Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo took aim at former governor and Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi while celebrating his party’s victories in Saturday’s by-elections.
The governor’s comments came after Obi had endorsed candidates from the opposition African Democratic Congress, citing internal crises within the Labour Party.
Obi had publicly supported ADC candidates on his social media platforms, urging his followers to vote for them. However, his endorsement failed to translate into electoral success.
The Independent National Electoral Commission declared APGA’s Emmanuel Nwachukwu winner of the Anambra South Senatorial District with 90,408 votes, defeating APC’s Azuka Okwuosa (19,847 votes) and ADC’s Donald Amangbo (2,889 votes). Nwachukwu will replace the late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, who died in July 2024.
APGA also secured victory in the Onitsha North Constituency 1 State Assembly seat, with Ifeoma Azikiwe emerging winner.
At a Sunday event in Nanka, Soludo seized the opportunity to taunt Obi and declare the opposition parties irrelevant in Anambra politics. “ADC does not exist in Anambra. We showed it yesterday (Saturday). Labour Party is dead,” Soludo stated.
The governor framed the election as a test of the opposition’s strength that backfired spectacularly. “They wanted to use it as a test case for the new concoction called ADC in Anambra, but that election was won by APGA; we won with about 77 per cent, a very emphatic statement,” Soludo said.
He highlighted the opposition’s coordinated effort, noting: “The senator representing the zone came. The senator representing Anambra Central threw himself into the ring. Members of the House of Representatives threw themselves into the ring. It looked like this was an allied force. Who were they coming against? The people. But the people of Anambra spoke.”
With the November 8, 2025 governorship election approaching, Soludo used the by-election results to bolster his re-election campaign, declaring APGA as the dominant political force in the state.
“The signal we sent was that both ADC and Labour Party are dead in Anambra,” he concluded, dismissing Obi’s influence despite the former governor’s active campaigning in his home constituency of Onitsha North.
