*Counts him out of presidential race, ignores APGA candidate as he hosts PDP’s Atiku

*Deceived traditional rulers, Atiku on purpose of the Awka meeting 

For the second time in two months,Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Soludo, restated his war against the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, counting him out of the Presidential race as he hosted the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.

Against the reality on ground, Governor Soludo does not recognize Obi as a candidate with any weight, not to talk of a front runner.

However, contrary to Soludo’s opinion and anger at Obi’s candidacy, the Labour Party’s candidate is acclaimed as one of the three front runners in a race which would turn out to be one of the most contested Presidential election in Nigeria.

Obi has also led in at least three credible opinion polls.

Speaking when he received Atiku at the Government House Awka on Thursday where the PDP candidate came to flag off his Presidential Campaign, Soludo said: “You are one of the two front runners for the Presidency.”

He then added, for effect, that he is in politics, but is still struggling  whether to become a politician or not because he “says it as he sees it.”

The two front runners he was referring to were, obviously, Atiku and the Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

By making that statement, Soludo also threw the Presidential ambition of his own Party, All  Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Honourable Justice Peter Umeadi (rtd) to the dustbin.

No wonder Umeadi has remained largely anonymous in his ambition,, and APGA has not deemed it necessary to flag off its Presidential Campaign.

Soludo’s statement on Thursday tallies with his opinion in the long essay he wrote a couple of weeks ago where he dismissed Obi’s ambition as no use. He said Obi is likely not going to take even the third position, in February 2023 at the conclusion of the Presidential election. He posited that only two Political Parties, APC and PDP, are in the Presidential race.

Soludo accused Obi of deceiving  the Igbo, and asked Igbo leaders to go and negotiate with the two Candidates he regards as the front runners.

Soludo had come under strong attacks over the contents of his long essay and the way he dismissed Obi with a wave of the hand, but it did not stop him from  repeating the points he made earlier.

Obi, was the Governor of Anambra State for two terms. He, it was, who handed over to the immediate past Governor, Willie Obiano, whose successor Soludo is.

*Deception to traditional rulers, Atiku

A source close to the Anambra State Government has revealed how the State Governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, deceived the traditional leaders in the state, as well as the former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, during the latter’s visit on Thursday.

According to the source, based on the memo they got, Governor Soludo deceived Anambra State traditional rulers into believing that they were coming for an end of the year meeting at the Government House in Awka, the state capital.

The Monarchs, however, were surprised to learn they were assembled because of the visit of the PDP presidential candidate.

They would later be honoured with Three Hundred Thousand Naira parting gift for a ‘job well done’.

Soludo also deceived Alhaji Abubakar who was made to believe that all the people he met at the Government House were there to welcome him.

Speaking after the visit, Atiku had said: “I did not expect to see so much crown during my visit to Anambra State.

The truth was revealed when the state residents attacked one of the foremost paramount rulers in the state, the Obi of Onitsha, His Majesty Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Ugochukwu Achebe, for abandoning his royal palace to go to receive Atiku

One aggrieved resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told News Band: “Obi of Onitsha just disgraced Onitsha Kingdom and Igbo people.

“Will Oba of Benin leave his royal palace to go receive any politician?” he asked contemptuously.

Reacting to the allegation, the source blew the lid, explaining that the traditional rulers never knew that the meeting involved the visit of Atiku.

He added why any traditional ruler will take side with Atiku “when a son of the soil, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Gregory Onwubuasi Obi, is also contesting the election”.