A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Comrade Adolphus Ude, has sharply criticized Anambra State Governor Professor Charles Soludo for praising President Bola Tinubu’s approval of two proposed road projects in the South-East, calling the gesture premature and misleading. Ude, who serves as Secretary of the Enugu ADC Caretaker Committee and leads the ADC Like-Minds group, argued that the mere approval of design and procurement does not equate to actual infrastructure delivery. He challenged Soludo to name any road project executed by the Tinubu administration in the South-East, asserting that none exist to justify the governor’s enthusiastic endorsement.
Governor Soludo had, on Thursday, publicly thanked President Tinubu for approving the design and procurement of two major roads: the 108km Otuocha-Anam-Abaji (Kogi) Road and the 150km Oba-Nnewi-Uga-Ihube (Okigwe Junction) Road. These roads are intended to connect Anambra and Imo states to the Enugu-Port Harcourt Road via Abia State. In a statement titled “History Will Be Kind to You,” Soludo described the approvals as part of Tinubu’s deliberate effort to rebuild the South-East region.
Ude dismissed this as “sycophantic disposition,” accusing Soludo and other South-East governors of undermining the dignity of Ndigbo through excessive flattery. He criticized the governor for reducing his exalted position to that of a presidential spokesman, merely announcing federal approvals without demanding tangible results. According to Ude, such behavior diminishes both the governor’s own stature and the collective image of the Igbo people in Nigeria.
He pointed out that Tinubu’s two flagship greenfield road projects — the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, estimated at over N17 trillion ($13 billion), and the N1.8 trillion Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway — excluded the South-East entirely. He noted that while Lagos State alone received over N3 trillion in federal projects, including a $1 billion loan from the UK for port redevelopment, the South-East received no comparable investment. Ude also highlighted the contradiction in the federal government’s decision to privatize Enugu’s Akanu Ibiam International Airport while canceling the concession for Lagos’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport to fund a N712 billion rebuild.
Ude insisted that the South-East remains marginalized under the Tinubu administration and described Soludo’s claims of infrastructural rebirth as a “manufactured consensus” for personal and political gain. He urged South-East governors to prioritize delivering tangible benefits to their people instead of engaging in praise-singing that, he said, makes a mockery of Ndigbo across Nigeria. Looking ahead, Ude expressed confidence that an ADC government, expected to emerge in 2027, would ensure fair and equitable distribution of federal projects and appointments nationwide.
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