Much Ado About Obi-Soludo’s Political Feud

The last appears not to have been heard of the political battle between Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo and one of his predecessors, Mr Peter Obi. David-Chyddy Eleke reports.

Some well meaning indigenes of Anambra State are of the view that if elders in the state fail to wade into the battle between the governor of Anambra State, Prof Chukwuma Soludo and the presidential candidate of Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Peter Obi, the crisis between them may degenerate to a full blown battle. This is coming as the families of both men have now been smuggled into the battle, showing an interwoven family ties that were hitherto hidden from the public.

What started as a small challenge where Obi insisted that he left Anambra State debt-free and also a savings of N75billion, with a call for anyone who can to prove the fact wrong had made the state governor, Soludo to dig through the files of the state and present what he stated were liabilities left by Obi, which included unpaid debts and outstanding salaries, pension and gratuity. Obi had in his response stuck to his gun that he owed no one before leaving, a response that prompted further clarification by the Soludo administration through the commissioner for information, Dr Law Mefor.

In the statement, Anambra State Commissioner for Information, Dr Law Mefor, expressed surprise why Obi and his supporters were attacking Soludo after the governor merely heeded a challenge by Obi for anyone to show proof that he left any debt when he left office. It also insisted that the state government would have allowed Obi’s lies to slide if he didn’t challenge them to show proof of his borrowing or owing anyone as at March 17, 2014 when he left office. It insisted that Obi’s saintly posturing was all media packaging and nothing more, while acknowledging that such media packaging has really worked for him, as many people are swayed about his personality.

Part of the lengthy text read: “We watched the interview by Mr. Peter Obi, on Arise TV on 24th September, 2026, where he tried to equivocate about the settled matter of his legacy of debts in Anambra, with intent to obfuscate and change the subject. You cannot attack first and then end up as the victim at the same time. For us, it is only a matter of record. Since Mr. Obi himself initiated this self-imposed challenge — daring anyone to prove that he left debts — it is only a matter of integrity and character that he owns up to the outcome.

“There is this dangerous trend in our public discourse whereby there are two sets of standards: one for everyone else and another for Peter Obi. This is one former governor of Anambra who is not on record to have ever complimented any of his predecessors or successors in office. He is the only next big thing after God. And indeed, to his credit, the media packaging has worked. Only Peter Obi has the right to lie about and against any and everyone, and if you dare to expose his lies, you must be the “sinner”, the “saboteur”, etc.

“In 2022, when this administration assumed office, he as usual publicly lied that his investment of about $14 million in the brewery in which he has interest was worth “over $100 million”. When our governor exposed the lie in an interview in November 2022 that the investment was worth “next to nothing”, hell was let loose. Even till date, that same investment of $14 million is still worth less than $3 million. For his supporters, Peter Obi has the right to choose who to support and campaign for, even when he was not on the ballot, but for our governor to dare to exercise the same right and support anyone else but Peter Obi, he must be crucified.

“We have definitively and conclusively provided evidence that Peter Obi’s administration signed eight loans from the IDA-World Bank over his eight-year tenure, totalling US$123,771,179.30, and even disbursed some of it before leaving office but deceptively concealed these from his handover notes. We have provided the dates and the amounts that his administration signed the loans, and this can be verified from the Debt Management Office (DMO), Abuja. As of 30th June, 2026, the DMO report showed the outstanding balance of those same eight loans was $92.35 million, equivalent to N127.37 billion, which successive administrations, including the current one, have continued to service through monthly FAAC deductions.

“Till date, neither Peter Obi nor anyone else has disputed these facts at the DMO. So, what is the issue again? We do not want to comment on his laughable argument: “I did not go to the World Bank or DMO to borrow the money”. Peter Obi, you do not have to “go to a bank or DMO” before your borrowing can be perfected. All that is required is for you to sign the loan agreements and your government did. Many Ndi Anambra were actually scandalized to see their former governor, whose government signed Subsidiary Loan Agreements (SLAs), but who did not seem to know the difference between an IDA-World Bank loan, which the Anambra State Government is still paying billions to repay and service, and grants.

“No state government is forced to take any IDA-World Bank loan: you must express interest and sign for the loan before you can access it. It was a pitiable sight seeing our respected former governor showing a lack of understanding and almost insinuating that he did not know that he borrowed even after signing for the loan. Our current government rejected a similar World Bank loan — NG-CARES 1 — principally because the terms were considered too expensive due to exchange rate risks. But if future IDA-World Bank loans are on favourable terms, we would consider them.

