Valentine Ozigbo, business leaders and leading contender in the upcoming Anambra 2025 governorship race has described Governor Soludo’s three-year record as “a glaring theatre of missed priorities, misplaced ambitions and media optics masquerading as progress.
Ozigbo, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) queried the wisdom of showcasing projects such as an amusement park — dubbed Solution FunCity — while essential public needs remain ignored.
“Governance is not a film trick. “Governance is not about cutting ribbons on facades while the foundation rots.”
Among the projects commissioned were a new Government House, the aforementioned amusement park, and the Emeka Anyaoku Institute for International Studies and Diplomacy at Nnamdi Azikiwe University.
To Ozigbo, they are monuments to image management rather than substantive development.
“In over three years in office, Governor Soludo has delivered zero public housing, zero real investment inflow, and zero structural transformation of our economy,” he charged.
He reserved particular scorn for the amusement park. “This facility should rightly have been left to private investors in a healthy economic climate. What critical social problem does this park solve? Hunger? Unemployment? Fear?”
Ozigbo went further, describing the commissioning as an “act of political cowardice” after reports surfaced that APGA members were instructed not to wear party-branded clothing to the event — allegedly to avoid negative optics before the President.
“What a betrayal,” he wrote. “If your policies are strong and your house is in order, why hide your colours?”
The statement read in part: “Let us be clear: Governance is not a film trick. Governance is not about cutting ribbons on facades while the foundation rots.
“In over three years in office, Governor Soludo has delivered zero public housing, zero real investment inflow, and zero structural transformation of our economy.
“Instead of addressing the escalating cost of living, the housing crisis in Awka, the crumbling infrastructure across LGAs, or the deepening insecurity that has made daily life a gamble, the Governor has chosen to showcase an amusement park. This facility should rightly have been left to private investors in a healthy economic climate.
“Just to be clear, most civil servants in Awka — the same people whose taxes fund this carnival — cannot afford to live in the city. A two-bedroom flat goes for N1.3 million a year. Transportation is unreliable. Social services are patchy. And public trust in the APGA-led government is rapidly eroding.
“If Governor Soludo had taken insecurity seriously from the start of his tenure, if he had matched his rhetoric with decisive action, there would be no need for state-funded distractions like a “funpark” to ease public frustration.
“We don’t need distractions — we need direction. What critical social problem does this park solve? Hunger? Unemployment? Fear?
“And now, in an act of political cowardice, he has reportedly ordered APGA members not to wear party-branded clothing to today’s event, fearing it may stain the party’s image before the President and the public. What a betrayal. If your policies are strong and your house is in order, why hide your colours?
“Dear Gov. Soludo, let me say this, directly and without apology: Bringing the President to commission a handful of overhyped projects does not mask your failure. It doesn’t put food on the table. It doesn’t create jobs. And it certainly doesn’t fool Ndi Anambra.
“We deserve better. We deserve a government that builds lives, not just lodges. A leadership that puts people before propaganda. A Governor whose work speaks louder than his PR.
“The time for vanity is over. The stakes are too high.
“As I have always said, Anambra is not short of talent or promise — we are short of leadership that puts the people first. I do not believe in politics as performance art. I believe in politics as service — rooted in compassion, driven by vision, and measured by real change in people’s lives.
“As Anambra 2025 draws near, our message must be loud and clear: we do not want more ribbon-cutting distractions; we want a future worth living for. And that future must begin now.”