Insult, hate, and bitterness are the words that rule Nigeria’s politics. It is often said that if you don’t want to know who your mother’s first boyfriend was, don’t dabble into politics.
The governorship election campaign in Anambra is already taking a dangerous dimension as contestants have abandoned agenda-based campaigns and are resorting to mudslinging, insults, and throwing tantrums.
As revealed, the running mate of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Uche Ekwunife, recently clashed with the state governor, Professor Charles Soludo.
In a video circulating online, Ekwunife fired back at Soludo, who had reportedly claimed that she obtained a certificate from an unaccredited and unrecognised university in the United States.
Refusing to be bullied, she asked the governor to go to court if he believed her PhD certificate was fake. She further advised him to verify her Master’s degree at Nnamdi Azikiwe University and her first degree at the University of Calabar.
Ekwunife went further to claim that Soludo’s professorship was merely a departmental award. She also called the governor several unprintable names, while advising his wife to buy him deodorant.
She warned Soludo to let her be, adding: “We are practising social democracy in Nigeria, and all political parties know their candidate. Soludo has contested for governor of Anambra State twice before Willie Obiano imposed him on Ndi Anambra.”
According to her, Soludo’s administration has done nothing for Ndi Anambra except preside over worsening insecurity that has claimed the lives of many, including two House of Assembly members. She added that Anambra was peaceful before Soludo assumed leadership but that people are now fleeing because of danger.
“All the bushes in Anambra State are full of corpses. Anambra was a state where people came every Thursday to buy, but now people are running away from Anambra. You have failed woefully as a governor,” she declared.
Our source revealed that some political leaders and concerned stakeholders in the state have intervened to arrest the situation before it escalates further.
The quarrel quickly drew in Soludo’s wife, Nonye, who accused Ekwunife of spreading “malicious lies” that dragged her children into politics. In a statement on Saturday, accused Ekwunife of fabricating “malicious allegations and lies” against her and dragging her children into political disputes.
She threatened Ekwunife with legal action unless the former lawmaker withdrew her claims and apologised within 72 hours.
Her outburst followed a viral video in which Ekwunife threw tantrums at Governor Chukwuma Soludo and alleged that both the governor and his wife were part of the Chinwoke Mbadinuju administration between 1999 and 2003, which was considered to have failed.
Ekwunife was also said to have accused Mrs Soludo of compromising relationship with the then governor.
The senator was reacting to claims by Soludo that her PhD certificate and GCE results were questionable and spurious, making her unqualified for the deputy governorship seat.
But the governor’s wife challenged Ekwunife to take a public oath of fidelity and chastity as well as subject their children to DNA tests in reputable London hospitals.
In her statement, Mrs Soludo said Ekwunife’s attacks had crossed the red line by involving her children, adding that she had only known her husband all her life and remained faithful throughout their 33 years of marriage.
She said, “I never met Dr. Mbadinuju of blessed memory in my life. In my 55 years on planet earth, I have known only one man, Chukwuma Soludo. I married him as a virgin and my fidelity to him in 33 years of marriage and for life is ironclad. This may be difficult for an Uche Ekwunife to comprehend.”
But in a swift response, Ekwunife dismissed the challenges and said Mrs Soludo should direct her explanations to her husband, not her.
She said, “Mrs Nonye Soludo doesn’t owe me explanations on her chastity or her children’s paternity. She owes her husband those explanations. If Soludo demands a DNA test, let her go ahead and do it with her full chest. Why drag me into her personal and family affairs?”
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