. Stop vendetta against Obi, Chekwas Okorie warns Soludo
Cyril Mbah, Abuja with Agency report
The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, has vowed not to spend his holidays outside Nigeria if elected President in the 2027 general elections.
Obi made the pledge in his Independence Day address delivered in Abuja on Thursday, saying he would use his four-year tenure to travel across the country, interact with Nigerians and better understand their challenges.
He said, “As I have always done, I will lead by example. In four years as President of this great nation, I will not spend my holidays outside Nigeria. My holidays will be spent in Zamfara State; Borno State; Kwara State; Ebonyi State; Edo State; Ekiti State and other Nigerian States.
“I want to continue to see Nigeria. I want to know Nigeria. I want to spend time with Nigerians, listen to them, understand their challenges and celebrate their resilience.”
The former Anambra governor also promised that his administration would make governance measurable and accountable, with emphasis on the welfare and productivity of Nigerians.
“As President of Nigeria, I will make governance measurable, accountable and centred on the welfare and productivity of our people. Within the first year, Nigerians will begin to see the tangible impact of purposeful and effective leadership,” he said.
The former Anambra State governor pledged to tackle insecurity, saying farmers would be able to return to their farms while children would return to school and businesses would operate without fear.
He said, “We will confront insecurity decisively so that our farmers can return to their farms, our children can return to school, businesses can operate freely, and families can live without fear.
“No Nigerian should be forced to live in an IDP camp because his or her government has failed to provide security.”
Obi, who said Independence anniversaries should provide opportunities for national reflection, criticised the APC-led administration, arguing that the country had continued to face serious challenges despite the promises made in 2023.
He said Nigeria was grappling with widespread poverty, a large population of out-of-school children and persistent insecurity caused by terrorism, banditry and kidnapping.
“Despite the enormous promises made by the APC-led government in 2023, our nation continues to face deepening challenges across virtually every critical sector of national life,” he said.
According to him, the country’s major challenge was not a lack of resources but the failure of successive leaders to convert those resources into human development, productivity, security and shared prosperity.
The NDC presidential candidate also recounted his recent visit to Sokoto State with his running mate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, where they held consultations on insecurity, poverty, unemployment, drug abuse and out-of-school children.
He said their visit to an Internally Displaced Persons camp in Ramin Kura, within Sokoto metropolis, exposed the hardship faced by thousands of displaced women and children.
“Instead, they live as displaced persons in their own country. What we saw in Ramin Kura is not an isolated story. It is a reflection of the suffering experienced, in different forms, across many parts of Nigeria.
“And yet, while ordinary Nigerians struggle with these realities, this present government often behaves as though these problems belong to another country.
“The political leaders have failed our country and, most importantly, we have failed our children. This must change,” Obi said.
The pledge comes one month after Obi criticised the practice of past and current presidents spending their holidays abroad, saying an elected president should remain in the country and use such periods to engage directly with citizens.
The former Anambra governor said he would mandate domestic vacations for the President if elected, arguing that the country’s leader should use the opportunity to visit areas facing serious security and developmental challenges.
“Nigeria’s President must spend his vacation in Nigeria. We cannot continue with this nonsense. Where do other countries’ own send their vacation?” Obi questioned.
“The President should go to Zamfara, to Borno, to Anambra, to anywhere. As President of Nigeria, I will visit other countries, but I will not take my holidays there”.
When asked about the security implications of spending vacation time in states affected by insurgency and banditry, particularly Borno, Obi maintained that the President should not use security concerns as a reason to leave Nigeria during holidays.
He also drew a comparison with political leaders in other countries, arguing that the conduct of a Nigerian president should similarly reflect a strong connection with the country and its people.
Meawhile, the National Chairman of the Igbo Agenda Dialogue (IAD), Chief Chekwas Okorie, (Ojeozi Ndigbo), has condemned what he described as the vicious and vile vendetta of the Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, against former Governor Obi.
Chief Okorie said he had watched with disgust and utter disappointment how Soludo had continued his vituperations against Obi, despite Obi’s consistent display of courtesies and respect to Soludo at every given opportunity.
According to the IAD Chairman, Prof. Soludo has been hiding under the cover of supporting President Bola Tinubu to vent his personal animosity against Mr. Peter Obi, and his attacks have no altruistic motive.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Chief Okorie traced the root of the vendetta to three political episodes, stating that the first “offence” dates back to October 14, 2009, when Soludo emerged as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) for the first off-season gubernatorial election in Anambra, which was Obi’s second term election, and Obi won resoundingly while beating Soludo to a distant third position.
The second “offence,” according to Okorie, occurred in 2013 when Soludo joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and declared interest in the governorship, but was disqualified in August that year by the Chief Victor Umeh-led leadership from participating in the primary, an action Soludo till date believes Peter Obi might have influenced, which he described as the greatest humiliation of his life.
The third “offence” was in the build-up to the 2023 general elections after Soludo won the November 2021 governorship election and was sworn in on March 17, 2022, when he allegedly conspired with then APGA National Chairman, Chief Victor Oye, to ensure the defeat of Victor Umeh at the party’s Anambra Central senatorial primary.
Okorie explained that Umeh promptly switched to the Labour Party, LP, where he rode on the back of Peter Obi, the LP presidential candidate, to win the Anambra Central senatorial election, an outcome which according to him, Soludo holds against Obi as his third offence and reason he swore to bring Obi down by any means.
He recalled that Soludo began his attacks on Obi in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election through his unprovoked and infamous article titled “HISTORY BECKONS AND I WILL NOT REMAIN SILENT,” insisting there has never been any altruistic motive behind Soludo’s public posturing of support for President Tinubu for 2027.
Chief Okorie declared that the time has come for Soludo to stop the attacks, describing Peter Obi as unarguably the most outstanding and most popular presidential candidate on the ballot today, and saying the Obi/Kwankwaso presidential ticket is the most formidable combination since the Shagari/Ekwueme ticket in the Second Republic.
The Ojeozi Ndigbo said the possibility of an Obi/Kwankwaso presidency holds the promise of ushering in much desired national unity and reconciliation which are sine qua non for peaceful coexistence, security, development and patriotism, noting that the NDC founded by Senator Seriake Dickson from Bayelsa, is fortuitously the platform for what is to come.
According to him, the NDC, a coinage from the erstwhile Niger Delta Congress and the first contribution by the South-South zone of a registered political party since independence, has its mass followership today not by accident but as an outcome of genuine engagement of youths by Obi and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso over the years.
The IAD National Chairman advised that as a professor of development economics, former CBN Governor and sitting Governor, Soludo has enough challenges in Anambra to keep him busy, and should be mindful of the verdict of history and the Igbo god of retributive justice, Amadioha, noting that families in Igbo land still suffer stigma from abominations of forebears.
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