Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, has defended his remark that any politician who promises to serve only one term in office requires a psychiatric evaluation.
Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State has strongly criticised politicians who promise to serve only one term in office, describing such pledges as both deceptive and insulting to voters.
Speaking on Arise TV’s Prime Time, Soludo said such promises amount to political manipulation rather than genuine intent. He noted:
“You see, I said that in the context of the debate going on in my state, in a context where you have established a process of zoning, and somebody wants to cut short that particular zoning
“They come with this sweetener, ‘Oh, if you give me this, and then I will only spend this time.’ They know they were being disingenuous,” Soludo said.
He recalled that in 2017, during his predecessor’s bid for a second term, some politicians attempted to use the same tactic but were overwhelmingly rejected by the people.
“They came with that argument in 2017 when my predecessor was running for a second time. They came here and telling Anambra, or some people promising us, including some people on the terrain today, Anambra people were quick to see through the disingenuity of that kind of promise, and of course, voted massively. The fact is that we won 21 over 21 local governments in that election. Nobody bought that crap, as it were,” he added.
Soludo further noted that with the zoning arrangement already in place—rotating power between the North, South, and Central senatorial districts—some politicians from the South are again making the same “one-term” promise in the build-up to the next election.
“And now again, we are in for another election, and some people are again, imagine in the same state I am from, the South and the North just finished, handed over to the South, and the South will serve its time, and then it will go to central. And now some people from the South senatorial zone are showing up… ‘If you vote for me, I will spend only one term’,” he said.
The governor described such promises as dishonest and insulting to the intelligence of the people.
“Meanwhile, you see the manifesto that they are rolling out. You realise that even if they were to spend 20 years, they wouldn’t even scratch it. I mean, it’s just, I don’t know how to describe it. So you’re just taking the people to be…you’re just playing at the people’s intelligence. You just think everybody is a fool.
“If anybody’s saying that it’s either he is just being deliberately deceitful or there is probably something not working right upstairs to take the entire people of Anambra State as fools… then the person must have a mental issue,” Soludo declared.
He maintained that anyone making such promises is either being deliberately deceitful or unfit to hold office.
