Peter Obi, Soludo, Obiano Meet In Onitsha

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, and his successor in Anambra State, Willie Obiano and the incumbent Governor of the State, Charles Chukwuma Soludo, met yesterday.

Naija News reports that the trio met during a Catholic mass in celebration of the 90th birthday of the Nigerian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, Francis Arinze.

The politicians were seen hugging at the event while exchanging pleasantries despite their political differences.

The meeting will be the second one since Soludo made a demeaning remark about Obi in an essay titled; History Beckons and I will not keep quiet.

Obiano graced the event with his wife, Ebelechukwu, while other aides to the politicians were also sighted around them as they posed for photographs.

Delivering his felicitations to Cardinal Arinze, Governor Soludo described the cleric as one of the finest Anambra has given to the world.

He said: “You have been such a great influence and inspiration to the universal world, Anambra State, Nigeria and to me personally. I recount you had a special mass for me and my predecessor, giving me a message which I will never forget. You told me that while I am in haste to change the world, I should always remember that the people I deal with, are children of Adam and Eve.”

On his part, the Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, who delivered the homily, celebrated Arinze for his many contributions to catholicism in Nigeria.

He described Arinze as the Archbishop Emeritus of Onitsha who stirred the church and its people out of the turbulence and ravages of the Nigerian civil war that lasted between 1967 to 1970.

According to him, Cardinal Arinze had distinguished himself in the service to God and humanity in his tour of duty while in Rome.

He also said God destined the cleric for a great mission on earth. Describing him as one of the living ancestors of the Catholic Church, Onaiyekan recalled that Cardinal Arinze’s intellectual prowess started during his seminary days and noted that Nigerians could not forget the prominent role he played in the Beatification of Blessed Iwene Tansi in Nigeria in the year 1998 when Pope John Paul the 2nd visited Nigeria even as he expressed hope that he will remain alive to witness the final canonisation of Tansi.

The event attracted prominent personalities, including; Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe (Agbogidi), Sen. Victor Umeh (Labour Party Senatorial Candidate, Anambra Central), Hon. Ikenna Iyiegbu (Ike Cubana) APGA Candidate, Idemili North and South Federal Constituency, Cardinals, Bishops, Monsignors, Rev. Fathers, Traditional Rulers, Papal Knights, among others.