Soludo: Obi didn’t allow LP to campaign freely in Anambra when he was governor

Chukwuma Soludo, governor of Anambra, has accused his predecessor, Peter Obi, of denying the Labour Party (LP) the opportunity to freely campaign in the state when he was governor.

Soludo spoke on Thursday in an interview on Channels Television.

During the interview, the Anambra governor was asked to react to allegations from LP leaders that the state government is restricting the party in terms of political campaigns.

Reacting, Soludo said he had twice granted Obi, LP presidential candidate, the opportunity to use government properties in the state for campaign.

“It does not worth my time to comment on the rantings of some people — about their billboards or no billboards and so on,” he said.

“I don’t want to be drawn into that. I think that has been exhaustively dealt with by the government and the Anambra state signage agency that regulates this.

“The point that was repeated is that the signage agency had commended me for being the most tolerant governor as it regards free and fair electoral practice.

“It is on record and everybody knows that I have twice granted the presidential candidate of the Labour Party to use government properties — government house — for his campaign without charging him a penny.

“Nobody has done that. He did not do that when he was in government. He did not even allow Labour Party, where he is now, to freely campaign in Anambra. He denied them even the venue that they paid for.

“But I have allowed him to use the government house twice free of charge. They were in Onitsha to go and campaign. They have their billboards all over the place but the point is when you failed to play by the rule, you put up billboards and you don’t pay for the relevant things. Of course, the signage agency will come after you.

“Even yesterday, I heard a complaint they pulled down even the billboard of an APGA candidate for a federal house. He has not paid and they pulled it down. This is the state’s rule of law.

“Even when they said their billboards were pulled down, you go all over the state, the billboards are lining up everywhere, where they have met the terms and conditions for that.

“They want some kind of entitlement. We can’t continue to give them everything for free. PDP, APC, and others are not complaining. Why only them?”

Obi was governor of Anambra three times between 2006 and 2014, owing to a series of legal battles occasioned by impeachment and issues on election schedule.

Obi became governor on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), but left the party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in October 2014, and joined LP in May 2022.

The LP presidential candidate was the governor of Anambra during the December 2013 governorship election, and Ifeanyi Ubah, now a senator, was the then-governorship candidate of the LP in Anambra.