Who Says Peter Obi Is Not Adequately Prepared?

 By Tai Emeka Obasi 

One of the deep-rooted concerns of many people from the Southeast is that the zone has not really prepared adequately to wrestle power from the rest of Nigeria. Such protagonists of the debate point to MKO Abiola's style that eventually saw him changing the political history of Nigeria, which President Olusegun Obasanjo eventually benefitted from. 

*Peter Obi

Such opinions point convincingly to the fact that it took Abiola over 20 years of philanthropy and effectively proving he was a detribalised Nigerian by investing, employing and assisting Nigerians across zones, tribes and religion.  

The debate concluded that Abiola was so remarkably effective that when he contested for the presidency, he comfortably defeated a Northerner in the general election of June 12, 1993 - something thought impossible before his coming. And even that was achieved via a Muslim-Muslim ticket.  

Good arguments any reasonable mind should concede to. 

However, philanthropy is not the only way of getting prepared for the presidency of Nigeria. And any good strategist rarely repeats a trick. 

Now take a good look at HE Peter Obi. Unlike most politicians, whose source of wealth usually ends up with huge government contracts, the former governor of Anambra State toed a completely different route to stardom - TRADING. Never known with such usually hyper-inflated government contracts, this man who I describe as having come far ahead of his generation, took a very careful, disciplined and exceedingly prudent route to riches. 

When the soft-spoken technocrat accepted the pull to run for the governorship of his state  in the year 2001 for the election of 2003, he diligently set in roll his political trajectory. God bless Prof ABC Nwosu for pointing Obi's way for Anambra Stakeholders, who were desperately looking for a messiah. The man we also call Okwute came with the poser, ARE WE CURSED OR ARE WE THE CAUSE? 

The rest, the say, is history.  

Along that history are puzzles we need to look critically at... 

When Peter Obi took three years to fight for and retrieve his mandate from the court, thereby making history in the process, what did you think he was preparing for?  

When the man we also call Okwute made his first contract execution by using N43 million to repair the Government House and N81 million to repair the Government Lodge of which N298 million and N486 million respectively were budgeted and approved before the man stepped into office. Thereby saving the state a whopping N660 million in the process, what did people think Okwute was doing? 

When he constructed enough roads for the Federal Ministry of Works to officially declare Anambra State as the state with the best network of roads in the country, what did people imagine Okwute was preparing for?

When he made sure as many as 11 health institutions in the state were accredited where he met no accredited health institution in the whole state, what did people think the CKC alumnus was preparing for? 

When he did enough in same health sector to attract Bill and Melinda Gates award for the best regional government in sub-Saharan Africa for polio eradication, which fetched the state one million dollars reward from the former world richest man, what did people assume? 

When he brought his state's education level from number 26 to first position for the three consecutive years before his leaving office, what was he doing? 

When he embarked on building critical infrastructure for the state to effectively maximise her needs and set basis for even development, what did they think he was doing? 

When he decided and insisted on bringing in EQUITY (without being prompted by the zone he favoured) and ultimately ZONING into Anambra State power holding by handing over to Anambra North, what did people think this great man was practising? 

When he handed schools back to missions and made sure each denomination got equitable sponsorship according to the number of schools they have, what did they think he was preparing for? 

When he cleared N35 billion backlog of pensions and gratuities he inherited and never owed a dime before handing over, what was that? 

When he made sure he never owed contractors a dime before handing over, what were people thinking? 

When he saved a whopping N75 billion before handing over and particularly the reason he saved $156 million, what did people think this man was preparing for? 

When he introduced unprecedented discipline and accountability into governance, what did people assume? 

Generally, when this very foresighted man proved that any Nigerian state gets enough money to prosper excellently once people in power imbibe the spirit of using people's money for the people, he has done every preparation required in Nigeria to be president. When he mounted different podia to preach and teach how to cut costs of governance, he was more than getting prepared. 

Just two days ago, Nigerians trooped out across the nation to plead to PDP to give them the president they desire - PETER OBI.  

How better could one have been prepared to draw such unprecedented happenstance? 

Okwute took from that moment he asked ... Is Anambra State Cursed Or Are We The Cause ... to prepare for where he is today. He is a very diligent man, exceedingly principled. It has taken him over 20 years to prepare and the result is the One-Million-Man March as witnessed across Nigeria last Saturday. 

Unless one wallowing in envy and hatred, Nigerians have spoken. The PDP will realise the mistake of ignoring the people if, as an opposition party, they succeed in the gang up to shortchange the people. 

Peter Gregory Obi has become a movement in Nigeria. Nobody succeeds in shortchanging a people when they truly rise up to say NEVER AGAIN! 

#NigeriaNeedsPeterObi