The senatorial candidate of the Labour Party( LP) for Anambra Central, Senator Victor Umeh, on Wednesday said he has no regrets contributing his quota towards the emergence of Governor Charles Soludo.
The former National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) said he had forgiven Soludo for removing his campaign billboards in Awka.
Umeh, was an integral part of the APGA campaign committee that oversaw the election of Governor Soludo in 2021, after chairing same committee for former Governor Willie Obiano in 2017.
Speaking with newsmen in his campaign office at Udoka Housing Estate yesterday, Umeh said he won’t challenge the Governor’s action in Court as he had resigned to fate on the matter.
He said during the 2021 governorship election, he toiled day and night working as Soludo’s returning officer on the election day, yet the only way he had to pay him was to remove all his campaign billboards that were fully paid for because of party politics and interest.
Umeh said: “I campaigned for him (Soludo) to be Governor. I was his Director General and during the run-off at Ihiala, he called me to be his returning officer, and I discharged that duty creditably, ensuring that his votes were not stolen, and after that, I took the result to him in Isuofia his community and presented it to him.
“I have no regret. I only told him my interest then was for him to take care of Anambra people and it is left for the Anambra people to judge if he is doing well or not.
“Anything I say now will be misinterpreted because the Governor recently pulled down my billboards. It’s left for people of the state to judge him.”
He said the Governor ordered the removal of the billboard during a meeting with some members of his party at the Governor’s Lodge.
According to Umeh; “the governor ordered them to remove it but someone told him that I duly paid for the billboard to stand at Unizik temporary Site junction, but he replied that they should refund my money to me, that the space was too strategic for any other political party to display their billboards.
“They removed it on Saturday morning, and on Saturday evening, they replaced it with APGA billboard.
“I made inquiries before I accepted to pay for placement of that billboard. That space was previously occupied by Interface Brewery, makers of Hero Beer, and when their contract there expired, an advertising company, which is duly registered, which works with us told us the space was vacant.
“We paid N1m for our billboard to be hoisted on that space, and the billboard had my face and that of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi.
“The advertising company also paid the Anambra State Signage and Advertisement Agency (ANSAA) for the billboard.
“That billboard has been there since December, and the contract was to expire after the election, but he (Soludo) ordered it to be removed.
“He did it in bad faith and I heard that he has asked me to go to court if I liked, that if I do, the matter will remain there until after the election.
“On the very day he ordered that the billboard be removed, about five people who were in that meeting called to tell me too.
“This is impunity. The Soludo government has been very intolerant of other political parties campaigning in Anambra, except APGA and PDP. That is unfair.”
