Anambra Guber: Soludos, Ekwunife Engage in Politics of Gossip

David-Chyddy Eleke takes a look at the recent politics of gossip engaged in by Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, his wife and opposition politicians as campaigns intensify ahead of the November 8, 2025 gubernatorial election in the state.

As the Anambra State governorship election date draws near, the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and governor of the state, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo seems to be firing from all cylinders, as he tackles his opponents and promotes his re-election bid. 

From the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu to his running mate, Senator Uche Ekwunife and also the candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Mr Paul Chukwuma, Soludo seems to be out for them all and has thrown soft jabs at them all. Some of these attacks rather created a sort of comic relief for the politically tensed atmosphere that hangs over the state.

Attacking Ukachukwu and his running mate during the inauguration of his party’s campaign council, Soludo dwelt on their educational qualifications, describing them as poor and fake respectively. 

For Ukachukwu, Soludo tore into Ukachukwu’s academic records, alleging that the APC candidate “crawled out of school with F9 in Economics, F9 in Mathematics, and F9 in English” — subjects he described as the backbone of leadership.

“How will a man who failed English understand official documents? How will he calculate Anambra’s money when he failed Mathematics? Such a person should be driving a tipper, not dreaming of becoming governor of a state that produced Chinua Achebe, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ojukwu, Alex Ekwueme, Chuba Okadigbo and other great icons,” Soludo thundered, drawing wild cheers from party loyalists.

For his running mate, Ekwunife, Soludo said she was parading a fake PhD degree, adding that it amounted to deceiving the young ones who may be made to believe that every university degree was purchaceable.

The governor added that there was a lot of work to be done in Anambra, and that he will not shy away from them, including restoring morality as could be seen in the war against fake native doctors who promise wealth without work. He said after the election, he will face certificate forgers.

Soludo said: “INEC has a column where if you are filing your (governorship) form, you fill your qualifications, but the running mate to this candidate wrote that (s)he had a school cert, and a PhD. What it means is that (s)he does not have a diploma, a degree or a masters degree, but jumped to present a PhD, that is wrong. Some people have taken it upon themselves to find out where the PhD was gotten and it turned out to be fake. It is from a fake institution, those kind of institution where if you pay, you get it. Some charge even 60 dollars and they give it to you.

“Let me say that, that university has no accreditation in the US and not recognized by the National Universities Commission. The running mate should have written that (s)he has just a school certificate and backed it up with a court affidavit and it would have been okay. How can someone have a school certificate and from there they present a PhD from no where? Let me tell you, after November 8 election, we will declare war on fake certificate holders. After our war on fake native doctors, our next move is to go after fake certificate holders. It confuses the children. If that (PhD) is what you want, you sit down and work for it, not going to get fake certificates. They are deceiving our children. We cannot let that to continue to happen. The work we have to do in Anambra to sanitize the state is much and we will not shy away from it,” the governor declared.

In the same vein, Soludo took on the YPP candidate, Mr Paul Chukwuma. The governor had visited Chukwuma’s community, Umueri for the new yam festival, when he threw a joke at him. He said: “Paul Chukwuma your son is my friend. He used to visit me, maybe it was in the process of that visit that he saw the governor’s seat and fell in love with it and decided to contest for governor. He saw the chair and said he likes it and I told him it is not his turn yet. This thing is turn by turn. His zone, Anambra North just finished their eight years term and handed over to me. I know what he is doing, he is merely creating awareness, so that when it gets to Anambra North again, he would have become popular.

“He was the first person to paste posters everywhere, but we know he is only seeking popularity ahead of time. That was why he moved around a little and kept back his money. I told him, my friend, go and keep your money and use it to train your children, don’t waste it for nothing because you’re not going anywhere. He is not contesting,”  Soludo joked.

There are however divergent views about these jokes by the governor. While some political watchers in the state see these comments as petty, others now see it as a sort of comic relief for the tensed atmosphere. On the other hand, the candidates targeted are not taking these banters as jocularly remarks. They insist that the issues about the governorship should be about what each of the candidates can bring to the table to further the cause of Anambra.

