Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has mocked former governor and Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, following the poor performance of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Saturday’s by-elections across the state.

Obi, who recently distanced himself from the leadership crisis rocking the Labour Party, had openly endorsed ADC candidates for the polls and urged his supporters to back them. However, the move failed to make an impact as the ADC suffered heavy defeats.

In the Anambra South Senatorial District contest, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate Emmanuel Nwachukwu winner with 90,408 votes, defeated Azuka Okwuosa of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 19,847 votes, while ADC’s Donald Amangbo managed just 2,889 votes. Nwachukwu will replace the late Ifeanyi Ubah, who represented the district until his death in July 2024.

Similarly, APGA’s Ifeoma Azikiwe won the Onitsha North Constituency 1 House of Assembly by-election, further consolidating the party’s dominance in the state.

Reacting to the outcome at an event in Nanka on Sunday, Soludo taunted Obi and dismissed both ADC and the Labour Party as irrelevant in Anambra politics.

 “The ADC does not exist in Anambra. We showed it yesterday. Labour Party is dead,” the governor declared, noting that despite Obi’s involvement in campaigning, the people overwhelmingly rejected the ADC.

Soludo, who is seeking re-election on the APGA platform in November 2025, said the results sent a “clear and emphatic signal” that Anambra remained firmly behind APGA.

 “They wanted to use it as a test case for this new concoction called ADC in Anambra, but the people spoke loudly with over 75 percent. The message is clear: both ADC and Labour Party are non-existent in this state,” he added.