The Anambra State Government has defended Governor Chukwuma Soludo and the All Progressives Grand Alliance over their support for President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election, arguing that the position follows a political precedent established when Peter Obi was governor of the state and a leading figure in APGA.
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In a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Dr Law Mefor, the government questioned criticism of Soludo for supporting a presidential candidate outside APGA, contending that Obi participated in a similar arrangement in 2011 when APGA adopted then-President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party as its presidential candidate.
APGA’s adoption of Jonathan in 2011 is documented in contemporaneous reports, while Soludo has repeatedly cited that precedent in explaining his party’s present alignment with Tinubu.
The government said it considered the criticism of Soludo selective and accused his critics of applying different standards to the two former and current Anambra governors.
“There is this dangerous trend in our public discourse whereby there are two sets of standards: one for everyone else and another for H.E. Peter Obi,” Mefor said.
According to the statement, what was regarded as politically acceptable when Obi supported a candidate from another party was now being portrayed as unacceptable because Soludo had chosen to support Tinubu.
The statement accused Obi of consistently criticising both his predecessors and successors in office.
“This is one former governor of Anambra who is not on record to have ever complimented any of his predecessors or successors in office,” it said.
“He spent eight years in office demarketing Dr Mbadinuju and Dr Ngige and has spent the last 13 years with his paid media team, dozens of others, daily demarketing his successors.”
These are political assertions by the Anambra State Government and are presented as such.
The statement also accused Obi of working politically against APGA since leaving the party in 2014.
“Again, since H.E. Peter Obi left APGA in 2014, he has been campaigning and doing everything to kill the party,” it said.
It cited the 2021 Anambra governorship election, saying Obi supported the PDP candidate, Valentine Ozigbo, against APGA and Soludo.
“In 2021, when our governor contested for his first term, H.E. Peter Obi was literally the campaign manager for Mr Val Ozigbo of the PDP, but our governor won by a landslide,” the statement said.
It further referred to the 2025 Anambra governorship election, accusing Obi of campaigning for Labour Party candidate George Moghalu against Soludo.
“Again, last year in 2025, H.E. Peter Obi toured Anambra with his preferred candidate for governor, George Moghalu of LP, against our governor, and again Gov. Soludo won by a landslide,” Mefor said.
The government consequently questioned why Obi’s supporters regarded his freedom to support candidates outside his former party as legitimate while attacking Soludo for making his own political choice.
“For his supporters, H.E. Peter Obi has the right to choose who to support and campaign for, even when he was not on the ballot, but for our governor to dare to exercise the same right and support anyone else but Peter Obi, he must be crucified,” the statement said.
Mefor returned to the 2011 presidential election, saying Obi and APGA supported Jonathan even though Jonathan was a PDP candidate.
He argued that the decision established APGA’s policy of cooperating with the party controlling the Federal Government.
APGA’s current leadership has similarly said the 2011 policy was initiated when Obi was governor and Victor Umeh was national chairman, although the party departed from that approach in some subsequent presidential elections.
“Then it was okay because Peter Obi did it, but now it is sacrilegious for Gov. Soludo and APGA, which Peter Obi wants dead, to adopt President Tinubu as APGA’s presidential candidate,” the statement said.
Soludo has previously publicly backed Tinubu and said APGA’s policy of working with the government at the centre remains in place. APGA’s national leadership subsequently confirmed its alignment with Tinubu for 2027.
The statement then returned to the ongoing dispute between the Anambra government and Obi over the financial position of the state when Obi left office in March 2014.
Mefor accused Obi of making inconsistent claims about the state’s finances and said the government was being criticised merely for challenging those claims.
“Currently, our government is being blamed for debunking the obvious lies of Peter Obi regarding the state of Anambra finances he left behind. No one blames him for his inconsistencies,” the statement said.
“What one hears is: ‘Yes, we know that he is lying, but must you be the one to expose the lies of a brother — even if his lies are hurting you?’ Hypocrisy and multiple standards everywhere!”
It added: “These do not advance the cause of public accountability and consistency in our quest for strong ethical politics and governance.”
The government also challenged Obi’s repeated emphasis on the savings he said he left behind as governor.
“It is really funny to see our former governor gloat that ‘no other governor in Nigeria saved as he did.’ Yes, no governor in his right senses and faced with such humongous challenges as Anambra faced at the time will be sadistic enough to keep the money in the bank while citizens, including pensioners, are dying of poverty and insecurity,” the statement said.
The government then focused on the disputed ₦2.13 billion ecological fund, following Obi’s recent television appearance in which he presented documents while defending his financial record as governor.
Mefor said the government noted what it described as Obi’s failure during the interview to address the specific ₦2.13 billion ecological fund claim.
“We also observed with keen interest the absolute silence on the purported ₦2.13 billion Ecological Fund in the television appearance, despite this being the core of his recent challenge, where he mentioned with specific details: the account number, name of the bank, and the branch where he stated categorically that he left ‘over ₦2.13 billion’ as at the date he handed over on 17th March, 2014,” the statement said.
The dispute centres on First Bank account number 2018779464, which Obi had identified as containing the ecological fund. The Anambra government has publicly maintained that certified bank records describe it instead as an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Account.
“The State is deeply interested to know the whereabouts of the said money, as the account he mentioned with First Bank was neither an ecological funds account, nor does it contain the ₦2.13 billion either as inflow or existing balance at any time within its active lifespan. This is in line with the bank statement we obtained from the bank,” Mefor said.
The statement said First Bank, in a letter dated September 16, 2026, identified the account differently from Obi’s description.
“For the avoidance of doubt, First Bank in its letter of 16th September, 2026, confirmed that: Account 2018779464 which Mr. Obi quoted as holding ₦2.13 billion Ecological Fund is actually the ANSG IGR Consolidated Account, that is, account for Internally Generated Revenue IGR,” it said.
“As of 17th March, 2014, the balance on that IGR account was not close to ₦2 billion, and at no time in its active life from 2011 to 2018 did it ever carry ₦2.13 billion as inflow or balance.”
The state’s published 2018 financial statements also identify account 2018779464 as an “IGR Consolidated” First Bank account, although that document by itself does not resolve all aspects of the parties’ dispute over the alleged 2014 ecological funds.
Against that background, the government demanded an explanation from Obi.
“Since the money is not in the First Bank account as claimed, where is it? Or is the money actually missing? This question remains unanswered,” the statement said.
The government said its intervention was motivated by its responsibility to provide information on matters of public interest.
“As a responsible government and committed to ethical governance and politics, we remain ready to provide information that advances public interest. For H.E. Peter Obi, it is a matter of word, character and integrity,” it said.
It then called on the former governor to apologise over the dispute.
“Without any provocation, you threw a self-imposed challenge. Now that the facts challenge your character and integrity, you have no choice but to take the path of honour: tender an unreserved apology to the government and people of Anambra State and Nigeria and move on. You don’t continue digging when you are already at the bottom of the hole,” the statement said.
The government, however, said it was not asking Obi to fulfil his earlier pledge to quit campaigning if his account of the state’s finances was disproved.
“We won’t encourage you to honour your pledge to quit your campaign; we wish you well. Except of course, if you truly believe in the motto of one of the commercial banks that says: ‘We are Fidelity: We keep our word!’” the statement concluded.
Meanwhile, a politician who did not want his name mentioned in the media told TheNigeriaLawyer that Governor Charles Soludo is bringing down candidates contesting under APGA in Anambra State in the belief that he is weakening Peter Obi politically.
He said many APGA candidates in Anambra could lose their elections because, in his view, Soludo is not playing smart politics despite being a sitting governor.
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