By Okey Maduforo Awka.
Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo at his second term in office inauguration speech has stated that the Igbos of the five states of the South East needs healing contending that the agitations of a President from the extraction may not be the panacea for it’s perceived emancipation.
This is coming as Vice President Kashim Shettima who came in the company of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Good luck Jonathan congratulated the people of Anambra state for reelecting Soludo as governor for the next four years.
Shettima noted that Nigerians already know the pedigree of the governor before his election for the first term in office adding that his achievements is a testimony of good works done for the good of the masses.
Soludo who was sworn in along with his Deputy Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim at the Alex Ekwueme square lamented that the geopolitical zone had derailed and needs healing.
“Yet today, the SE region is performing far below its potential, and this must change for the sake of our future and the generations to come. Several years of self-inflicted but devastating war of attrition together with the complicit silence of the graveyard threatened to create a desolate homeland, setting the wheel of development several decades back”
“How did we get here? In the early 1960s, the Eastern region was reported as the fastest-growing sub-region in the world. Nine years after the Nigerian-Biafran war, in 1979, Igbos became the Vice-President and Speaker of the House of Representatives until 1983. From 1999 to 2007, we held the Senate presidency etc.”
“How all these positions improved the lives of the women in Okpoko, Ngorkpoala, Akwete, Ezzamgbo, or Udenu remains a question for another day. But how did we get to the recent position where we resort to politics of lamentations? ”
“The truth is that we have derailed. Perhaps someday when we ask the hard questions, it may turn out that the problem may not lie in our stars, but within ourselves”
“Yes, it would be nice (at least emotionally) to see a man with a red cap at the Villa someday but whether it would matter fundamentally for the average Igbo man is debatable.”
“In 1998, I wrote an article in which I argued that it is possible for an Igbo man to be President, Vice-President, Senate President and Speaker of House of Representatives at the same time and yet Igboland/ordinary Igbo man may not fair better. Focusing largely on transient “positions” by politicians rather than on frameworks for sustainable prosperity for all misses the major point”
” Igboland needs healing. We need a new language, a new narrative and a different approach. First, let me repeat what I stated in my Inaugural Address four years ago: “With Ohanaeze’s estimate that some 11.6 million Igbos live in the North and over 7 million in Lagos state and over 70% of our non-land assets scattered all over Nigeria and the world, we need Nigeria and Nigeria needs us. We need Africa and the world and they need us”.
“We must boldly assert our rights as equal citizens of Nigeria, and there are better ways to agitate for equity and fairness in a democracy. Armed struggle in our context is self-annihilating.”
“We must, without apologies, state that Never Again will we turn the gun on ourselves in the name of agitation. Out of our experience with the civil war and the recent experiences, Igbos may need a date with history—a day of justice and healing: justice for all the victims of the acts of commission and omission, and healing of the land— with eternal lessons to teach our children! ”
“Second, Ndigbo must play the Pan-Nigeria politics of coalition for development. Let us join hands with like-minds across Nigeria to agitate for a fairer Nigeria where everyone has equal chance to succeed irrespective of his language, dialect, region or religion, a restructured and dynamic federation. Ndigbo need to maximize benefits from Nigeria to transform the homeland”
“But we cannot do so by remaining on the sidelines as social critics and agitators. In a democracy no one gets what one deserves”
You get what you bargain for—with your voted . One obvious way for us to matter and be taken seriously is the strength of our organization and votes. I pray that Ndigbo will never waste their votes again.
“Today, let us commit to unite to launch our own maga movement (Make AlaIgbo Great Again—I have seen reference to this in the social media)—crusade for a livable and prosperous homeland as a proud component of the largest black country on earth- Nigeria. Let’s reinvent our past glories under Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr. M.I Okpara and Dr. Akanu Ibiam or even Dr. Ukpabi Asika of East Central State after the civil war. Enough of the lamentations! We need to organize and lobby the rest of Nigeria to live out Nigeria’s promise to the Southeast and the former Eastern Region after the civil war for massive reconstruction ”
“This would require a deliberate agenda (akin to the U.S Marshall Plan for Europe after the 2nd World War) or at least a principle of equality of zones in federal infrastructure distribution (e.g. national highways, gas pipelines, rail lines, river/seaports, etc.)”
“Combined with good governance by the Southeast governors and the resilience, innovation and enterprise of our people, the Southeast will soar once again as axis of opportunity and prosperity. That will be the sustainable response to cries of marginalization”
Soludo described President Ahmed Bola Tinubu as cerebral and patriotic nothing that his administration has to a great extent salvaged those major challenges facing the country.
“,President Tinubu is a cerebral, courageous, and patriotic Nigerian. We trust him to make a major difference for Nigeria and the Southeast. We thank him for the ongoing federal projects in the Southeast especially the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, the adjunct to the 2nd Niger Bridge amongst others. During his state visit to Anambra on May 8, 2025, I requested, among other things, for Anambra/Southeast to be included in the national gas and rail masterplans as well as dredging of River Niger for the Onitsha River port to be operational and he approved. We expect the agencies involved to deliver”
“As we say here: the Progressives are working together! Once again, I extend my hand of fellowship to my fellow contestants in the last gubernatorial election. I am and will continue to be the governor for all Ndi Anambra over the next few years. Politics and elections are over; it is now time for governance and development. Let us join hands together to build the Anambra of our dream” he said.
Soludo further announced his blue print for the next four years hinging it on the policies of the former Premier of the old Eastern Rejoin Dr Michael Okpara.
“Transforming it into a preferred destination—and creating a livable and prosperous homeland for an itinerant but highly enterprising people—requires imagining and deliberately building an alternative future. Such a future must be anchored on dynamic and scalable sectors capable of responding to Anambra’s unique constraints while leveraging its distinctive opportunities”
“By deliberately nurturing a thriving ecosystem of technology, innovation, and digital entrepreneurship, the state can position itself as Africa’s version of Silicon Valley—an innovation hub where ideas, talent, and capital converge to drive transformative growth”
“Together, these three pillars commercial/logistics cum leisure dynamism, industrial productivity, and technology-driven innovation—form the conceptual foundation of the African Dubai–Taiwan–Silicon Valley (ADTS) vision”
“To reinvent the Dr. M.I. Okpara palm revolution, we have distributed 2.2 million palm and coconut seedlings to 180,000 households thereby empowering them for life and laying the foundation for a new palm processing ecosystem” he noted.
