Governor Soludo is one out of few leaders who think on their feet and on-the-go. He further vocalizes his goals and shares them with people around him long before they happen.
In the days long before he declared to contest for Anambra governorship election of 2021, I mean the days when I was newly admitted into the “Soludo College of Leadership Studies”. I had rare moments with him at the breakfast table, and sometimes, an evening masterclass over freshly roasted “Oka na Ube” bought from Afor-Uzor Market in Isuofia. Those were the days leading to my eventual initiation as a “Soludo Apostle”. Of course I have my Seniors in this Apostleship, and they can bear witness to the fact that Prof. Soludo is a teacher-mentor indeed.
“Ejimofor, the truth is, when I pray I don’t ask God to bless me. That will amount to ingratitude. I have been immensely blessed by God, that all I ask of him is, ‘use me in this remaining part of my life, whatever is left of it, to bless others’. This was the motivation behind my first decision to run for governorship in 2009. And I can tell you that it has not changed”. These were the words of Soludo, and he went on to make them public at various campaign grounds in 2021.
He shared with me how he had planned to give his inaugural speech at Okpoko in 2010 if he won the election. Eleven years after that did not change. If not for some officialdom, the Soludo I know had planned his inaugural ceremony to hold in Okpoko. Where he could not make that happen, he headed to Okpoko the following day to fulfill his long time vision of flagging off the cleaning and remodeling of the once urban slum to a liveable neighborhood befitting of the over 1.5million Ndi Anambra locked up in unpleasant environmental conditions. I was privileged to be on that emotional trip with him. As if that wasn’t enough, in the May of 2022, just few months after assumption of office, a relentless Soludo hosted members of the International community and development partners in Okpoko, sharing with them his vision to rescue the place.
Few days ago, while in far away China, I saw pictures of Gov. Soludo in Olumbanasa on the internet, and the next I said was, “this man!”. I really didn’t know I vocalized it loud enough that people around me began to query who I was referring to. Now, Olumbanasa, like Okpoko, is one place Prof. Soludo never failed to mention in his conversations about rescuing the poor in Anambra. On that same axis and on Soludo’s priority list is Nzam, the only Local Government Headquarters before now without an access road.
I may not be sure of anything in this government. But, I am very sure that Soludo is out for the poor, downtrodden and vulnerable in Anambra. He is out to make them better than he met them. This is the Solution they chant everywhere he goes. Seeing him live out every of his goal, is one huge source of pride to me and all who have had the privilege of sharing his vision.
— Mazi Ejimofor Opara, KSM.
Writes from Hangzhou, China.