo, most residents — including civil servants, cannot afford to live in Awka, where rent for a two-bedroom flat averages N1.3 million per year.
He said the state government has turned its back on core issues such as high cost of living, poor transport, patchy social services, and deepening insecurity.
“Instead of solving hunger, unemployment or fear, Soludo is building an amusement park,” he said.
Anambra State being the strong base of his main Southern rival, Peter Obi, President Tinubu’s coming to Awka came off as a bold effort to cement the symbiotic relationship between APGA and APC for a mutually beneficial electoral gain in 2025 and 2027, respectively.
President Tinubu’s words during the visit betrayed the political undercurrent: “We have the Solution, we have Charles Soludo; Soludo has the brain, he knows the way, and we shall continue to work together, Anambra is on the rise with Soludo, and we are rising with him.”
But criticisms of Soludo’s track record of performance were strident and sought to drown the President’s glowing words of endorsement, which pointed to a disconnect between mandate delivery and electoral expediency.
Founding national chairman of APGA, Dr Chekwas Okorie, enjoined the President not to be deceived by the deceptive gestures of Governor Soludo, stressing that the endorsement conveyed by the governor was a perfection of the art of sycophancy.
He stated: “APGA has suffered several misrepresentations by self-serving and selfish Governors who unscrupulously demonstrated unconscionable ingratitude to the Party that provided them the platform to realise their life ambition of becoming Governor of their States.
“I wish to state without equivocation that all well-meaning Nigerians, especially the people of Anambra State and Ndigbo in general, welcomed wholeheartedly and with great joy the state visit of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Anambra State. Prof Soludo, as the governor of Anambra State, was at liberty to vaunt his accomplishments at such an auspicious occasion.
“However, he overreached himself when he assured the President that APGA would adopt him for the 2027 presidential election and even claimed that APGA had a policy of such adoption since 2011, when Governor Peter Obi publicly adopted President Goodluck Jonathan for the presidential election of that year.
“APGA has suffered several misrepresentations by self-serving and selfish Governors who unscrupulously demonstrated unconscionable ingratitude to the Party that provided them the platform to realise their life ambition of becoming Governors of their States. Chief Rochas Okorocha did the same thing when he claimed that APGA joined the APC merger in 2013, when only he and his followers joined the newly registered APC.
“Prof. Soludo lacks the capacity to make such a monumental commitment on behalf of APGA. He even claims to be the National Leader of the Party. A claim that is blatantly false. Dr Alex Otti is the only governor of the Labour Party, but you will never see him parade himself with the bloated ego of Prof Soludo. I am the founder and patriarch of APGA.”
The Guardian
