TD A decades-old document from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka has resurfaced with extraordinary allegations about Charles Chukwuma Soludo, offering a glimpse into the bitter student politics surrounding the man who would later become governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and, eventually, governor of Anambra State.
The two-page document supplied to This Dawn, apparently written during Soludo’s university days, is not a neutral historical record. It is an openly hostile political tract written by someone identified on the document as Anozie C.N.C., Department of Linguistics, and its allegations cannot independently be established from the document alone.
Nevertheless, its language is remarkable.
The writer accused the young Soludo and associates of engaging in conduct displaying what the document called“political immaturity”, following an appearance on an NTA programme in Enugu.
The author went considerably further, attacking what the document described as Soludo’s “effusions and vituperations” during the television programme and urging fellow students to condemn the conduct.
Opponent Wanted Soludo Barred From Student Election
The document, headed“SOLUDO C. C. AND N.T.A. CHANNEL 8 ENUGU,” called for Soludo to be prevented from contesting for Secretary-General of the university’s Students’ Union.
Its author alleged that Soludo’s participation in political activities connected with the NPN ran contrary to a provision of the Students’ Union Constitution barring candidates employed “in any capacity” by a registered political party.
According to the document, Soludo and several other students had allegedly been engaged by NPN members to speak against a PPA summit.
Those are allegations made by the document’s author. The surviving pages supplied to This Dawn do not contain Soludo’s response, an electoral commission ruling, evidence establishing the alleged payment or employment, or proof that the accusation resulted in disqualification.
That distinction matters.
But so does the ferocity of the attack.
The author warned fellow students that“the tiger does not change its spot” and predicted that Soludo would not change if elected. The second page accused Soludo and his group of “political immaturity” and called upon students to reject candidates carrying political “skeletons in their cupboard.”
Old Attack, Striking Modern Echoes
Whatever the truth of that long-ago campus dispute, its resurfacing comes at an awkward moment for Soludo.
He has recently faced a fresh wave of criticism over his government’s publication of purported debt records relating to former Anambra governor Peter Obi. Daily Post reported on September 16, 2026 that the Soludo administration said Obi’s government left outstanding loans and other inherited liabilities, while critics responding online accused Soludo of bitterness and political distraction. Those quoted remarks are critics’ opinions, not established descriptions of Soludo’s character.
The episode is not the first time criticism of Soludo has focused as much on political temperament as policy.
An opinion article published by The Source in January 2024 argued that politicians can find their achievements obscured by what voters perceive as arrogance or disrespect toward political stakeholders, with the article discussing Soludo’s political challenges in that context. Again, that is commentary rather than an independently established finding about his personality.
More recently, Nigeria Education News reported in August 2025 that online critics were questioning whether Soludo’s celebrated academic brilliance had translated into his political leadership, describing accusations concerning blunt remarks, political manoeuvring and his approach to reelection.
Brilliant Economist, Combative Political Reputation
What makes the rediscovered document intriguing is precisely the contrast.
Soludo went on to build a formidable academic and professional résumé, becoming a professor of economics, serving as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2004 to 2009 and later becoming governor of Anambra State.
Yet the yellowed university document shows that controversy over Soludo’s political manner did not necessarily begin in Government House.
Long before the governorship, long before the Central Bank and long before today’s battles with supporters of political rivals, at least one campus opponent was already depicting Soludo as politically immature, combative and unsuitable for student leadership.
That does not prove Soludo “has always been immature, unruly and petty.” A hostile campaign document cannot establish a lifelong personality trait.
But as an archival snapshot, it raises a sharper and journalistically defensible question:
Has Nigerian politics changed Charles Soludo, or are today’s political confrontations merely the latest chapter in a combative style that his opponents were complaining about decades ago?
The newly resurfaced pages cannot answer that question.
They do, however, show that the argument is much older than many Nigerians might imagine.
About the archival document
The photographed material consists of two aged, typewritten pages. The first page bears the heading “SOLUDO C. C. AND N.T.A. CHANNEL 8 ENUGU” and contains handwritten corrections. The second page ends with the name “Anozie C.N.C.” and “Dept. of Linguistics.” Neither photographed page visibly supplies a publication date, so This Dawn should not assign the document a precise year without additional provenance.
This Dawn has treated allegations contained in the document as historical claims by its author, rather than independently verified facts.
