Peter Obi: I know Nigeria’s Problems, I Can Fix Them Easily!

 
*Obi

I can’t sleep because I know what to do! I have gone round the 36 states of the country like I have gone round 31 countries of the world, I know the problems of Nigeria and I know I can fix them easily! Because I can see them, I can fix them! 

Hunger takes people to the streets! Job and food will obviously take them out of the streets and crimes! That’s my specialty, creating jobs and wealth! I have not come out for myself! 

I have come out for the millions of youths that are losing hope in our beloved country! I have come out for the millions of women who are afraid of tomorrow and what it holds for them and their children! I have come out for the poor who are asking whether it’s a sin to be a Nigerian! For them, I have come! 

Peter Obi Is A Worthy Choice!

By Goddy Uwazurike

I have read with disgust the vituperations of the enemies of this country on the choice of Peter Obi as the running mate of the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. The complaints range from non consultation to why the choice should be from the South East to the ridiculous protest of non PDP members.

*Peter Obi

For the avoidance of doubt, very few people parade the intimidating credentials of Peter Obi. Again, very few people parade the integrity of Peter Obi. Further more, very few people parade the common sense economics of Peter Obi. Finally, very few people parade the ability of Peter Obi to overlook personal aggrandisement in public and private life. 

After Victor Umeh’s Senatorial Triumph

By Chuks Iloegbunam

The argument wasn’t on whether or not Victor Umeh would emerge victorious in the January 13, 2018 Anambra Central Senatorial rerun election. It had to do with the range of victory he would post. In the November 18, 2017 Anambra gubernatorial election, Governor Obiano had won in all 21 local government areas in the state. The 100 percent result had led to Obiano acquiring the new sobriquet of '21 over 21'. Was Chief Umeh also going to post a 100 percent result by winning in all the seven local government areas of Anambra Central? He did win all over, earning himself the nickname of Seven Over Seven!

*Gov Obiano and Umeh

Not surprisingly, there have been two antipodal reactions to Chief Umeh’s emphatic triumph. APGA chieftains and foot soldiers are in uproarious celebrations; the losers have been whimpering. The celebrations are not about to end. The licking of wounds will linger for a while more. Both of them are transient, ultimately. They will cease. After they have passed, the pertinent and enduring question of what next will surface and entrench itself. That is the central concern of this piece.

Anambra: Why Gov Obiano Was Re-elected

By Ray Ekpu

In any election incumbency packs a punch. The incumbent always has something to show, completed projects to flaunt, ongoing projects that are nearing completion or even ones that are on the drawing board. He has the paraphernalia of the civil service, the MDAs, the contractors, women and youth groups hired and unhired, all of them are often in the corner of the incumbent. The incumbent is also seen as a bird in hand, the reality not the dream, the person on the job not the one who wants to be on the job. In most elections, all of these factors often work in favour of the incumbent.

*Gov Obiano

It worked for Chief Willie Obiano, the newly re-elected Governor of Anambra State. As all incumbents normally do, Obiano published a long list of his completed projects and asked that the public should crosscheck and establish for themselves the veracity of his claims.

The Meaning Of Governor Obiano’s Reelection

By Chuks Iloegbunam

Anyone asked the impact of Governor Willie Obiano’s victory in the November 18 gubernatorial ballot in Anambra State could answer with a single word: Crushing. He won in all of the 21 local government areas of the state. His closest rivals came up in dismal second, third and fourth places. The combined total of the votes garnered by the rest of the 33 candidates managed to hit the hundreds. 

*Gov Willie Obiano

Significantly, ex-Governor Peter Obi, the godfather of PDP candidate Oseloka Obaze lost in his Anaocha local government area. Mr. Obaze himself lost in his Ogbaru local government area. His running mate, Mrs. Alexandria Chidi Onyemelukwe, famed daughter of Dr. Alex Ekwueme, lost in her Nnewi North local government area. The string of tragic losses is bewildering. APC candidate Tony Nwoye lost in his Anambra East local government area. His bankroller, the tycoon Arthur Eze, lost in his Dunukofia local government area. The loquacious PDP campaign director-general Joe-Martins Uzodike lost in the polling booth in front of his Awka-Etiti house. Indeed, APGA is a party of giant killers. All their opponents were buried in a landslide!

The People’s Will Must Prevail In Anambra On November 18

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

On Saturday, November 18, 2017, the good people of Anambra will elect the person who will govern the state for the next four years.

All eyes will be on the state not only because this is a standalone election but also because of the antecedents of the political gladiators. General elections are more than a year away from now. The reason why this governorship election is holding on Saturday rather than the first quarter of 2019 is ensconced in the womb of Anambra politics.

*Peter Obi and Willie Obiano

For those who may have forgotten, in 2003, the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and political godfathers with former President Olusegun Obasanjo as their patron saint orchestrated an unprecedented electoral heist that denied Peter Obi, who ran on the platform of the Chekwas Okorie-led All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), victory. Dr. Chris Ngige, the PDP candidate, was handed the political diadem.

It was a brazen affront on the inalienable right of the people to elect their leaders.

