‘You Stole My Economic Plans For Anambra’- Obi Tackles Soludo

A former Governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, has accused Charles Soludo, the All Progressive Grand Alliance gubernatorial candidate of intellectual theft.

Obi who spoke on Arise TV on Tuesday, alleged that Soludo ‘stole’ the economic plans he had designed in his manifesto when he was the governor of the state.

On Monday, Soludo during a gubernatorial debate organised for the three major political party candidates which includes his party, the All Progressive Congress candidate, Andy Ubah and Peoples Democratic party’s Valentine Ozigbo, had revealed his economic agenda to reform the state.

Soludo said among others things, “What we have in our manifesto. We have a full agenda to make Anambra the number one place for ease of doing business.

“The ‘Made in Anambra First Project’ and the Anambra standard is what we are going to promote. My whole agenda to make Anambra, an industrial technology leisure hub of West Africa is a huge thing.”

But Obi claimed that the economic plans he outlined from the manifesto he quoted was drafted by him.

Obi said, “I even heard the APGA candidate [Soludo] say that I did a good work on road, but he was following the [Obi’s] manifesto and APGA programme and I was shocked that thereafter he was talking about his own programme.

“I thought he would have said that he would have gone on with the same APGA programme. But he kept saying my programme, my programme, my programe.

“The reality is that his position [Soludo] on unemployment in Anambra State is correct. Even when it is worse now actually, unemployment in 2012 in Anambra state was about 10 per cent. Now it is 13, so it is actually worse.

“I listened to some of them yesterday talking about industrial parks and attracting people to come back.We rebuilt the industrial parks in Onitsha and [Ex- President Goodluck] Jonathan came there to commission five factories in one day.

“The economy of Anambra State is already private sector led, all they need is to continue to support the private sector.

“What Anambra needs is the continuation of a direction that has already been move when we moved Anambra State from the ‘Home for All’ to ‘Light of the Nation’ and followed it with a clear direction that if anybody had followed, we will have been exemplary today.”

Obi also accused governor Willie Obiano of abandoning the APGA economic plan which he drafted.

Senator Victor Umeh, Former APGA National Chair who spoke for Soludo argued that the debated economic plan and manifesto was handed to Obi by him.

He said that governor Obiano continued with the economic programmes of the former governor and that he completed all the roads Obi flagged off before he left office.

Umeh said, “Obi said that our candidate yesterday claimed he implemented the APGA manifesto, that is correct. Obi cannot deny that on the day he was sworn in, I was the national chairman of APGA and I came to the event where he was sworn in and I presented APGA manifesto to him. He took it from me. I said, Mr Obi please implement this well thought out manifesto and its content and add all that you also have.

“So, he cannot deny that I didn’t give him the APGA manifesto.”