The All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA on Sunday, denied that the absence of Anambra Governor-Elect, Professor Chukwuma Soludo from the commissioning of the International Conference Centre, ICC Awka, was evident to a possible feud between him and the incumbent governor, Chief Willie Obiano.
Obiano who has less than three days to go had last week commissioned the facility which is not yet completed 100 percent and Soludo was said to have made it clear that he will not be present at the event, as the project was yet to be fully completed.
Many quarters had attributed it to a possible political cold war between the duos, as Soludo was said to have found fault with Obiano’s pattern of spending which was rather bogus.
Recall that Soludo had refused to be handed over the state on the 17th of March at the ICC and instead opted for a small handover ceremony at the gate of the State Government House in Awka.
Reports have it that the decision was to prevent the spending of about N500 million naira already budgeted by some cronies of the incumbent governor, for the handover ceremony.
But in a chat with correspondent in Awka, the Publicity Secretary of APGA, Barr Tex Okechukwu said the news making the rounds that Soludo’s absence at the ICC’s commissioning implies that there is a big problem between the two, was a farce.
According to him, the reality on ground is that his not attending the occasion has nothing to do with any strained relationship between Governor-elect and the outgoing Executive Governor of Anambra State Chief Dr Willie Obiano.
“A forensic analysis of the matter will clearly reveal that it is merely extrinsic speculations by Anambra and APGA traducers who are hell-bent at their unsuccessful catastrophic extrapolations and unsolicited intrusion to agitate the minds of Anambra people against the duo.
“Their main target is to demoralize Anambra people who are in high expectations of a seamless transition and to behold another exceptional, people’s oriented Governor that will actualize their dreams.
“This has been the trajectory modus operandi of APGA calumniators who have vowed to create confusion and false incomprehensible woes and perplexity in the polity,” he said.
Okechukwu noted that just a day after the commissioning of ICC, Obiano and Soludo were glaringly and publicly seen during the handover of Anambra State development program 2070 in the same international convention center Awka.
He also revealed that prior to that commissioning event, they were seen together at the event that brought former President Olusegun Obasanjo to Anambra State, where they were chatting as outgoing and incumbent Governors of Anambra State.
“Evidently there is no problem that would make Soludo not to attend the commissioning of the international convention center, but for state unavoidable exigencies.
“The reality on ground was that the Governor elect has much on his plate and could not have abandoned matters of monumental exigencies just to impress the public in a celebrative occasion.
“Granted that the commissioning event is monumental, certain crucial State matters must be preferentially addressed, particularly when such occasion coincide with such a ceremony.
“Professor Soludo is a man conscious of his responsibilities and would not indulge in abdicating them to avoid challenges.
“His not being at the occasion was a clear indication that he was unavoidably engaged at the said time with some crucial State matters,” the APGA spokesperson said.
He urged the general public to rather concern themselves with what the incoming governor will offer them, since the commissioning of the ICC is rather marking the end of Obiano’s era and they are looking forward to a new era with Soludo.
