An old video of Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo discussing the record of his predecessor, Peter Obi, has resurfaced online, sparking renewed debate over Obi’s tenure as governor and Soludo’s subsequent comments about his administration.
The footage, recorded during the 2021 Anambra governorship campaign, features Soludo, who was then the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship candidate, speaking about Obi’s administration and highlighting economic and infrastructure-related indicators.
In the video, Soludo said Obi “did relatively well as an APGA governor” while specifically referencing road construction during his tenure.
Soludo also discussed poverty and unemployment figures attributed to Anambra State, saying: “Anambra State had poverty rate decline from 53% to 14.8% under Peter Obi. Anambra State had the lowest unemployment in Nigeria at 13%.”
The video has resurfaced amid renewed online discussions about Obi’s performance as governor, particularly against the backdrop of Soludo’s later criticisms of some aspects of his predecessor’s record.
However, the statistics cited in the video have been the subject of competing interpretations.
In an explanation reported in 2022, Soludo said he was referring to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). He explained that Anambra’s poverty rate had risen from below 25 per cent in 2005 to about 53 per cent around 2010/2011, before falling to 14.78 per cent in 2020 during the administration of Willie Obiano.
The distinction has become central to subsequent discussions over which administration should be credited for the change reflected in the poverty figures.
Soludo also later criticised aspects of Obi’s record, particularly the value of investments associated with his administration. During a November 2022 interview with Channels Television, Soludo said the investments he had seen were “worth next to nothing.”
Obi subsequently responded to the criticism, describing Soludo as his brother and saying that he had done his “little” as governor while encouraging the incumbent governor to build on what had been achieved before him.
The resurfaced video has therefore prompted fresh reactions online, with supporters of Obi drawing attention to Soludo’s earlier assessment of his predecessor, while others have highlighted the context surrounding the economic statistics and Soludo’s later statements.
The renewed discussion reflects the continuing public interest in the records of successive administrations in Anambra State, as political conversations surrounding Obi, Soludo and the state’s governance history remain prominent ahead of the 2027 political cycle.