Our attention has been drawn to a report in ThisDay of 20th October, 2021 in which Senator Andy Uba was reported to have claimed that he was “instrumental to Soludo’s appointment as CBN Governor”. Ordinarily, this laughable bogus claim, presented as his CV, should not deserve any attention. At first we dismissed it as unbelievable that he could forge such a claim but for a man who is yet to explain how he obtained “Senior School Certificate” in 1974 when senior secondary certificate exams began in 1984, or inventing results for primaries that never held, nothing can be beneath him. The said Uba is notorious for claiming that every person in Obasanjo’s government was appointed through his influence including the late Dora Akunyili. But for the records, we clarify as follows:
1) Our principal is one who is eternally grateful for every favour and should be grateful to Andy Uba if he had anything to do with his appointment as CBN Governor. For him, what does it really matter?
2) Prof Soludo didn’t know Andy Uba and never heard of him until about three months after he joined government as Chief Economic Adviser and Chief Executive of National Planning Commission. It was Dr Oby Ezekwesili who introduced both of them to each other after a morning prayer (Oby Ezekwesili is alive). They only occasionally said hello to each other whenever Andy attended morning prayers which were rare.
3) Soludo was part of the 15 or so members of the Morning Prayer group and part of the president’s trusted inner team who met President Obasanjo Monday to Saturday every week. President Obasanjo is alive and his testimonial about Soludo and why he appointed him CBN Governor are public knowledge. Indeed, President Obasanjo has severally told the story of how/why he hurriedly announced the appointment of Soludo to CBN immediately after discussing the matter with his former VP, Atiku Abubakar, even while Soludo was abroad. For a serial liar and forger, he forgot that President Obasanjo is still alive. It is pitiable that a man who spent 16 years in both presidency and the senate with absolutely nothing to show for it will only resort to dropping the names of every prominent member of President Obasanjo’s government as having been facilitated by him. Is this inferiority complex or what?
4) Prof Soludo authored Nigeria’s National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) whose implementation created over 12.8 million jobs for Nigerian youths. His banking revolution changed the history of banking in Nigeria forever, powering millions of businesses. Soludo licensed over 1,000 BDCs and over 1,000 Micro finance banks; built Nigeria’s foreign reserves from $10 billion to all time high of $62 billion; exchange rate at N115 to one dollar, with tens of thousands of new jobs in the banks. Inflation was single digit and millions of poor people bought a bag of rice for N7,000, etc. Do we talk about the fact that he built the CBN branches at Awka, Enugu, Umuahia, Asaba, and the people employed there? These may sound too sophisticated for Andy UBA to understand.
6) Andy Uba is one of those made by Soludo. If not for Soludo’s banking revolution, there would be no bank strong enough to lend him billions of Naira. Otherwise the bank would have collapsed since he refused to pay. Everyday he throws money about, he should remember to thank Soludo.
7) Prof Soludo has been decorated nationally and internationally with hundreds of awards in recognition of his excellent public service. President Obasanjo decorated Soludo with the 3rd highest national honor (CFR) while he decorated Andy Uba with the second to the last (MFR). The President knew the difference between his domestic servant and the man who helped him to create unprecedented prosperity and a new financial system in Nigeria. Several newspapers and magazines have variously named Soludo Nigeria’s Man of the year and for three consecutive years he was named the best governor of central bank in the world.
8) Finally, we advise Andy Uba to focus on trying to pick the pieces of his crumbled campaign. But if dropping Soludo’s name as his CV makes him feel complete, we would ask Prof Soludo to please oblige him.
Joe C Anatune
Soludo Media Office.