The governor of Anambra State, Chukwuma Soludo on Wednesday said that anyone who promises to serve for only one term should be made to go for a psychological evaluation.
Speaking on an Arise Television interview, the governor defended his statement against a promise made by the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi.
Obi had promised that he only needed one tenure of four years to bring noticeable change in Nigeria’s governance system.
This pledge by Obi rattled some politicians including Soludo who said he believes that the former governor is being dishonest with his supporters.
During the interview, Soludo said his call for mental evaluation for any politician who makes such a promise stems from debates over zoning in Anambra politics.
According to him, similar promises have been made by politicians in the past but have been rejected by the electorate.
He added that systems have already been created to support zoning, and nobody would appreciate anyone coming to cut the process short.
He said, “They come with this sweetener, ‘Oh, if you give me this, and then I will only spend this time.’ They know they were being disingenuous.
“They came with that argument in 2017 when my predecessor was running for a second time,” Soludo.
Likening the situation to what is happening at the national level, Soludo said making such promises amounts to insulting the intelligence of the people.
He also said that anyone making such a promise to the people is only being dishonest and is focused on deceiving their followers.
“Meanwhile, you see the manifesto that they are rolling out. You realise that even if they were to spend 20 years, they wouldn’t even scratch it. I mean, it’s just, I don’t know how to describe it. So you’re just taking the people to be…you’re just playing at the people’s intelligence. You just think everybody is a fool.
“If anybody’s saying that it’s either he is just being deliberately deceitful or there is probably something not working right upstairs to take the entire people of Anambra State as fools… then the person must have a mental issue,” Soludo added.