“Stop chasing shadows” – Obi’s camp fires back at Soludo over anti-Obi campaign

The political feud between the camp of former Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi, and the administration of Governor Chukwuma Soludo has escalated dramatically following a sharp counterpoint from Obi’s Media Adviser, Mr Idris Zekeri Jnr., Spokesman, Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR).

Reacting to a publication emanating from the state’s ruling circle urging the Anambra electorate to reject Obi and the opposition, the media office dismissed the move with heavy scorn. Citing traditional Igbo philosophy—adighi ibua ayi ara (you do not join a mad person in the public square)—the camp maintained they chose silence over a full-scale exchange to avoid dignifying what they termed institutional absurdity.

Lifting the lid on internal dysfunction within the state’s leadership, Zekeri revealed that insiders in the administration had recently lamented that Governor Soludo spends half of executive council (EXCO) meetings obsessing over Peter Obi, treating his fixation on Obi as more vital than pressing state matters.

Adding a searing punchline, Zekeri remarked that if the governor’s obsession borders on clinical psychosis, stakeholders should promptly advise him to seek professional psychological aid rather than dragging the entire state into his mental fixations.

The statement lamented that as his obsession becomes magnified, the state is falling apart. Citing a recent meeting held in Port Harcourt, he pointed out that the National emergency agency explicitly noted that Anambra only truly had it good under Obi, managing disasters and public safety with utmost competence.

They were talking about the state’s preparedness for the recent flood that took lives in the state. “The only reason they gave to justify what the flood destroyed was that NIMET announced the impending flood, after they failed to follow the preemptive NINET prescribed.”

He recalled that as Governor, Obi uniquely engaged the UN-Habitat to formulate comprehensive master and structure plans for the state’s major cities, rigorously implementing them to the extent that by 2010, Onitsha was globally recognised among the fastest-growing cities in the world. Yet, rather than building on such visionary foundations, Soludo has completely abandoned these structural frameworks, choosing instead to focus his energy on petty political planning against Obi.

Zekeri further alleged that the state administration recently mobilised a cyber-army of over 500 internet trolls dedicated solely to attacking Peter Obi, with recruits supposedly promised the right to nominate cronies for state engagement, scaling the network up to 1,000 operatives based on hit-piece performance.

The Obi camp slammed the strategy as a gross misallocation of state resources, lamenting that public funds are being aggressively funnelled into digital vandalism while governance issues pile up.

Pre-empting what they described as a predictable scapegoating script, the media office stated they were putting the administration on formal record so officials could not tomorrow claim Peter Obi was the phantom distraction keeping them from working.

“Instead of obsessing over Obi, the governor should use those hours to tour Anambra and see how state funds are being wasted on roads that crumble while construction is still ongoing,” the statement fired.

Pointing to massive grassroots receptions—such as the large turnouts at the Nnewi Cathedral and the coronation of the Igwe of Adazi-Ani—the camp challenged the administration to read the political room, stressing that no amount of propaganda can erase the deep-seated bond between Ndigbo and Peter Obi.

Against this backdrop, Zekeri formally called on Anambra elders, religious leaders, traditional rulers, and key stakeholders to urgently call Governor Soludo to order, advising him to face the pressing issues of governance and stop self-destructing through needless distractions.

Tearing into the state’s economic scorecard, the media office contrasted Soludo’s administration with the benchmarks established during Obi’s tenure, highlighting independent indices like the Phillips Consulting State Performance Index, where Anambra has nosedived from 1st position during Obi’s era down to 27th position under the current watch.

The statement underscored that while Obi operated on a lean average federal allocation of about 3 billion monthly, Soludo now commands a combined allocation of roughly ₦25 billion monthly – meaning the current government receives in just two months what Obi managed in an entire year.

“Anambra people are aware that his Commissioner for Finance was his houseboy. Why would things not go wrong?”

The camp queried why higher institutions have not seen a single new building erected or positive intervention directed to schools since Obi left office, with recent NECO results showing the state slipping back down from previous historic highs.

Lamenting that the state is allegedly being branded one of the dirtiest in the country while ecological erosion ravages communities with zero effective combat, the statement concluded that when a leadership facing monumental challenges chooses obsession with an individual over governance, something is seriously wrong.