The political feud between the camp of former Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi, and the administration of Governor Chukwuma Soludo has escalated dramatically following a sharp counterpoint from Obi’s Media Adviser, Mr Idris Zekeri Jnr., Spokesman, Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR).

Reacting to a publication emanating from the state’s ruling circle urging the Anambra electorate to reject Obi and the opposition, the media office dismissed the move with heavy scorn. Citing traditional Igbo philosophy—adighi ibua ayi ara (you do not join a mad person in the public square)—the camp maintained they chose silence over a full-scale exchange to avoid dignifying what they termed institutional absurdity.

Lifting the lid on internal dysfunction within the state’s leadership, Zekeri revealed that insiders in the administration had recently lamented that Governor Soludo spends half of executive council (EXCO) meetings obsessing over Peter Obi, treating his fixation on Obi as more vital than pressing state matters.

Adding a searing punchline, Zekeri remarked that if the governor’s obsession borders on clinical psychosis, stakeholders should promptly advise him to seek professional psychological aid rather than dragging the entire state into his mental fixations.

The statement lamented that as his obsession becomes magnified, the state is falling apart. Citing a recent meeting held in Port Harcourt, he pointed out that the National emergency agency explicitly noted that Anambra only truly had it good under Obi, managing disasters and public safety with utmost competence.

They were talking about the state’s preparedness for the recent flood that took lives in the state. “The only reason they gave to justify what the flood destroyed was that NIMET announced the impending flood, after they failed to follow the preemptive NINET prescribed.”

He recalled that as Governor, Obi uniquely engaged the UN-Habitat to formulate comprehensive master and structure plans for the state’s major cities, rigorously implementing them to the extent that by 2010, Onitsha was globally recognised among the fastest-growing cities in the world. Yet, rather than building on such visionary foundations, Soludo has completely abandoned these structural frameworks, choosing instead to focus his energy on petty political planning against Obi.

Zekeri further alleged that the state administration recently mobilised a cyber-army of over 500 internet trolls dedicated solely to attacking Peter Obi, with recruits supposedly promised the right to nominate cronies for state engagement, scaling the network up to 1,000 operatives based on hit-piece performance.

The Obi camp slammed the strategy as a gross misallocation of state resources, lamenting that public funds are being aggressively funnelled into digital vandalism while governance issues pile up.

Pre-empting what they described as a predictable scapegoating script, the media office stated they were putting the administration on formal record so officials could not tomorrow claim Peter Obi was the phantom distraction keeping them from working.

“Instead of obsessing over Obi, the governor should use those hours to tour Anambra and see how state funds are being wasted on roads that crumble while construction is still ongoing,” the statement fired.

Pointing to massive grassroots receptions—such as the large turnouts at the Nnewi Cathedral and the coronation of the Igwe of Adazi-Ani—the camp challenged the administration to read the political room, stressing that no amount of propaganda can erase the deep-seated bond between Ndigbo and Peter Obi.

Against this backdrop, Zekeri formally called on Anambra elders, religious leaders, traditional rulers, and key stakeholders to urgently call Governor Soludo to order, advising him to face the pressing issues of governance and stop self-destructing through needless distractions.

Tearing into the state’s economic scorecard, the media office contrasted Soludo’s administration with the benchmarks established during Obi’s tenure, highlighting independent indices like the Phillips Consulting State Performance Index, where Anambra has nosedived from 1st position during Obi’s era down to 27th position under the current watch.

The statement underscored that while Obi operated on a lean average federal allocation of about 3 billion monthly, Soludo now commands a combined allocation of roughly ₦25 billion monthly – meaning the current government receives in just two months what Obi managed in an entire year.

“Anambra people are aware that his Commissioner for Finance was his houseboy. Why would things not go wrong?”

The camp queried why higher institutions have not seen a single new building erected or positive intervention directed to schools since Obi left office, with recent NECO results showing the state slipping back down from previous historic highs.

Lamenting that the state is allegedly being branded one of the dirtiest in the country while ecological erosion ravages communities with zero effective combat, the statement concluded that when a leadership facing monumental challenges chooses obsession with an individual over governance, something is seriously wrong.

Suspected bandits have allegedly kidnapped 18 students from Oyo State travelling from Sokoto State to their hometowns in Oke-Ogun, after attacking their chartered bus and killing the driver, sources familiar with the incident have said.

The students, who were travelling from Gamji College of Health Technology, Sokoto, were reportedly intercepted by the assailants along the route to Oyo State within the past 48 hours.

The abductors were said to have moved the victims towards the Mokwa axis.

The development has raised fresh concerns over the safety of students travelling between states, particularly along routes where commuters have repeatedly faced attacks and abductions.

An Oke-Ogun youth leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the incident, clarifying that the victims were students of Gamji College of Health Technology and not Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, as earlier reported.

“Sadly, the unfortunate incident is being confirmed by me because I’m from Oke-Ogun too, and our people have confirmed that it truly happened in the past 48 hours,” the youth leader said.

He explained that the students were travelling in a chartered bus from their institution in Sokoto to Oke-Ogun, with Igboho as their specific destination.

“But it wasn’t a bus conveying UDUS students. It was a bus taking students from Gamji College of Health Technology, Sokoto, to Oke-Ogun, Igboho to be precise,” he said.

According to him, the attackers killed the driver before taking the students away.

“The driver was killed and all the students were kidnapped. They have reached the Mokwa side,” he said.

The youth leader further disclosed that the driver’s remains had been buried.

“The driver was killed at the scene and his remains were buried on Saturday,” he said.

Other sources familiar with the incident said the number of abducted students could be as many as 18.

The sources said the students were travelling in a chartered bus arranged by their school to convey them to their respective hometowns in Oyo State when the vehicle was intercepted by the assailants.

They were reportedly taken away by the attackers after the driver was killed.

The latest incident comes barely days after 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps members were reportedly abducted by gunmen in Imo State.

The victims were travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when gunmen reportedly attacked their two buses along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Umunoha, Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State.

Efforts to obtain further information from the Oyo State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Olayinka Ayanlade, proved abortive, as he had not responded to messages sent to him as of the time of filing this report.