Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has dismissed suggestions of a personal feud between him and former governor Peter Obi, insisting that their relationship remains cordial despite their political disagreements.
Soludo said the differences between them were strictly political, adding that their families had maintained close relationships over the years.
The governor spoke during an interview with BBC News Igbo on Monday, where he explained that he and Obi had different political interests but no personal animosity.
“Peter Obi and I are good friends. Our two families are on good terms. His wife gave birth to my child in the divine water, my wife gave birth to his child in the confirmation. But when it comes to politics, give me mine, give him his. It’s politics that is being done,” he said.
Soludo explained that both politicians supported different candidates during the Anambra governorship election, stressing that their political choices did not affect their personal relationship.
“He has someone he thinks should be the governor of Anambra. He supported the person he wanted. But I won by the grace of God,” he said.
His remarks come amid renewed exchanges between the two former and current governors over Obi’s administration and the financial position of Anambra State when he left office in 2014.
In September, the disagreement took another turn after Obi said he and his wife were godparents to Soludo’s children, describing the relationship between their families as close despite their political differences.
However, the Anambra First Lady’s media aide, Daniel Ezeigwe, disputed the claim, saying Obi was not the godfather of any of Soludo’s children.
Ezeigwe explained that Nonye Soludo was the confirmation godmother to Obi’s daughter, while Obi’s wife, Margaret, was the baptismal godmother to one of Soludo’s daughters.
He added that neither Obi nor Soludo had served as godparent to the other’s children. The First Lady’s office, however, maintained that the relationship between both families remained cordial.
The governor also revisited his controversial 2022 comments on Obi’s presidential ambition, insisting that his position had been misunderstood.
In November 2022, Soludo published an article titled History Beckons and I Will Not Be Silent, in which he questioned Obi’s chances of winning the 2023 presidential election.
In the article, he wrote: “Peter Obi knows that he can’t and won’t win.”
However, during Monday’s interview, Soludo said his argument was not simply that Obi would lose the election but that his emergence as a third-force candidate would divide opposition votes and strengthen the chances of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Tinubu.
Asked whether he maintained his position ahead of the 2027 presidential election, the governor said:
“No, no, I didn’t say he wouldn’t win. What I said was that it is impossible for someone who is a presidential candidate of a party to not even write a letter saying he is running,” he said.
He added that Obi’s participation in the 2023 election would weaken the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by taking away some of its supporters.
“In fact, I also wrote to him that his participation would take away a lot of votes from the PDP and make it easier for Tinubu to win,” Soludo said.
The governor further argued that opposition unity alone would not guarantee victory against an incumbent president.
“Even if you have a united opposition, it still does not guarantee you get to defeat an incumbent. But that is even the starting point,” he said.
Soludo also disclosed that he personally invited Obi to join the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in March 2022 to contest the presidential election.
According to him, their discussions initially centred on mobilising the Igbo people and strengthening their political participation rather than merely securing presidential power.
“It was me myself who invited him to APGA so he could run, early March 2022 at Nnamdi Azikiwe University,” he said.
He added, “Before he ran for that office, it wasn’t about him running and winning, but how we are going to mobilise the Igbo people. We deliberate first before going into an alliance before seeking power. You don’t just get power in Nigeria like that.”
The latest comments come against the backdrop of a long-running disagreement over Obi’s economic record as Anambra governor between 2006 and 2014.
In September, the state government and Obi exchanged positions over claims that his administration left outstanding debts.
The state government had argued that Soludo’s administration was still servicing loans incurred by previous administrations, including Obi’s.
Obi rejected the allegations, maintaining that he left office without debts and with substantial savings. He also insisted that he left more than $150m in savings for the state.
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