AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State has described as false the allegation that he took $28 million bribe to blackmail Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of Labour Party.
Soludo refuted the allegation in an interview with journalists at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Awka, the Anambra State capital after the Thanksgiving mass organised in commemoration of the 70th birth anniversary of Most Rev. Paulinus C. Ezeokafor.
Soludo said that “If I had truly received $28 million to blackmail my brother, Peter Obi, I should be extremely wealthy as of today.
“For those forging blackmail and all that, including the one they said I collected bribe to say what I said, I asked them to bring it so I will use it to construct roads for Anambra people. If Soludo is into bribery, I would have been a multi-trillionaire now.
“Today is very special. When we came into the service, it was the first time, Obi and I are meeting at a public event and in a Catholic Church which the two of us belong to. I think it was divine.
“When I came in, I quickly went to where he sat and hugged him. People watched with bewilderment as if it was a drama, asking if it was not the same people quarrelling.”
Soludo said that his comment on Obi was purely political, explaining that he spoke with Obi twice the previous night.
Soludo stressed, “There is no rift between Obi and me at a personal level. Nobody snatched each other’s wife. What appears to be the rift between us is fundamental political differences. Nothing else.
“On the fundamental differences we have, we are going to meet in the next few weeks. We’ve agreed to discuss and iron out our differences.”
