Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State and the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, have resumed their war of words over Mr Obi’s pledge to serve for one term if elected Nigeria’s president in 2027.
How it started
On 29 June 2025, Mr Obi declared his intention to contest in the 2027 presidential election in Nigeria.
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The LP candidate, who served as governor of Anambra State from 2006 to 2014, pledged to serve for a four-year tenure if elected the country’s president in 2027.
In Nigeria, elected presidents are constitutionally entitled to a four-year tenure and also are also qualified to seek reelection for a second and final term.
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In response, Mr Soludo, a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, argued politicians who make such promises are mentally unstable.
The governor spoke on Saturday during a political rally held in Anambra South District in support of his second-term ambition.
Although he did not mention names, Mr Soludo was apparently referring to Mr Obi.
“How can anybody with a brain…You think you are talking to fools. You come to people and say, ‘I’ll do only one term.’
“Anybody, any politician who said that, must be sent to a psychiatric home,” he said.
The Anambra governor argued that, given that the country’s constitution allows for a second term, pledging to serve for one term is strange.
“Tell us where it has ever happened or who. Anybody who is saying this needs a psychiatric examination because you are taking every one of us to be a fool,” he stated.
Mr Obi speaks
In a statement posted on his official Facebook page on Sunday, Mr Obi, reaffirmed his vow to serve only one four-year term if elected Nigeria’s president.
The LP candidate, without mentioning names, acknowledged cynicism of some Nigerians including Mr Soludo towards his one term pledge.
“Recently, I became aware of two statements aimed, albeit indirectly, at my vow to serve only a single four-year term.
“One person remarked that even if I swore by a shrine, I still wouldn’t be believed. Another suggested that anyone talking about doing only one term should undergo psychiatric evaluation,” he said.
Mr Obi said their scepticism was because they were judging him by their own standards – where political promises are made to be broken.
“But they forget, or perhaps choose to ignore, that Peter Obi is not cut from that cloth,” he stated.
Responding to Mr Soludo’s comments, the former governor said: “If making such a (one term in office) promise qualifies me for psychiatric evaluation, then we may as well question the mental fitness of those who framed our constitution, which clearly stipulates a four-year renewable tenure.”
Not the first time
This is not the first time Messrs Obi and Soludo would engage in a war of words.
In late 2022, Mr Soludo predicted that Mr Obi would not win the 2023 presidential election, citing “lack of political structure” and poor voting strength of the South-east, where the LP candidate hails from.
The Anambra governor also claimed the value of investments made by Mr Obi while he was the governor of the state was “worth next to nothing.”
But responding days later, Mr Obi said although investments are bound to go up and down, a company where he made some of the investments as governor was still in business and has provided job opportunities to several residents of the state.
“I have done my little own as a trader, now the professor is there. He will do his own as a professor. The schools I didn’t roof, he will roof them. That’s how government goes,” the LP candidate had added.
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