Soludo’s Misleading Claim on Presidential Visits: Setting the Record Straight – Obi Media Office

Obi

By TANKO ALI

Yesterday, Governor Charles Soludo once again revealed his persistent fixation on Mr Peter Obi, seizing the occasion of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s visit to Anambra State as a platform to continue his hatred. Cloaked in subtlety but unmistakable in intent, his remarks amounted to veiled and unwarranted attacks against Obi – an unfortunate misuse of a presidential visit for personal vendetta.

During the visit, Governor Soludo claimed in his speech that the last visit by a sitting President to the state was merely to commission a brewery. This assertion is both misleading and historically inaccurate.

Contrary to Governor Soludo’s claim, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan paid five visits to Anambra State during his tenure – each marked by impactful public and private sector engagements that significantly advanced the state’s socio-economic development.

On October 15, 2010, President Jonathan paid his first official working visit to Anambra. During the visit, he commissioned several key projects, including the Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing plant in Nnewi; the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu Teaching Hospital, built from the ground by Mr Obi; the Kenneth Dike Central Library; the twin-building State Secretariat (the first in the state’s history); and the Emergency Management Complex. He also launched the Parenteral Drug Factory of Juhel Pharmaceuticals and commissioned a number of state roads, including the dualised Zik’s Avenue, Odor Bridge, the eight-lane Head Bridge–Upper Iweka Road, among others.

Chief Innocent Chukwuma, the CEO of Innoson, has said countless times that if not for Mr Peter Obi, his company would not have survived. It is among the top ten employers of labour in Anambra State and in tax payment.