Few months to the Anambra governorship election, the battle to take over from the incumbent governor, Mr. Peter Obi, is intensifying. It is not for nothing. The election could be the costliest in the governorship race in Nigerian political history. The aspirants are growing in number everyday. Arguably, Anambra politics is like a broken family whose members would prefer to destroy their inheritance than share it. Yes, it has become that bad. The chill that fell on the state before Obi cleared the fog, was for these errors. My column of May 21, addressed the dilemma Governor Obi could be facing in search for a successor. That means how to avoid the mistakes that prevailed in the state before he came in the saddle. While many people have commended my views and stressed the need for Obi not to be aloof in who succeeds him, a handful of others have put forward some names, who are either their sponsors, or their preferred choice to succeed Obi. I have chosen the rejoinder published below, among other comments in respect of my column of May 21, for this reason: Chief Ifeanyi Ubah, the founder of Capital oil, has not hidden his intention to be counted, not only as a contender but also as Obi’s adversary. The greater responsibility is left for Anambra electorate. The state could be a spark plug if the process leading to the election goes wrong. Here is Obidike’s rejoinder. Governor Peter Obi is presently asked by his House of Assembly to render account of his stewardship at the local government level between 2011 and 2012 since he has usurped leadership at that level for almost eight years now. It took Governor Peter Obi several months to present an audited account for just 2011. He pleaded with the House for more three months to present that of 2012, five months into 2013. Mr. Dan Onwukwe we need you to help us find out whether Gov. Peter Obi’s conduct portrays him as a man with financial integrity because you told us in your Daily Sun of Tuesday, May 21, 2013 ( Obi’s dilemma) that he is searching for a man with such quality to succeed him. The little I know is that a good financial manager who wants to demonstrate financial prudence prepares account of his stewardship for the year under review, that is, 2011 by December 31. He has between January and March of the succeeding year, in this case 2012, to make it public. Your man, Governor Obi waited for the State House of Assembly to bare its fangs in second quarter of 2013 to go public. So much about financial integrity and accountability from Dan Onwukwe and Governor Obi! According to the honourable members who are holding him to account, each local government receives about N100million monthly from the federation account. Anambra state has 21 local government councils. This brings the total revenue from the federation account to about N2 billion naira for 2011 which Governor Peter Obi has hurriedly produced and presented an audited account to the House. Now, Hon. Gabriel Onyenweife, the House chairman on public accounts, has simply asked every concerned Anambrarian to go home and see whether the level of development in his council corresponds with the quantum of money allocated to his council from the Federation Account. This question puts a wedge to the argument that Gov. Peter Obi has done well in office. Let me state here that Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah has a legitimate ambition to be the next governor of Anambra State, come 2014. The mission of his electoral mantra is freedom. His mission is to set Anambra State free from political jobbers, his own tag for career politicians you rightly pointed out, for Anambra has had its fair share of such people. He is coming to do for Anambra what he has done for himself. He is bringing total transformation in the State. That is why he feels so proud to ask his would be challengers to first tell Anambra people what they have done for themselves before saying what they will do for Anambra people. It is a well known maxim that you cannot give what you don’t have. It was late Chief MKO Abiola, who told us that government business is the most important business in the world, and therefore should be left in the hands of people with proven track records, a quality that Ubah has. You only need a facility tour to his business empire to see why. Moreover, his mission is also to stop the looting of Anambra state treasury from painted sepulcher which the current administration of Gov. Peter represents. Gov. Obi should save himself the task of looking for a successor either in his party or in Anambra because he has no political goodwill that will put the so called successor in government. Presently, he has no political party as the APGA that put him in power is out of his control and into the hands of Sir Victor Umeh, the party chairman, as pronounced by INEC recently. Of course, you know that the authority to present a candidate to fly the flag of a political party is in the hands of the national chairman. Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah is presently doing what he calls One-on One session with his constitutency, and his mission to become the next governor of Anambra State is like a moving train. The time for them to pay back to a man who has done much and is still doing so many things to save them from bad leadership. Talk about his N50 per litre kerosine. The Okada people in Anambra state will not forget the man who sells petrol to them free every Monday or his foundation, Ifeanyi Ubah Foundation, which has touched almost everybody in Anambra state. The pregnant women in many communities will not forget in hurry the man who paid and still pays their hospital delivery bills, or the fact that he crashed petrol price in Anambra by converting some of his petrol stations to NNPC Mega stations. Those who live in Anambra know we rarely get petrol at the official price of N97 per litre. This is why we join Mr. Onwukwe to say to career or professional politicians or better still political jobbers, to stay out of danger for there’s no stopping an idea whose time has come. This also extends to Gov. Obi who could not nurture a successor less than five months to leave office. Too late for him! All that Chief Ifeanyi Ubah is asking for is a level playing ground in the governorship. But his traducers have decided to abandon decent rules of engagement. Instead, they have resorted to cheap blackmail against Ubah. But having noticed that he has acquired a Rhino’s skin and that such careless talks do not derail him, they have come up with what late Bob Marley, the embodiment of Rastafarism, would call ambush. Their latest game plan is to ambush and quarantine him so that he would not be available to contest the election. Otherwise, why do we have so many schemes in the air to stop him by all means? But they will not succeed no matter how hard they try because we know both the will of God and will of man are behind Uba’s political ambition. It is unfortunate that Mr. Onwukwe in his column in Daily Sun of Tuesday May 21, 2013 could not read between the lines. What the so called clerics advised Gov. Obi to do is simply to try everything within his capacity to impose his stooge on Anambra people. This is what experience has told us. A truly democratic scholar should join Chief to ask for increased democratic space and structures for free and fair election. And allow Anambra people to decide who should govern them. It is so unfortunate that Gov. Obi, who is the greatest beneficiary of democratic culture in this dispensation could seat before his fair-weather friends and talk glibly about imposition and godfatherism. Obidike claims to be media aide to Chief Ifeanyi Ubah...(Sun)
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 09:33:11 +0000
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