There’s actually no rivalry between the duo of Peter Obi and Chukwuma Soludo. Their lives and trajectories have travelled through different tangents. Prof. Soludo is currently first term governor of Anambra State. Obi sat on the same seat over a decade ago.
But keen observers of these two prominent Anambra men will easily conjecture that Soludo is suffering from what one would want to describe as THE OBI COMPLEX or TRAUMA.
Going by Soludo’s numerous unwarranted and juvenile public vituperations, he probably thinks he’s superior to Obi and, therefore, obi must seek his permission even before he visits the loo!
On several occasions in the last couple of years, Soludo has made inaccurate and, indeed, injurious public statements about Peter Obi. Soludo is obviously deeply troubled that Obi did not only step up to run for the presidency of Nigeria, but that he has enjoyed enormous national acceptance.
In Soludo’s godhead wisdom, no Igbo man should aspire to be president until he, Soludo, is ready.
Obi is not the immediate past governor of Anambra but Soludo seems to derive an especial joy pillorying Obi and discussing his ‘misdeeds’ as governor.
Soludo’s last instalment just yesterday is to join the band of Obi’s political opponents to shoot him down for speaking up about the woes and tribulations that have beset Nigeria under the Tinubu/APC era.
What manner of man joins the mob outside to traduce his own brother? Igbo has a vile name for a fellow who points to his father’s house with the left hand. We shall refrain from calling Soludo that name here lest we be like him.
The way Soludo carries on, you would wonder whether he’s governor of Anambra or Obi.
Let it be said that Soludo has been a poor governor so far. We have already recorded him as a loquacious, bombastic and all-knowing fellow. Some of his aides call him eze onye agwala m (the all-knowing king who listens to no counsel).
During electioneering, he promised to morph Anambra into Dubai; as if he has some kind of magic wand. But Anambra has become more wretched under his watch. For one, it’s dirtier. I have just visited.
He is facing reelection in a few months. He will fail woefully if the process is free and transparent. But we can already see motorpark tactics being put in place to suborn the election.
If only Soludo would address his mind a little more to running Anambra, maybe he can still redeem himself and perhaps measure up a bit to Obi’s tenure and stature.
Soludo seems like a man traumatized by a mammoth opponent. But Obi is by no means in contention with Soludo. Soludo must therefore remove himself from the prism of Obi’s shadow in which he seems to spend much time scurrying about.
Soludo must cure himself of the acute psychological condition we want to call The OBI TRAUMA. Two brothers can actually be great together…
*Osuji was editor at The Guardian and Thisday. He can be reached at steve.osuji@gmail.com.
