Ahead of the forthcoming governorship election, the Anambra political terrain has become very turbulent following several issues involving the political parties. The National Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Grand Alliance, (APGA), Mazi Ejimofor Opara, speaks with OKEY MADUFORO on the position of the party and the state government some of the issues
It is being alleged that the throwing of tantrums among contestants in the coming election emanated from Governor Charles Soludo which they say is unbecoming?
Those making such claims are not being fair and appear not to appreciate the politics of Anambra State. Governor Charles Soludo made it clear that the characters that claim to be contesting for gubernatorial election in Anambra State come short of what the electorate expected from them. You cannot become the governor of a state like Anambra through falsification of academic records and that indeed speaks volume of the brand of governance that you are going to showcase. So, the governor nipped it on the board for the world to see the type of elements angling to serve the good people of the state. You cannot lie your way into the Government House of Anambra State because he that must go to equity must come with clean hands.
Anambra boasts of great icons and achievers that have made their marks across the globe and had always presented their first eleven. But there are people who are not even part of the third eleven and lacks the morals and integrity to be governor here. That is exactly what Mr. Governor is saying and when they approached the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), the Commission discovered that what they put across to it were suspicious and after making verifications it was discovered that they lied. So, blaming Mr. Governor is as good as begging the question and it has been exposed to the Anambra electorate who are more knowledgeable than ever.
The face-off between Dr. Nonye Soludo and Senator Uche Ekwunife is the talk in town and it is believed that they condescended so low…
The First Lady Dr. Nonye Soludo ordinarily shouldn’t have been in the picture after all she is not a contestant in the coming election but Uche Ekwunife, instead of responding to what the Governor said or at best proving the Governor wrong went to the gutters to talk about paternity of the first son Ozonna and that equally tells you the characters in this race. Essentially you don’t expect a woman to keep quiet in the face of malicious and undignified allegations of that magnitude hence she has to speak.
Before then the First Lady was hesitant in joining issues with her but you know that an Igbo proverb says he that is silent is culpable to the allegations. Against this backdrop she has to speak and ever since Sen Ekwunife has remained silent and has also refused to take the challenge of their going for the paternity test.
There are reports that Ekwunife has apologized to the Governor and his wife?
The publication purporting to be an apology for the defamatory statements made against the Governor and his wife personally by Senator Ekwunife, does not appear to have emanated from the Senator herself, given that her defamatory statements were made directly via recorded video and leaked audio conversation.
It is a known fact that there is no campaign organization known as the “Ekwunife Campaign Organization,” since Senator Ekwunife’s ticket is a joint one with the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress. This suggests that the statement did not truly emanate from Senator Ekwunife and therefore cannot be credited to her. At best, it may be a ploy to prevaricate the fundamental issues posed by the First Lady in her personally signed statement. Wherein she challenged Senator Ekwunife to two key issues.
First, that she, as a converted Catholic, agrees to swear an oath before the blessed sacrament that she has not known any other man since her marriage to Chief Larry Ekwunife, and she (Dr. Nonye Soludo) would also do same. The second is for her to accept an all-expense paid DNA test of her four children, three of whom were allegedly fathered by men other than her husband. In like manner, Mrs Soludo would present her six children for same test.
The defamatory publications were directly made by Senator Ekwunife through audio recordings and statements. Any apology or retraction should logically come from the same source to carry significance. Sadly, the so-called apology never referenced Uche Ekwunife’s initial video and audio but chose to focus on an unsigned article.
The purported apology referencing an unknown article with unknown authors, only points to one thing, and that is her complicity directly or indirectly as the source of the article—which contains only one of the many accusations she made against the Governor’s wife—it implies that no genuine apology was intended or tendered.
The publication is not considered an apology or retraction by Senator Ekwunife and is believed not to emanate from her. If she intended to apologize, she should present it in a manner that leaves no doubt about its source or reliability. More importantly, slander or libel directly made by an individual cannot be vicariously dismissed by any agent or person other than the individual who made them. We consider the purported apology as another unsubstantiated social media gossip/fabrication that is neither verifiable nor credible. It leaves ample room for plausible deniability.
We will proceed as if this piece of propaganda never happened, while maintaining the position that a proper and direct retraction of all fabrications against the Governor and his wife by Senator Ekwunife is necessary. Such a retraction should be made through a medium that leaves no doubt about its authenticity. Therefore, a contrite apology must follow a personal and direct retraction of her defamatory statements.
Another issue is the incident that happened at Abuja about Ukachukwu which is being alleged that Soludo masterminded it?
It is expected that the fingers would be pointing at political opponents given the fact that a lot has been exposed about Nicholas Ukachukwu and that is what his media team would say. This is about fraud and not a case of debt recovery going by the narrative that is in the public domain. According to the reports in the public domain, around early 2022, Mr. Achema, a real estate mogul had undertaken a land deal with Mr. Ukachukwu. The deal was a 10-hectare land in Abuja.
Mr Achema made a commitment of N1 Billion for the said property from the funds made available to him by interested off-takers trusting his years of experience in the industry. It turned out the said hectares were nonexistent, as Ukachukwu was not forthcoming with his own side of the bargain after allegedly collecting a whooping N1 Billion from Mr. Achema. Mr. Achema gets petitioned in 2022 to the EFCC by his own clients alleging that he obtained money from them by trick. He was arrested and he made solemn statement to repay the money, and was granted bail.
In 2023, he was re-arrested by the EFCC and paraded after failing to secure the money from Mr. Ukachukwu. Take note that Achema’s clients paid to Achema, who in turn paid to Ukachukwu through his company — Chupi Company Limited. This is coming three years after many fruitless attempts by Achema to recover his money from Mr. Ukachukwu.
Following a tip-off, Achema stormed Transcorp Hilton, Abuja to accost Mr. Ukachukwu who is alleged had been avoiding him all these years. This is the reason for the video on the internet. Evidence of payments to Mr Ukachukwu through an account belonging to one Chupi Company Limited has surfaced showing hundreds of millions paid into it.
Throughout this narrative, Governor Charles Soludo was never mentioned and while these business transactions were being made neither Soludo nor APGA had any knowledge of that. I recall a certain video that trended on the social media where a certain man stripped himself before a building gate believed to be Ukachukwu’s house demanding the payment of money owed by Ukachukwu and this happened several years ago and as at then neither Soludo nor Ukachukwu was contesting election and those make those allegations never factored it in.