The PDP Rallies For APGA

 By Chuks Iloegbunam

Without Chief Victor Umeh, Governor Peter Obi would not have had a second term of office. This declaration is an easy start to explaining the title of this article. It happened this way. Well before his first tenure ended, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, fed up to the hairline, ruled Mr. Obi out of a second term. One morning, General Ojukwu arrived APGA offices in Awka, to the cheers of party faithful and expectant journalists. There, he lifted the hand of Mr. Emeka Etiaba, now a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and pronounced him the man to fly APGA’s flag in the 2010 governorship election. 

*Gov Obiano

Government House, Awka, immediately went into turmoil, with Governor Obi looking like someone poleaxed. Long hours later, he ditched lamentation for counteraction. This came in his flying to Victor Umeh’s patronage. They met later that week at the grounds between Government Lodge, Enugu and the Enugu State House of Assembly, Governor Obi having chased security aides, drivers and other convoy regulars to no less than 50 metres away. Left severely alone, Governor fell to his knees, contrite, subdued and solicitous, pleading with Umeh for a second chance. After some contemplation, Umeh, reluctantly decided to give Obi a kind ear.

Peter Obi At 56

By Valentine Obienyem

Today, the 19th day of July, 2017, the man regarded as one of the best in governance, at any tier, in the annals of our country turns 56. As usual, drums would be rolled out by some of his admirers who believe excellence ought to be celebrated. They contend that if for nothing else, it is a means of promoting merit as role models in name and indeed. In a country where even imbeciles garbed in purple fall over one another seeking attention, it is about time the society set up a clear template for granting honour to whom it is due.

*Peter Obi 

In another vein, beyond panegyrics by his enthusiasts, most people will just wish him a perfunctory ‘Happy Birthday’.

In this piece, I set out to re-examine, through the memories of his tenure, what good governance is all about and to encourage Nigerians to look up to him as the man who came into governance through entirely different route, with an entirely different mentality and left it as nobody has done in the history of governance in Nigeria. For me, this is decent birthday present that would also instruct those in governance on the right way to go.

Born on July 19, 1961, Peter Gregory Obi started his life in the rustic city of Onitsha, and obtained his initial formal education in Onitsha and Nsukka. He has since attended some of the best tertiary institutions in the world in his thirst for intellectual insemination to boost his competences.

How shall we rank him? Which of us possesses so varied the Knowledge to understand him adequately? As an experiment in perspective, let us see him through his dramatic entrance into government and what he did while there as distinct from business as usual.

Before him, news emanating from the State was not palatable at all. It was always stories of intrigues, squander mania, rape and rapine. Visions and memories of the State tormented all persons of goodwill; an involuntary gloom penetrated our souls, chilling their imaginations. The Bakassi group and their co-predators worsened the situation as they turned our dear State into a vast Golgotha of carnage, an arena for horror, where her children tore and destroyed one another with the clear conscience of nature. Concerned like other decent people, Peter Obi developed an urge to turn these barbarisms into civilization and this was what compelled him to seek election into public office.

Obiano And The Dynamics Of Governance

By Chuks Iloegbunam  

Take this to the bank: in the run-up to next year’s gubernatorial election in Anambra State, Governor Willie Obiano is countless strides ahead of the most determined of his opponents. Many reasons account for this. Foremost is that he firmly has the advantage of incumbency on his side. But this needs spelling out. The incumbency factor at play here is not merely the occupation of the seat of power; it is that the Anambra State Governor has more than delivered. He has surpassed the records of his predecessors.

*Gov Willie Obiano 

Since empiricism is in accent, readers are called to take notice of the following facts. Governor Chris Ngige was in office for about three years when the courts gave him the matching orders. Governor Peter Obi was through with the third year of his first term when he published a magazine entitled Three Years of Solid Accomplishments. Whoever reads the publication and also reviews Dr. Ngige’s achievements, will come to an inevitable conclusion – if they compared them to the astounding performance of Governor Willie Obiano. 

Such a reviewer would acknowledge that, in terms of achievements, Governor Obiano stands head and shoulders above his predecessors. But, there is need for clarity here. Many politicians and soldiers have governed Anambra State since its creation 25 years ago. Some lasted a few months and got redeployed, or sacked by military putsch. But political stability of sorts became apparent from the inception of the Fourth Republic. Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju served a single, four-year term. Dr. Ngige’s tenure lasted three years.

Peter Obi spent eight years, minus the three months that the distinguished Dame Virgy Etiaba ably governed, following Mr. Obi’s unjust and ultimately reversed impeachment by legislative hirelings intoxicated by intrigue. Obiano is close to completing his third year. The trio of Ngige, Obi and Obiano has imbued Anambra with a legacy of performance to be proud of. It was Ngige who first demonstrated to Ndi Anambra that human beings drove on tarred roads instead of through ponds and potholes. Peter Obi continued the road construction legacy, topping it with the Odo Bridge in Awgbu, which, in 2010, was the longest bridge in Anambra State.

Tragedy Of Peter Obi’s Defection

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