Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State has refuted claims that he had been contracted to “assassinate” the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared the former governor of Lagos State and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, as the winner of the 25 February presidential election.
Mr Obi, who came third in the election, rejected the results and vowed to challenge them in court.
Shortly after, a report surfaced on social media alleging that Mr Soludo met with Mr Tinubu, the president-elect, and his son, Seyi, at the Imo State Government House Owerri, where they struck a deal with the Anambra State governor to stop Mr Obi from reclaiming his mandate through the court as well as “assassinate” the LP candidate.
The report claimed that the governor was paid $5 million to “assassinate” the LP candidate and push the blame to the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra, a group leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants to be carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south.
But reacting through his spokesperson, Christian Aburime on Monday, Mr Soludo described the speculations as “infantile, nauseating, mischievous and unnecessarily inflammatory.”
According to him, as governor of Anambra, he is the father of the people of the state and will not “plot or collude to harm any lawful citizen of the state including Mr Peter Obi,” whom he described as “a brother and friend” despite their different political affiliations.
The governor said the allegation was a plot to cause chaos in the forthcoming state assembly elections in the South-eas
He said none of the allegations was true and that he had been in the state preparing for the 11 March elections.
“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,” Mr 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 added.
Background
Mr Soludo appeared to have fallen out of favour with Mr Obi after he predicted, in November, that Mr Obi would not win the 2023 presidential election, citing a “lack of political structure” and poor voting strength of the South-east, where the LP candidate hails from.
He had further claimed that Mr Obi’s entry into the race was going to help the APC candidate, Mr Tinubu, to win the presidential election.
Several persons, believed to be supporters of the LP candidate, condemned Mr Soludo for the comments.