Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo
Eko Hot Blog reports that Governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo, has said the candidacy of Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential election is an advantage to the electoral fortunes of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.
The governor was reacting to criticisms by Obi’s supporters in a scathing piece on Monday.
The supporters of the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate had attacked Soludo after he claimed that the investments made by Obi on behalf of Anambra are now worth next to nothing.
The Anambra governor responded that he would not be bullied.
According to him, Obi knows he cannot win the 2023 presidential election.
Soludo faulted the LP presidential candidate for leaving the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
He noted that Obi’s defection will only increase Tinubu’s chances of winning the 2023 presidential election, while accusing him of pulling votes away from the
APC Presidential Candidate, Bola TinubuSoludo, who said he had told Obi that he would not win the election, went as far as saying that the APC presidential candidate should pay the former Anambra governor as someone heading one of the departments of his campaign.
“So I already told him my opinion. Indeed, there is no credible pathway for him near the first two positions, and if care is not taken, he won’t even near the third position,” the Anambra governor wrote.
“Analysts tell him you don’t need ‘structure’ to win. Fantasy! Of course, LP won governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun on social media and via phantom polls, while getting barely 2,000 votes on ground. Creating a credible third force for presidential election in Nigeria requires a totally different strategy and extreme hard work.
“Of course, Peter Obi will get some votes, and may probably win in Anambra state— as ‘home boy’. But Anambra is not Nigeria. If he likes, I can even campaign for him but that won’t change much.
“From internal state by state polling available to me, he was on course to get 25% in 5 states as at August this year. The latest polling shows that it is down to four states, and declining. Not even in Lagos state (supposed headquarters of urban youths) where Labour Party could not find candidates to contest for House of Reps or Senate. The polls also show that he is taking votes away mostly from PDP.
“Indeed, if I were Asiwaju Tinubu, I would even give Peter Obi money as someone heading one of the departments of his campaign because Obi is making Tinubu’s pathway to victory much easier by indirectly pulling down PDP. It is what it is!”
Soludo also expressed worry that Obi’s candidacy might hurt the southeast “dearly” for years.
“The South East has the lowest number of votes of any region, but it is also the only region where the presidential race might be a 4-way race (it is a two-way race in the other 5 regions) thereby ensuring that our votes won’t count in the making of the next president of Nigeria,” he said.
Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi
“Afterwards, we would start complaining that we don’t get ‘what we deserve’ or cry of marginalisation. During the 2019 presidential election, the five South East States were united for PDP but contributed merely 1.6 million votes to PDP which was about the votes that Kano state gave to Buhari.”
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