Anambra lawmaker denies taking N50m bribe to join APC, predicts Soludo may lose November poll

By Ifeizu Joe

The lawmaker representing Nnewi North State constituency in the Anambra House of Assembly, Hon. Augustine Onyekachukwu Ike has said that Soludo may not win re-election as second term governor of Anambra State in the forthcoming governorship election.

The lawmaker who was accused of collecting N50 million from Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu to decamp to APC also denied the allegation.

The former YPP lawmaker recently moved to APC. In a press interview with journalists in his constituency office in Nnewi he insisted that anything is possible in the November 8 governorship election in the state, and that nothing would happen if Governor Chukwuma Soludo lost the election.

He said the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) stood a better chance to replace Soludo, who he described as not having performed to creditably.

He said: “I want to tell the governor that he who thinks he is standing should be careful, lest he falls. Anything is possible in the November election. If Soludo losses, he won’t be the first incumbent to lose.

“We had Mbadinuju who was a one term governor. We even had a one term governor in Lagos State. So if we can have a one term governor in Lagos, anything is possible in Anambra. If I were a voter, I will vote not looking at credentials, but I will be looking at the peace and security of all men, and the level of development in the state.”

On the allegation that he collected N50 million from Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu to decamp to APC, the lawmaker demanded proof from those peddling the rumour.

He said: “This is not the first time they are bringing up allegations like this, but I want to ask them to present proof that I collected money. When I joined APGA, such rumours was everywhere, but I want to ask the governor; if he could not give me money to join his party, why does he think anyone else gave me money?

Speaking on the reason crisis in the House of Assembly that led to the suspension of a lawmaker from Ayamelum Constituency, Hon. Bernard Udemezue, Ike said the leadership of the house mismanaged the crisis. He also credited the stiff opposition the governor is experiencing today as the handiwork of the suspended lawmaker, who has been releasing several allegations against the house leadership and the governor.

“If I was the speaker the matter would not have escalated. You people met the matter when it had escalated. It first started with deprivation and then agitation that should have been quelled at the early stage, but they did not because they felt the lawmaker can not do anything.

“But let me tell you, it is the agitations of the lawmaker that has made Soludo to sit up today. Before now, they thought there was no election coming and that it was a walk over, but today, they have sat up,” the lawmaker said.