Paul Chukwuma was first to reply to Soludo. He urged him to join market women if he felt like gossiping. “If Soludo enjoys trading insults, he should go to the market where women sell pepper and ogiri (local seasoning) to perfect the act. We are here in Anambra and do not have electricity power. Power is no longer in the exclusive list, but has been put in the concurrent list, where both the state and federal government can legislate on it. So, what is stoping Soludo from giving us steady power? I have visited Prof Bart Nnaji’s Geometric Power in Aba. I have asked questions, I have also been in China. Within three months I will give Anambra people steady power. That is what we should be debating,” Chukwuma said.

While Ukachukwu kept mute about the jabs by the governor at him, the exchanges that has set the social media space on fire are the reply by Ekwunife to Soludo, which inadvertently attacked his wife too, causing her to react. In Ekwunife’s reply to Soludo, she took a swipe at him, accusing him of poor hygiene as a governor. She went further to defend her academic qualifications: “University of Calabar where I got my first degree is not far from here, you can go there and enquire. You can also enquire from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, which is just a stone throw, where I got my masters degree.”

The real problem however was towards the end of the video she made in reply, where she inferred that Soludo’s wife worked with former governor, Dr Chinwoke Mbadinuju and also suggested that both may have had an amorous relationship. In another leaked voice note, Ekwunife also revealed that she was ready to fabricate more dangerous stories against the wife of the governor if her husband continued to attack her. This may have infuriated the wife of the governor, Mrs Nonye Soludo who is widely known in the state as calm and homely woman. She issued a statement accusing Ekwunife of crossing the red line, while also jumping in the fray with a lot of challenges at the former senator.

Part of Mrs Soludo’s message read: “Two days ago, I posted a terse remark in response to the barrage of fabricated inanities from Uche Ekwunife in her incoherent response to my husband’s legitimate questions about her questionable PhD and inadequate GCE result, noting that I would not condescend to her low level. I remarked that one should not exchange words with a madman because passersby may not know the difference. However, when the “madman” is determined to kill/destroy—as she boasted in her viral audio that she would fabricate outlandish lies to destroy my family, we are constrained to respond.”

Defending her fidelity, Mrs Soludo revealed that she was married as a virgin and has all through her over 30 years of marriage remained faithful to her husband and never known another man. She challenged Ekwunife to make the same vow if she hadn’t been sleeping around. Also, irked by rumours making the round about she and Mbadinuju, which prompted the surfacing of AI pictures of she and the former governor in compromising  position, which many suggesting that the late former governor may have fathered one of her children, Mrs Soludo stated that she was ready for a DNA test for all her children, and challenged Ekwunife to same.

“In all my life, I have lived an incredibly quiet family life, shunning publicity. One of the reasons I hate politics is precisely the kind of shameless obscenities from Uche Ekwunife in the name of “politics.” Let me repeat three verifiable facts. One, I have never worked for anyone in my life. I have been a professional and entrepreneur all my adult life—running my own companies in Nigeria and abroad. Even when my husband was governor of the central bank and now as the first lady of Anambra, I have never depended upon public funds. Two, I never met Dr. Mbadinuju of blessed memory in my life. Three, in my 55 years on planet earth, I have known only one man, Chukwuma Soludo. I married him as a virgin and my fidelity to him in 33 years of marriage and for life is ironclad. This may be difficult for an Uche Ekwunife to comprehend.

“I challenge Ekwunife for both of us to swear an oath of fidelity and chastity at any Cathedral in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I will swear (with my children) that in my 55 years on earth, I have known only one man—Chukwuma Soludo. On your part, you should also swear (with your children or your political ambitions) that since you got married, you have never cheated on your husband. Let us do this between now and mid October 2025. I challenge you, Uche Ekwunife, for us to subject our children to paternity tests. Science has made life easy and there are things you cannot lie about nowadays. To avoid any stories in Nigerian hospitals, let us do it in three reputable hospitals in London. You and your family are often in London. But I will pay the expenses. As a businesswoman, I will pay for you and your family’s travels as well as for the tests. If after the tests it is confirmed that your husband is the father of all your children, I will congratulate you with a cash award. I can confirm that my family is ready for this test any moment of your choice, preferably between now and end of October/November 2025,” she challenged.

While many look forward to hearing the outcome of the challenge, whether accepted or rejected, some Anambra people have begun calling for ceasefire from both women, insisting that politics should be played within its rules. As these continue, the November 8, 2025 governorship election is fast approaching, and it is still left to be seen how these attacks will shape the voting pattern of Anambra people.

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