Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, may emerge as the new Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), in the ongoing reorganisation of the federal cabinet, which President Goodluck Jonathan started a few months ago. Obi’s tenure as governor ends on Monday, March 17, 2014, when Anambra State Governor-elect, Chief Willie Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), will be sworn in. Last week, President Jonathan strengthened his cabinet, with the swearing in of 11 ministers, who were also assigned portfolios. He’s also expected to nominate a few more ministers to replace the four, who were removed recently. Not long ago, Jonathan had equally replaced the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, Chief of Air Staff and Chief of Defence Staff. Daily Sun gathered that with the appointment of new ministers, President Jonathan has also made up his mind to appoint a new SGF, who directly supervises the ministers. In the choice of a new SGF, it was gathered that three names have been considered. They are Governor Obi, Senator Emmanuel Onwe and Senator Ben Obi, Senior Special Adviser to the President on Inter-party Affairs. Senator Onwe, a lawyer from Ebonyi State, contested for senatorial seat in 2007 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in his effort to represent Ebonyi Central. Although he won the election, he spent nearly three and half years in court before his victory was affirmed. The Court of Appeal in Enugu, had, on July 16, 2010, upheld Onwe’s appeal and declared that he was the duly-elected candidate to represent Ebonyi Central, ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue him a Certificate of Return. It took two weeks before INEC complied, after which Senate President David Mark allowed Onwe to take his oath of office as a senator on August 10, 2010, after three failed attempts. In January 2011, however, the Supreme Court overturned Onwe’s victory in the Appeal Court. Senator Obi, from Anambra State, was one of those who founded, with Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, the Nigeria Advance Party (NAP) in 1978. He was also a founding member of Social Democratic Party (SDP). The senator was a founding member of the Congress for National Consensus (CNC) and at one time the Acting National Secretary of the party. In 1998, he and other Nigerians founded the All Peoples Party (APP) under which he became the pioneer National Secretary. He joined the PDP in 2002, having been offered the party’s platform to contest the Anambra senatorial elections, which he obtained and won virtually unopposed. In 2006, he was among those PDP members who were de-registered by the party, which led them into founding the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on whose platform he ended up as the vice presidential candidate in 2007 to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. Competent sources in the Presidency confirmed to Daily Sun that Governor Obi is favoured to clinch the position because of the close relationship between the APGA, his political party and the ruling PDP. In the last couple of years, Obi has maintained a robust relationship with the President, despite political parties’ differences. He is a member of the Federal Government’s Economic Team, which also has such personalities as Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group; Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, former Managing Director of Access Bank Plc; Ms Arunma Oteh, Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Minister of Finance among others. At the weekend, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala had given indication of a federal appointment for Governor Obi. Speaking at Obi’s End of Tenure Report, in Awka, Anambra State capital, the finance minister stated that the Federal Government would not leave the outgoing Anambra State governor alone, as it would want to tap from his wealth of experience and diligence he exhibited as governor. The finance minister jokingly told Obi’s wife that if she were thinking of packing a suitcase for the governor to go on vacation, after leaving office next week, she should forget it, as he would be engaged by the Federal Government. Sources revealed that Jonathan penciled down Governor Obi for the post of SGF because he wants a position, which does not require the screening and approval of the Senate. It was leant that the president earlier considered the governor for the post of minister, but changed the plan, owing to the fact that he would be subjected to Senate’s screening. Jonathan, it was learnt, does not want a situation where senators may scuttle the appointment, during the screening, since Obi is a member of another political party other than PDP. On what would become of Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, the current SGF, the source revealed that he would be given another assignment, possibly in the presidential campaign team of President Jonathan. It was gathered that the President believes that Anyim has served well and is also loyal to the government and, therefore, would not be left in the limbo.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 06:26:54 +0000
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