Backing Tinubu won’t make Soludo more popular than Obi, says Senator Umeh [VIDEO]

By Anuoluwa Amao

Senator Victor Umeh says Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo cannot match Peter Obi’s popularity, whoever he supports and whatever he does.

Umeh, who represents Anambra Central, made the remark on Tuesday night, October 27, on Channels Television’s Politics Today. He was reacting to Soludo’s decision to back President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid and urge South-East voters not to vote for Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

“Today, no matter what Soludo does, Peter Obi will continue to be more popular than him, both in Nigeria and in Anambra State,” Umeh said.

READ ALSO; Obi-Kwankwaso Campaign: Inside the power struggle between NDC and OK movement

He predicted that Soludo’s endorsement of Tinubu would not turn Anambra voters away from Obi. He said 2027 would repeat 2023 in the South-East, when he said Obi beat the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra with over 90 per cent of the vote. He called Obi “a rockstar” in the state.

Umeh also accused Soludo of chasing Obi’s political record out of envy and hatred. He said the two men and Obi attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, together between 1980 and 1984, and suggested that shared history fuels peer rivalry.

The exchange follows weeks of public sparring. Soludo has disputed claims that Obi, who governed Anambra from 2006 to 2014, left the state debt-free, and has accused him of owing salaries and failing to repay loans during his tenure.

Umeh went further and claimed Obi truly won the 2023 presidential election, saying a free and fair vote today would declare him the winner. The Independent National Electoral Commission declared Tinubu the winner of that election, and Umeh’s claims are his own opinion, not established fact.