“The fact again is that Peter Obi borrowed and left a debt of over US$123 million contrary to all his lies about it for 13 years, and the current government is paying billions of Naira in repayment. Don’t change the subject. No matter how you disingenuously invent the “account net-offs”, the facts won’t go away. Peter Obi did not just owe one worker, he owed over 700 workers and thousands of pensioners. The records show that he owed over 700 staff of the Anambra State Water Corporation their salaries, pensions and gratuities. An Arbitration Panel in 2009 as well as the National Industrial Court judgment of 2019 confirmed that the State Government owed the workers.”

The state government described it as jaundiced logic for Obi to borrow and keep in the bank, hoping to reap interest, while several state projects were waiting to be tackled. It said: “But let’s interrogate your jaundiced logic. Yes, we don’t dispute that you saved $150 million, and if it had not been spent by your immediate successor, it would have been earning interest. But did it, and does it make any sense at all? Many may argue that the so-called savings were a default setting for a government bereft of any long-term transformational agenda. The issue was never whether the assets you left behind were more than enough to repay the debt. That is what you are saying now. But your initial challenge was that you never left any debt. Yet, Peter Obi, every accounting balance sheet has sections on Assets and Liabilities. No matter how huge the assets or how miniscule the liabilities, you are obliged to disclose both sides. It is Accountancy 101. In this case, you exaggerated the asset side but concealed and lied about the liabilities.”

Obi had always insisted that there was no problem between him and Soludo. Speaking at the Nigerian Guild of Editors’ recent conference, the Nigerian Democratic Congress presidential candidate while buttressing his relationship with the Soludos, declared that he and his wife were the godparents of their children. Obi said: “People think I have problem with Soludo, but they do not know that our families are very close. People do not know that I and my wife are godparents of Soludo’s children.”

Soludo’s wife did not take this kindly as she entered the fray, aiming to correct the impression created by Obi. Though a quiet and humble First Lady, she felt there was need to correct the record, lest it stuck.

In a press release by her media aide, Mr Dan Ezeigwe, Mrs Soludo stated that: “Following the widespread circulation of the video, we have received several calls and enquiries seeking clarification on the claim. We hereby state clearly that the claim, as presented, is false. For the avoidance of doubt, Mr. Peter Obi is not a godfather to any of the children of Professor Chukwuma and Dr. Nonye Soludo. The facts concerning the godparent relationship between the two families are as follows; Dr. Nonye Soludo, First Lady of Anambra State, is the confirmation godmother to Peter Obi’s daughter; Mrs. Margaret Obi, wife of Mr. Peter Obi, is the baptismal godmother to one of Professor Chukwuma Soludo’s daughters. Neither Mr. Obi nor Professor Soludo has served as a godparent to the other’s children.”

Supporters of Obi had since the release was made public been on the neck of the governor and his wife, insisting that there was nothing different between Obi claiming to be the godparents of Soludo’s children, so long as they have admitted that his wife was truly the sponsor of one of Soludo’s daughters.

Insisting on setting the records straight, Soludo’s wife in another release quoting the canon laws of the Catholic Church stressed that sponsorship at baptism was an individual thing that had nothing to do with spouses. She insisted that neither Soludo nor Obi is godfather of each other’s sons at baptism and that the fact should remain so.

Meanwhile, in the view of Obi, the issue of borrowing and leaving debt in Anambra was more important issue to engage in and not godparentship. Obi in his response to Soludo said: “I have remained silent over the past few days because I have been grieving the loss of my very dear elder brother and friend, Chief Okey Ezeibe. However, the time has come for me to address some of the matters that have occupied public discussion in recent days. Regarding the multilateral funding inaccurately described as “debt owed by Peter Obi” in Anambra State, I wish to state unequivocally that as Governor of Anambra State, I did not approach any financial institution to borrow funds or issue a bond on behalf of the state. Indeed, at his farewell ceremony, the then Director-General of the DMO, Abraham Nwankwo, appointed me chairman and declared that, during his 10 years in office, I was the only state governor who had not approached him for a loan facility.”

As the controversy continues to rage, many Anambra citizens have called for a public debate between Obi and Soludo to ascertain the truth of the debt profile mentioned, but for people like Uche Nworah, a public affairs commentator, there was need for elders to intervene in the public spat by both men, to save Anambra further embarrassment.

“The escalating war of words between the Anambra State Government and former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, has reached a point where one begins to wonder: Are there no more leaders in Igboland who can step in and de-escalate the situation? It is getting out of hand. It has become increasingly embarrassing to read the debt-related claims, counterclaims and other comments emanating from the camps of the state government and that of the NDC presidential candidate.

“There are bigger challenges confronting Anambra State, the South-East and Nigeria. The elders should urgently intervene, not to silence legitimate debate or scrutiny, but to encourage civility, restraint and reconciliation. For the sake of Anambra State and the wider Igbo nation, the falcon must once again hear the falconer,” Nworah stated.