An aide to Anambra State First Lady, Nonye Soludo, has clarified the Catholic Church’s position on baptismal godparenting amid an ongoing dispute involving former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi.
Daniel Ezeigwe, media aide to the First Lady, said supporters of Obi were misinterpreting Catholic canon law in their arguments over whether Obi and his wife were godparents to some of Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s children.
The controversy followed the Anambra State Government’s rejection of Obi’s claim that he and his wife were godparents to Soludo’s children, which has triggered reactions from supporters and other commentators.
Ezeigwe explained that under Catholic practice, a baptismal godparent, also known as a sponsor, is formally chosen to undertake the responsibility for a person being baptised.
He cited Canon 873 of the Code of Canon Law, which provides for one sponsor, either male or female, or one male and one female sponsor.
According to him, the fact that a woman chosen as a child’s godmother is married does not automatically make her husband the child’s godfather.
He further cited Canon 877, which requires the names of the sponsors to be recorded in the baptismal register alongside the names of the minister and the child’s parents.
Ezeigwe said the person formally designated as the sponsor is the one recognised by the Church, adding that attendance at the baptism ceremony, friendship with the family or a personal relationship with the child does not automatically confer the role of godparent.
He said the situation would be different where two people were formally designated as sponsors, in which case both would have a recognised role.
The aide urged those involved in the debate to distinguish between social relationships and the specific meaning of baptismal sponsorship under Catholic rules.
The clarification comes amid a wider public disagreement between Obi and the Anambra State Government, with the issue of his alleged relationship with Soludo’s family becoming another point of political discussion ahead of the 2027 elections.
The dispute has generated competing interpretations from supporters of the former governor and officials of the state government, while the latest statement from Soludo’s aide seeks to frame the issue around the formal requirements of Catholic baptismal sponsorship.
