Anambra governor’s wife rejects Peter Obi’s claim about children’s godparents

Nonye Soludo, wife of Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo, has rejected Peter Obi’s claim that he and his wife are godparents to the governor’s children. Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress, made the claim on Friday while speaking at the Nigerian Guild of Editors’ conference in Enugu. He said he and his wife were godparents to Soludo’s children and remained close to the governor despite their political disagreements.

In a statement issued on Saturday through her media aide, Dan Ezeigwe, Mrs Soludo described the claim as false. She said the clarification followed calls from people seeking to establish the position of the family. She stated that Obi was not a godfather to any of the children of Charles and Nonye Soludo.

She added that she was a confirmation godmother to Obi’s daughter, while Obi’s wife, Margaret, was the baptismal godmother to one of the Soludos’ daughters. Mrs Soludo said neither Obi nor Soludo had served as godparent to the other’s children, apart from the role played by Obi’s wife. The statement did not address the wider political dispute between the two men beyond correcting the claim.

Obi and Soludo have recently exchanged criticism over Anambra’s debts. Obi has said he left office without debt and saved more than $150 million, while the Anambra government has cited eight external loans worth $123.7 million, with $92.35 million outstanding. The supplied material does not independently resolve the competing claims about the state’s finances.