Anambra State governor Charles Soludo and his wife Nonye Soludo have rejected an apology credited to Senator Uche Ekwunife, saying it lacked credibility, days after Mrs Soludo gave the lawmaker 72 hours to retract allegations of infidelity and tender a public apology.
In a statement on Wednesday signed by the governor’s senior special assistant on new media Ejimofor Opara the couple described the apology as unauthentic, saying it did not emanate from Mrs Ekwunife.
“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,” the statement said.
The unsigned apology, said to have come from the “Ekwunife Campaign Organization,” was faulted by the governor’s office, which noted that there is no such campaign body since Ekwunife is contesting the November 8 Anambra governorship election as the deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to Mr Opara, the remarks in question were made directly by Ekwunife in a recorded video and leaked audio and any retraction or apology must be made by her using the same channels.
“The so-called apology never referenced Madam Ekwunife’s initial video and audio but instead focused on an unsigned article. This only points to her complicity, directly or indirectly, as the source of the article. It implies that no genuine apology was intended or tendered,” Opara added.
He added that the apology did not reference the original statements but instead focused on an unsigned article, which the Soludos’ camp considered insufficient.
The development comes after Mrs Soludo gave Ekwunife 72 hours to withdraw her claims of infidelity and tender a public apology, failing which she threatened legal action.
The governor’s office also recalled that Mrs Soludo had earlier challenged Ekwunife to swear an oath before the Blessed Sacrament and to subject her children, along with the Soludos’ children, to DNA tests in response to allegations of infidelity.
The statement concluded that the administration would continue to demand a clear retraction from Ekwunife herself.
