SOLUDO: THE VENOMOUS CLAMOUR OF A JEALOUS MAN (1).

COSMAS UZODINMA

Soludo, Obi and I were school mates. Other Great Lions of the time were Tunde Lemo, Onoise Osunbor, Arunma Oteh, Nnamdi Asomugha, Chuba Keshi, Clem Nze, Willam Azu, Udenta O Udenta etc.Another great mind was Johnny Asuzu. Please where is Johnny Asuzu? We met Frank Nneji of ABC who was a year earlier than us and Oby Ezekwesili met us a year later.

It was a very glorious period in Nsukka in those days and the intellectual excitement was high. But there were quite some that were rabble rousers and Soludo was leading that pack. First Class, yes, but academic first class could never be First Class in common sense. Today he has shown himself as the Okonkwo of “Things Fall Apart.” That kind of man that is so driven by hubris and severe character flaws that he could kill “Ikemefuna.” Ikemefuna even though he was a sacrificial lamb was kept under Okonkwo’s custody.

Ikemefuna dined with Okonkwo’s household, ran errands like Okonkwo’s children, shared folktales, blended in, bonded and called Okonkwo father, the way Obi called Soludo “Brother.” Okonkwo was so delighted at the development of his son Nwoye and gave the credit to Ikemefuna. But when the time for his slaughter came, Ogbuefi Ezeudu, brave and wise, called to caution Okonkwo, warning, “That boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in his death.”

He was picked up and set among some fierce men. As they walked the bush path, he looked back saw “his father” Okonkwo and regained confidence after a spell of gnawing fear. Soon, the executioner, marching behind him, cleared his throat, drew up his matchet, raised it and struck Ikemefuna. “My father, they have killed me,” Ikemefuna screamed, as he launched towards Okonkwo for safety. But Okonkwo drew his matchet and cut him down. So it is with Soludo. Soludo is so obsessed with the self, and could deal a fatal blow to even his blood relations to irrigate his ego.

Soludo, has never set up and run any establishment successfully. At a time he and some friends set up the African Initiative for Applied Economics (AIAE). Most of the ideas that brought him to lime light were produced by this team at the centre. But no sooner had he achieved limelight that his ego took the better part of him. He frustrated the people out and the centre collapsed. He later revived the place and changed the name to Heritage Centre and, like everything he put his hand at, the centre has become a cold ash.

Where are the microfinance banks which Soludo midwifed as CBN governor? Gone with the wind! Because they were not thought through. His banking reform became a farce. A couple of smart alecks took advantage of his ignorance and hid their contingent liabilities. The off balance sheet items. But when Sanusi Lamido Sanusi took over as the CBN governor, he discovered the mess he left behind. This is why, of all the accusations that Sanusi Lamido Sanusi levelled against him, Soludo cowardly bulked. He only specializes in picking on soft targets.

Soludo had thought that the present administration would give him a place around the master’s table, and took up the hatchet against Goodluck Jonathan. The next, was Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to rubbish her when he noticed her rising international profile. The rest is history. Okonjo-Iweala is today the Director-General of the World Trade Organization.

Peter Obi is just the latest in his venomous parade. Obi is no match for Soludo everyone knows. A successful business man. Chairman of a successful bank that soared above Soludo’s flawed banking reforms. Defeated Soludo in the governorship contest that matched both of them. The most successful Governor Nigeria has ever produced. Acknowledged by even international organization like Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Upon dropping the mantle, the Goodluck Jonathan administration (not APGA) extended a Macedonian call to him to come and help out at the federal level.

The way Soludo boasted about his National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) then, one would have expected that upon becoming a governor he would dust it up and apply it to his state. As it has turned out, it was just a mere contraption cobbled up perhaps for the money that he could get from it.

I recall when Prof Jerry Gana organized the first Democracy day lecture in which Soludo addressed the crème de la crème of Abuja residents and diplomats at the ECOWAS Secretariat. I had been so intrigued by the way a man I considered a classmate and a first class material had been hyped. I abandoned many important things that day to go and listen to him. I was full of expectations. ECOWAS conference hall was filled to the brim with the Abuja high society. As he took his stand and began to speak, I was flattened. There was nothing special. At best he sounded like a high school grad. It was empty, drab, and energy sapping. People were yawning and sleeping off all through. That was the last I heard of the lectures.

Soludo displayed the basic character of the “mob.” Unfortunately by his age, learning and social standing he has become the worst example of the despicable act he condemned. A simple search has shown that Soludo lied that Anambra poverty index grew from less than 25% in 2005 to about 53% under Peter Obi in 2010/2011 but fell under Willie Obiano to 14.78% in 2020. The truth is there was no such statistics in most of the South East except, Ebonyi.

Soludo calls himself an economist and took swipes at a government that left money in the coffers. His words “Governments exist to save lives, not to save money.” Pray, how can you save lives without saving money? People keep money in banks just in case eventualties arise. Obi even said that these were for ongoing projects at the time he left and he hoped the money he left would be used to pay off contractors. Secondly, at least the Governor of Taraba has told how Obiano told him that he built the airport with the money Obi left. That is nobility.

Soludo took a swipe at Obi for being in office at a time of oil boom. He blind-sighted the fact that Anambra is not an oil producing state and thus could have benefitted only marginally from the so called oil boom. Even more, he forgot his own Achilles heel here. His so called building up of foreign reserve was also because it was the same effect and after effect of the oil boom. Moreover Okonjo-Iweala presided over the forgiveness of Nigerians debt at the period. That was why Soludo didn’t have much to pay for.

Accordingly, Soludo boasted to know when/how it is appropriate to “save” as I built Nigeria’s foreign reserves from $10 billion I inherited to an all-time high of $63 billion. I still left behind about $45 billion. First Soludo is not a Presidential candidate and the contest is not between him and Obi. This is plain unbridled megalomaniac. The last time I checked, Obi dusted him in the governorship elections.

To be continued.