Obiano: Anambra’s surprise man on December 03, 2013 / in Anambra Elections, Politics 12:10 am / Comments By VINCENT UJUMADU Chief Willie Obiano, a chartered accountant and seasoned banker, has become the main topic for discussion among the political class in Anambra as he settles down as a governor –elect. The Aguleri, Anambra East local government area –born financial technocrat -turned politician, was one of the major surprises of the Anambra gubernatorial campaigns, having remained in the background while other Anambrarians were jostling from pillar to post wanting to become successor to Governor Peter Obi in 2014. Though his name started making the rounds as one of the people that may emerge in the political scene in the build up to Anambra governorship election, it was not until few weeks to the gubernatorial primaries of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) on August 26, 2013 that he surfaced in the state. His first appearance was at the APGA state headquarters in Awka in early August this year when he was at the party secretariat to meet the leadership of the party and to pick the expression of interest form. While he sat inside the back of the SUV waiting for officials of APGA, who were attending another meeting to come, it could be seen from the way he was interacting with people he was even meeting for the first time, he is a good mixer. Even though he was the last to join the race for the APGA governorship ticket, he beat all the other contestants hands down. The story however was that he made it because Governor Obi is behind him. At the primaries, he scored a total of 817 out of 1,072 votes cast, while. Mrs. Uche Ekwunife of the House of Representatives came second with 150 votes. Other contestants, Paul Odenigbo had 49 votes, Emeka Nwogbo scored 22 votes and John Nwosu, 18 votes. Two persons, Prince John Emeka and Patrick Obianwu had earlier either withdrawn or stepped down for Obiano before the commencement of voting. From his acceptance speech after the primaries to the last day of the campaigns, Obiano had remained consistent in saying that he is an apostle of continuity. Hear him after the primaries: “I speak to you today with every sense of humility and accept this call with full sense of humility and responsibility. I congratulate other aspirants, even those who were disqualified. My dear friends, this is not the end but our job has just begun. It is not personal, but a victory for all; I will work tirelessly with the governor (Peter Obi) to ensure continuity of the project.” What Obiano had going for him was the Anambra North factor. Governor Obi had vowed to hand over to somebody from the area to give them a sense of belonging and even when many people from the area say they do not have the financial muscle like people from Anambra South and Central to finance governorship projects, Obi appeared to spearhead the project through his performance. The argument was that with the appreciable performance of the outgoing governor, only an APGA government would sustain the tempo of development. And indeed, the message sank. While the allegation about his alleged double voter registration was being made, he kept mute and it was only on one occasion that he stated how he had to do the voters transfer from Lagos to Anambra State because he had to vote for himself as a candidate. With Governor Obi and the national chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh leading his campaign to all the nooks and crannies of Anambra State, Obiano consistently praised the efforts of Obi in developing the state and how he would continue from where the governor will stop. What could have derailed the Obiano project was the emergence of Tony Nwoye as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP few days to the election. However, the system or the gods were apparently committed to Obiano and so, he emerged victorious after last weekend’s supplementary election QUOTE!!!!!!!!!!!! “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding!!!!!!!
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 06:34:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015