The Vice President of Nigeria, Senator Kashim Shettima, former Presidents, Olusegun Obasanjo, and Dr Goodluck Jonathan, as well as former Commonwealth Secretary General, Emeka Anyaoku, yesterday, graced the occasion marking the take-off of Governor Chukwuma Soludo and his deputy, Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim’s second term in Anambra State.

Presenting his inaugural speech during the swearing-in ceremony held at the Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka, Soludo assured a sustained development agenda for a better Anambra, maintaining that the administration would continue from where he stopped in the first tenure.

Soludo promised not to take the request of the Anambra people for granted, saying that he will continue to be the governor for all.

While saying that he would run a government for all, he said: “I appeal to my co-contestants in the November 8, 2025, governorship election to partner with my administration and move Anambra State forward.

MEANWHILE, Vice President Kashim Shettima commended the Anambra State Governor for his contributions to national development, describing him as a public intellectual whose ideas and interventions have strengthened Nigeria’s political and economic discourse.

Shettima made the remarks in Awka while representing President Bola Tinubu at the inauguration and swearing-in of Soludo and his deputy, Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim, for a second term in office.

According to the Vice President, Soludo has distinguished himself as a leader whose insights and practical commentaries on national issues have enriched governance and fostered collaboration across political divides.

He said the people of Anambra, by returning the governor to office, had effectively renewed “a covenant with competence and consolidation.”

Shettima described the former Central Bank governor as “a man of ideas and honour” who assumed office at a time when political discourse was increasingly marked by division yet chose the path of constructive engagement and national unity.

He said: “The policies of President Bola Tinubu have benefited from the candour, specialist insight and patriotic counsel of this distinguished economist, restless thinker, public intellectual of uncommon range, both in open fora and in private conversations.

“That is what it means to be in the business of nation-building. It means placing the welfare of the federation above the vanity of partisan fences and understanding that Nigeria is too precious a vessel to be abandoned to the storms simply because the rowers wear different colours.”

The Vice President noted that Soludo’s convictions go beyond intellectual debate, saying the governor exemplifies a leadership style capable of bridging divisions.
Shettima added: “Soludo reminds us that leadership can unify without shouting.”