EBUKA NWANKWO
Last week, the social media was abuzz with the news that the Governor Chukwuma Soludo-led administration was constructing roads crisscrossing the hometown of Mr. Valentine Ozigbo – the PDP gubernatorial candidate who contested against Governor Soludo in the 2021 election. Lately, because of his interest in contesting the November 2025 election, Mr. Valentine Ozigbo has been playing to the gallery, spewing falsehoods and bitterness. But this is not Governor Soludo’s brand of politics which centers on honesty, prudence, adherence to the rule of law and the ideals of progressivism.
Mr. Ozigbo does not have the track record to lead a complex state like Anambra but he wants to be governor and he depends on Mr. Peter Obi’s popularity to make him governor. Up till recently, in his X handle, he referred to himself as Mr. Peter Obi’s special adviser. In 2021 when he contested the 2021 gubernatorial elections, many staunch supporters of the PDP left the party because they accused Mr. Obi – who was then a PDP stalwart – of imposing Mr Ozigbo on them.
A few days ago, Mr. Ozigbo made a 6.45mins podcast, which was published in Njenje Media TV’s YouTube page, where he spewed many lies. Ideally, one would not have glorified that video which did not seem to have a lot of views with a response but for the sake of setting public records and policy straight, this column would address some of the lies in that podcast in no particular order.
Mr. Ozigbo argued that Governor Soludo was ‘quoted to oppose the minimum wage’. But this is a lie by an ambitious politician who feigns humility to get people’s sympathy. Today, despite not being as rich as Lagos, Anambra State is paying a gross minimum wage of about N84,000 – this is inclusive of all taxes and would amount to N70,000 after deductions. Lagos State has just promised to pay a minimum wage of N85,000, which is a thousand naira more than Anambra’s minimum wage.
Mr. Ozigbo says that there is no evidence of 1 billion naira spent on any local government in Anambra State, even in Ogbaru LGA. But this is another lie. A very irresponsible one. Today, the biggest slum in the South East, which is located in Ogbaru Local Government, has been regenerated and it now has over 15km of good roads, a general hospital, pipe borne water systems, good schools and teachers and community centers. All these were achieved in the first two years of Soludo’s administration. For context, regenerating slums and low-income districts is a humongous project and this is why even in developed countries you can still find slums and low-income districts. With this kind of allegation, one wonders if Mr. Ozigbo’s intention was to get the sympathy of Nigerians, who raised enormous amount of money through crowdfunding for his party in the last presidential elections, to raise similar funds to support his governorship bid in 2025. [But he is not even sure of his party’s ticket]. These funds that were raised for the Labour Party almost tore the party apart during the retirement process.
Mr Ozigbo tries to talkdown the massive road construction projects across Anambra. He tries to refer to the companies building roads in Anambra as ‘’Soludo and Sons’’. But he refused to tell his audience that most of the good companies that constructed roads during the Governor Ngige-led administration -even during the Peter Obi’s administration – are still constructing roads in Anambra. He also argued – without good evidence but with some mere anecdotal evidence – that environmental impact assessments are not carried out in Anambra before road construction projects commence. He is wrong!
Mr. Ozigbo claims that Governor Soludo’s administration has received N487 billion (which is approximately $296,048,632.43 in today’s exchange rate) in the last 30 months and that there is nothing to show for it. Though Ozigbo’s arithmetic is wrong and mischievous, but for the purpose of making this point, let’s assume that this amount mentioned by Mr Ozigbo is correct. In 2008 alone, Anambra’s audited accounts show that the government received an equivalent of $564,883,022.69 using the average exchange rate as at 2008, i.e. N118/$1. (This is money received by Anambra State Government from FAAC and IGR, excluding LGA allocations). This record is in the public domain. What infrastructure and human capacity development was achieved in 2008?
Mr. Ozigbo shied away from mentioning Anambra’s free education and healthcare services. A model the state has never seen before.
Mr. Ozigbo claims that Soludo’s agricultural revolution has collapsed. Unfortunately, he does not have the data. Good politics is played with data and not with propaganda. Today, a lot of crops distributed by the Governor Soludo-led administration are doing well. Information from the ministry of agriculture and agricultural extension workers are available to the public.
On the vexed issue of security, Mr. Ozigbo, as usual, continues to play politics with issues related to security. He says Anambra is the most insecure state in the south east. He uses every opportunity to de-market Anambra, a state he wants to govern. He forgets that in Anambra most communities no longer have functioning police stations and that Governor Soludo-led administration has invested heavily in security and will continue to address issues related to the influx of criminals coming into Anambra from neighboring states because of the relative wealth in Anambra. Soludo’s community policing strategy is the way to go.
Politics should not be about lies and propaganda. It should be about hard facts and evidence. While this column believes that society can only grow by constructive criticisms, it also believes that the kind of lies peddled by Mr Ozigbo do no good to society.