By Ikechukwu Amaechi
Peter Obi’s defection from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not surprise me.
Unlike Bianca, widow of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, I knew the former Anambra State governor was going to take that
fateful political step.
Every discerning political observer knew that despite Obi’s
protestations and despite his vow that he would quit partisan politics any day
he left APGA, he had a crush on the PDP. His body language betrayed him.
That Obi had the patience to
serve out his second term as governor on the platform of APGA was the only
surprise.
I did not want to comment on his defection until I read Bianca’s
interview in the Daily Sun and Obi’s reaction. Bianca is pained by what
she calls Obi’s “betrayal and
unimaginable breach of trust.” She is livid that Obi did not take her into
confidence.
Peter Obi receiving an award in Spain from Mrs. Bianca
Ojukwu, Nigeria's Ambassador to Spain, on December 4,
2013
“Close as I was to him, he did not even have the simple courtesy to
inform me of this decision but continued to deceive me up until his defection,”
she moaned.
She is angry that he betrayed the trust Ojukwu had in him. She is fuming
that Obi broke the promise he made to Ojukwu and dealt shabbily with a party
that gave him everything.
“What he has done is akin to desecrating his father’s grave. It is alu (taboo) in Igbo culture. I am deeply
pained by this development. How can it be so easy for him to trample upon the
legacy of a man who gave him so much, even sometimes to his (Ojukwu’s) own
detriment; a man, who had such high expectations of him?”
She is angry because she feels Obi has, by his defection, handed not
only her late husband but also APGA a very unfair deal.
“Everything he is, today, he owes to Ojukwu and APGA. APGA catapulted
him literally from obscurity to national prominence. He served two
consecutive terms, as governor of Anambra
State , a first in the
history of the state. This, he achieved under APGA. His decampment is shocking to
our party members. He never gave them any indication that he was about to jump
ship.”
Very strong words. But it is instructive that Obi in his response
refrained from joining issues with her. He was even charitable. Claiming that
Bianca was not a frivolous person, he said she spoke with sincerity; unlike
others. But he denied the charges of betrayal and disloyalty,
insinuating that he is the victim and not the villain.
“I wish to reiterate that I am still loyal to our great leader, in terms
of what serves the interests of our people and the Federal Republic of
Nigeria,” Obi said.
“Everyone knows today that APGA is not what it used to be. My assurance
to our great leader did not imply that I would be loyal to a platform that some
people have resolved to turn into an empty shell without an inner core of
shared values. I remain faithful to
those values and principles our great leader asked me to stand by and defend.”
At a meeting I attended the night he defected, Obi told his audience
that his decision was hinged on the need to be a competitor and not a spectator
in national affairs. He used an analogy of a man travelling from Awka to the United States via Murtala
Muhammed International
Airport , Lagos . He said while the traveler may
travel to Lagos
in a car, he will need an aircraft to complete the journey.
President Jonathan and Obi (pix:ezeigbouche)
In essence, APGA was the vehicle in which he travelled to Anambra
Government House and it had served its purpose, but going to Abuja requires a
bigger and more sophisticated means of transportation; hence an airplane, the
PDP.
But no matter how hard Obi tries, it has become almost impossible for
him to convince anyone that his defection was for public good, particularly the
good of the Igbo. Many see it as self-serving and a slippery slope that
endangers even the very values and principles he claims to cherish. This
is sad because we are talking about a man who held out so much promise for the
Igbo that he was nicknamed Okwute Ndigbo
(Igbo rock) and his political battles became a collective Igbo battle.
There was a good reason for such expectation. Obi, in government, became
a role model. He demystified governance by his sheer humility and simplicity.
He elevated accountability to a level hitherto unknown in this country and
fiscal responsibility became his middle name. Above all, he proved that
no matter how lean the resources of a state, a governor who is public-spirited
can deliver on his electoral promises.
For the first time, Anambrarians had quality governance and the evidence
is there for all to see. He left government with his head high. But for
reasons best known to Obi, he deliberately underdeveloped APGA. Even before his
fabled quarrel with the party’s Chairman, Victor Umeh, his actions and
inactions diminished the vehicle that conveyed him to Government House.
By virtue of his position as governor, he was the leader of the party for eight
years. So, if the party plumbed the depths of retrogression, he should blame
himself.
He was there when the Ubas of Anambra politics rode roughshod against
the party and its candidates at elections. Obi never lifted a finger for those
whose electoral victories were subverted by the PDP. I had the uncanny
feeling that he secretly loathed the APGA. It was a marriage of convenience only
meant to last as long as the party remained a viable tool to access political
power using Ojukwu’s mythical aura.
But Obi’s first love was the PDP. I was so worried that the
fortunes of APGA were diminishing under his watch that I sought audience with
him in Awka twice to express my fears. The fact that he left APGA as a
provincial party, so much so that he had to look for a national party to take
him to Abuja ,
is a damning self-indictment. Again, the excuse that he joined the PDP
to help actualise President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election ambition is too
simplistic. There is nothing that Obi wanted to do for Jonathan that he
wouldn’t have done on the platform of APGA. After all, APGA had already adopted
him as its presidential candidate.
Obi did more for Jonathan in 2011 as an APGA governor than most PDP
governors. As Southeast Governors Forum Chairman, Obi mobilised his
colleagues, all of them PDP governors, to endorse Jonathan. As an APGA
governor, he attended PDP rallies. And for his efforts, he was amply rewarded.
As an APGA governor, he was, without exaggeration, the closest of the 36
governors to Jonathan.
But all that will change now. Obi will meet a much more hostile
political environment in Anambra PDP and I don’t see Jonathan helping him. What
happened at his declaration at his residence in Onitsha on October 7, shows that he has no
political clout in his home state. No notable PDP member was present. If his
friendship with Aso Rock becomes a liability, Jonathan will sacrifice him, as
he did recently when Anambra PDP members opposed Obi’s appointment as aviation
minister.
No notable member of Anambra APGA hitched a ride with him on his
defection wagon. But when Senator Bukola Saraki, former Kwara State
Governor, defected from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the
current governor, lawmakers, and ministers moved with him. Democracy is
a game of numbers.
Umeh mocked Obi for coming to the party alone and leaving alone. Coming
alone in 2003 is understandable. But leaving alone 11 years later, after being
governor for eight years, is a tragedy. It calls for introspection.
*Ikechukwu
Amaechi is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of ‘TheNiche,’ a Sunday newspaper published
in Lagos , Nigeria. (ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com)
The politicians that are still loyal to APGA are more than adequately qualified to lead the party to majority status --in 7-9 states in the next 7 years if they adopt the right strategies. If that materializes, Obi's defection becomes an after thought and perhaps a blessing to APGA.
ReplyDeleteI have confidence in the new APGA crew, if Mister Victor Umeh will learn to curb both his ego and his mouth. The crew can simply teach the likes of Peter Obi a useful lesson by simply rebuilding APGA to get it sizzling with performance for the states it stands to control come May 2015. It could then simply mean that Umeh and company sowed and harvested, while Obi can hardly make that kind of claim in PDP.
Collins