By Izunna Okafor, Awka
The Special Adviser on Political Matters to the Anambra State Governor, Dr. Alex Obiogbolu has described as falsehood, the reports that he and his principal, Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo recently organised a secret meeting to plot the downfall of the Labour Party presidential candidate for the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi.
Recall that some news contents have been flying around over the week, alleging that a meeting was called of some stakeholders of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra State, with seven persons from each of the twenty-one local government areas of the state. The reports also alleged that Mr. Obi was the main topic of discussion at the meeting, adding that Governor Soludo promised to make resources available to ensure that Soludo fails woefully in the election.
One of the reports, captioned “Soludo holds meeting against Peter Obi” reads: “Two days ago, Prof. Charles Soludo through his Political Adviser, Dr. Obiogbolu called a meeting of Anambra stakeholders, 7 from each of the 21 local government area of the state. The subject of the meeting was Peter Obi.
“After Obiogbolu introduced the meeting, he handed the microphone to Gov. Soludo. From beginning to the end he ably talked about Mr. Peter Obi, how he would provide the needed resources for him to fail woefully as he put it.
“Members of APGA told him that the war was needless, that APGA would loose if they go his way. Soludo insisted, telling them that with money, which he would make available, that nothing will be difficult to achieve.
“He told them to be on the look out for the second segment of his write-up on Peter Obi.
“He gave each of them N20,000 for transport.”
Similarly, another report alleges thus: “Mr. Governor convoked the meeting of the stakeholders, remember that APGA has senatorial candidate, house of representative and state house.
“All the Political Matters was invited, we discussed way forward on how to win this up incoming election, he equally told us how he (Mr. Governor) told Peter Obi to support APGA in other positions, starting from Senate down to State House, and APGA will support him in presidential, but Peter Obi told him no that let’s meet at pulling unit but he (Peter Obi) accepted the same condition in other State.
“Mr. Governor also told us why he chose to responded to that question in channel TV and why he wrote open letter to Peter Obi.”
Meanwhile, reacting to the reports, the Special Adviser on Political Matter to Gov. Soludo, Dr. Obiogbolu refuted them as handiwork of mischief makers who are bent on tarnishing the image of the Governor.
He, however, accepted that a meeting was recently convened for selected stakeholders of APGA in Anambra State, but explained that Obi was not the subject of the meeting as some reports say.
According to him, the participants at the meeting were APGA National Assembly and House of Assembly candidates in the state, and further revealed that the meeting featured deliberations on the situation of the state and the Governor’s brief on the efforts of his administration so far in putting things in order in all sectors of the state to make the state greater.
“The Governor briefed us on many things his administration has done. He said, as at present, his administration has awarded about 230 kilometers of roads in different parts the state, and flagged off works on many of them. He also said that, in about 24 months from now, the road network of the state must have been totally transformed.
“He went on to talk about the just-concluded recruitment of 5000 teachers in the state, with the aim of upgrading the quality of learning and transforming the educational sector of the state. He also talked about the newly-recruited 300 doctors and medical personnel in the state to improve healthcare service delivery in different hospitals.
“The Governor, in the meeting, equally gave a brief on what he’s doing in the youth ministry, especially the ‘One Youth, Two Skills’ initiative and other empowerment packages his government has for the youths, with the aim making them self reliant, reducing unemployment and reducing insecurity.
“These were the things we discussed at the event, as well as how to deliver our (APGA) candidates in the forthcoming election. So, how on earth would somebody come and be saying that Obi was the subject of our meeting?”
Dr. Obiogbolu further said “it was the same mischief makers who twisted the content of the Governor’s viral letter and response to Obi by saying that the Governor said Peter Obi would not win in Anambra, while in actual sense, the Governor never said anything like that.”
He, however, was not emphatic as to whether the Governor will still write the part 2 of the said letter/response, saying that it is at the discretion of the Governor to decide whether or not to do so.
He further debunked the claim that the Governor is working against Obi and has pledged to bring out huge amount of money to make sure he fails woefully in the much-talked-about election.
Dr. Obiogbolu also described as a lie from the pit of hell, the claim that the Governor gave every participant at the meeting the sum of ₦20,000 for transportation after the meeting, adding that nothing like that happened at the meeting.
“I was at the meeting, and I must tell you the truth: there was nothing like that,” he said.
