The politics of ego between
former Central Bank
Governor, Chukwuma Soludo,
and Information and
Communications Minister,
Dora Akunyili, got messier on
Monday with the disclosure
by Soludo that she had failed
to persuade the late
President Umaru Yar’Adua to
anoint her the consensus
candidate in the Anambra
State Governorship poll on
February 6.
This is why the woman is
fighting me, he alleged.
Soludo also narrated how
Akunyili and Turai Yar’Adua
fell out after the former
First Lady refused to
influence her husband to
‘anoint’ her the candidate
of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), a ticket 47
people vied for.
A statement issued by
Soludo’s Media Assistant,
Bonaventure Melah, said
Akunyili was the clandestine
“48th aspirant” who did not
have the courage to resign
her job as Minister and face
the people through the
primaries.
“She rather devoted all her
energies to lobbying
(Yar’Adua) to appoint her as
‘the consensus candidate’ –
and there are several
witnesses and evidence to
this fact.
“Since she lost the
nomination to Soludo, she has
never spared any opportunity
to vent her bitterness. Most
politicians know that Dora
has negative electoral value
in Anambra and cannot
‘make’ a Councillor let
alone a legislator.
“Indeed, Dora knows that any
candidate who publicly
associates with her will lose
election in Anambra. To
ascribe to herself any
influence whatsoever in the
making of a Governor smacks
of a huge dose of delusion!”
Soludo said he was reacting
to the “outlandish and
childish accusations”
levelled by Akunyili that his
thugs prevented her from
attending her sister’s
funeral and also followed
her to her father’s village in
Nanka.
She alleged that Soludo was
probably angry with her
because she could not make
him Anambra Governor.
He noted that while her
intention could be her usual
“infantile propaganda,” the
allegations are weighty
enough to warrant a
response.
He said the aspect of
Akunyili’s allegations that
sounded childish was the
futile attempt to link the
Governorship election to her
imaginary threats.
The statement added: “It
should be noted that Dora
Akunyili’s allegations were
made at a ‘press
conference’ called several
days after the burial/
funeral ceremonies.
“Is it not curious that (she)
who attended the burial/
funeral with blaring sirens
and a horde of heavily armed
policemen and SSS (State
Security Service) personnel
would be attacked by ‘thugs’
who also chased her to her
village, and to date, there
has been no formal report of
the incidents or threats in
any police station, and there
was no arrest of any of the
‘thugs’.
“We only read about ‘thugs’
on the pages of newspapers.
Or, was Dora Akunyili
referring to the over 8,000
guests and politicians from
all the 21 local government
areas in Anambra who came
to condole with Soludo as the
PDP flag bearer in Anambra
as thugs?”
Soludo said it is recorded on
tape that Akunyili praised
him in church for taking care
of her sister and announced
that all those who had come
for her and her family would
be entertained at her
father’s compound in Nanka.
“Were the thugs chasing her
before or after the praises
and announcement at the
church service? From the
church, she joined the
thousands of people to walk
all the way to the sister’s
compound and personally
observed the burial.
“After that, she again
personally caused a public
announcement to be made to
the effect that her guests
should follow her to Nanka
(as the custom demands).
“There is a video tape of her
activities, with her
acknowledging greetings
after the burial until she
entered her car. When did
the thugs come in and only
Dora Akunyili (out of the
thousands that attended)
saw them? You can fool some
people some of the time but
never all the people all the
time!”
According to Soludo, what
makes the allegation
laughable is that one of his
major contributions to
Anambra and Nigerian
politics is his insistence on
non-violence and absence of
thuggery.
He said it is on record that
during the Governorship
vote, about 400 thugs were
arrested and none was from
the PDP, which is the new
politics he is spearheading.
“Furthermore, to imagine
that Soludo who was deeply
mourning the death of his
beloved mother- in-law
(whom he described as his
own mother) would organise
thugs to disrupt the funeral
which he personally
organised says volumes
about how far Dora’s fertile
mind could go in concocting
imaginary threats.
“Anyway, Nigerians are used
to the crocodile tears and
faked threats – all in
attempts to woo public
sympathy. Dora is taking her
propagandist skills rather
too far!”
Soludo alleged that Akunyili
knows more than she is
willing to tell the public,
knows about her age-long
quarrels “as usual” with
members of her family and
her elder sister.
He said her age-long
quarrels with her late sister
are also public knowledge,
and that her late sister
personally told her stories to
lots of people in Anambra
several years back.
“They had nothing to do with
neither Soludo nor the 2010
elections. Dora did not talk
about her desperate attempts
to disrupt the burial/funeral
by attempting to organise a
parallel funeral site beside
her sister’s compound
(which is an abomination).
“She did not talk about the
fact that the traditional
ruler, the community and her
own kindred resisted her
abominable act, reported in
Tribune and Daily
Independent on July 17.”
Soludo said he is aware that
“she decided to concoct the
stories and go on the
offensive after the
newspaper reports clearly
indicted her.
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