Governor Soludo has rejected Ekwunife’s apology amid infidelity controversy.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo of Anambra State and his wife, Dr. Nonye Soludo, have dismissed as false the purported apology attributed to Senator Uche Ekwunife over defamatory remarks allegedly made against them.
Ekwunife, who is the deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the upcoming Anambra governorship election, had accused the First Lady of infidelity.
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In a statement issued on Wednesday by the governor’s Senior Special Assistant on New Media, Mazi Ejimofor Opara, Soludo’s camp described the alleged apology as “another fabrication fit for the waste bin.”
Apology Branded Suspicious
Opara argued that the unsigned apology, said to have emanated from the “Ekwunife Campaign Organization,” lacked credibility and was misleading. He stressed that no such campaign body exists, since Ekwunife is contesting on a joint ticket with the APC governorship candidate.
“The publication purporting to be an apology for the defamatory statements made against the Governor and his wife personally by Senator Ekwunife does not appear to have emanated from the Senator herself, given that her defamatory statements were made directly via recorded video and leaked audio conversation,” Opara stated.
He insisted that any retraction or apology must come directly from Senator Ekwunife and through the same channels where the allegations were originally made.
First Lady’s Challenge
The governor’s aide recalled that Dr. Nonye Soludo had earlier dared Ekwunife to clear herself by swearing an oath before the Blessed Sacrament and by subjecting her children, alongside the Soludos’ children, to a DNA test to disprove the allegations.
“Any contrite apology must follow a personal and direct retraction of her defamatory statements,” Opara added, noting that slander cannot be dismissed by proxy.
No Credible Retraction Yet
The Soludo administration further described the purported apology as “unsubstantiated social media gossip,” vowing to disregard it entirely while still demanding a clear and unambiguous retraction from Ekwunife herself.