Soludo pledges loyalty to Tinubu, denies being bounced off at inauguration

By Christiana Ekpa

Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, has stated that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as a party will work with the government of President Bola Tinubu.
Soludo, who spoke during the inauguration of the regional headquarters of APGA on Tuesday in Awka, was reacting to his attendance at the inauguration of President Tinubu on Monday.
Soludo was alleged to have been stopped by DSS operatives from entering the state box, during the inauguration in Abuja.
He descended heavily on the peddlers of the rumour, saying he was approaching the VIP box, but was stopped and redirected to the VVIP box.
He said: “I tell our people that elections have come and gone and APGA did not go to the tribunal even though we had a presidential candidate because APGA has always worked with the government or party at the centre and it has always collaborated with the party at the center.
“When it was the PDP, APGA collaborated with the party and government at the centre and we, as it were, did not field any candidate because APGA worked with the party at the centre.
“We have not reviewed that position and if we will, that would be in the future, but for now. We shall work and collaborate with the party and government at the centre and that was what we met and what was written, and even when our brother, Mr Peter Obi was governor, the party collaborated with the PDP and it has not changed and that was what we met in APGA,” he said.
Speaking on his being sent out from the state box, Soludo said: “We were at the Eagle Square, venue of the inauguration in Abuja. The sitting arrangements were right where the VIPs were, and we went there, and they told us that we had a sitting arrangement, and they directed us to where we were supposed to stay, which was even VVIP.
“So we left there and went along with the CBN Governor, other governors, the Dangotes and Oni of Ife, only for me to get out of the square and hear that Soludo was bounced off the VIP and asked to go and stay with the masses.”
Soludo said if he was aware that such a rumour would creep in, he would have comfortably gone to where the masses sat, because APGA is a party of the masses.
He said: “Actually, if I knew that it was what was going to happen, I would have preferred to stay with the masses, and that is where I belong. I am for the masses, and to demonstrate that what happened on that day is a thing of the masses.”