PETER OBI: A GOVERNOR WITH A DIFFERENCE. It was Plato, the classical Greek Philosopher who said in his Classic work: THE REPUBLIC that unless philosophers become kings or kings turn to philosophy, the problem of the human society will never cease to exist. This assertion from Plato simply profess the profound ingenuity of a philosopher whose actions are directed by reason and with virtueous mind that concors to moral principles not as a part-time Concord but as a consistent way of life. The tenure of the Anambra state governor Mr.Gregory Peter Onwubuya Obi ends today March 17,2014 having served the state for eight years. The history of Nigerian Politics will not be complete without mentioning the impact of Peters unprecedented contribution towards redefining our democracy. After his mandate was stolen in 2003 by PDP under the gangsteric politics of the Uba family, he went to court against the advise of many to jettison the legal battle and accept political compensation. The argument by his detractors was that it was impossible to reclaim a stolen mandate in Nigerian politics let alone that of a coverted governorship post. But Peter would not bulge infact he was determined to prove them wrong and change the face of Nigerian politics. On March 16, 2006 after 36 months of protracted legal battle, Peter won thus making history as the first governor to reclaim his stolen mandate via legal process. It was indeed moment of immense joy for Anambrarians who yearned for the change Peter represented having challenged their political consciousness when he ardoned the streets of the state with his philosophic campaign maxim Anambra state are we cursed or are we the curse? .This question no doubt has been answered by his eight years of visionary leadership. It was indeed Abambrarians who were the cause of the states woes at the time. But hardly had Peter rolled out his master plan for the state that his six months old administration was terminated through illegal impeachment on Nov 2 2006. His crime was that he was percieved as a stumbling block to Andy Uba whom President Obasanjo had promised to settle with governorship of the state for his loyal service in Aso rock for eight years. Anambrarians were thrown into sorrowful mood as they helplessly watch their new conceived progressive governance aborted by Abuja based powers-that be. Peter again returned to court having advised his supporters to be law abiding and trust in the judiciary. Three months after his impeachment, Peter was reinstated and again making history as the first governor in the history of Nigeria to regain his seat after impeachement. Balarabe Musa of old kaduna state was the first governor to be impeached but unfortunately he could not return. But again Peter would face another baptism by fire as presidency had directed Maurice Iwu led INEC not to substitute Virgy Etiabas name with Peters since the former (who was Peters deputy) had been fronted by APGA in view of 2007 governorship election. The PDP political calculation was that virgy would be an easy push over than Peter and their calculation was right. This denial turned out to be a divine plan designed to redefine Nigerian political time table and landscape. Peter again went to court to stop INEC from conducting governorship election citing section 180 sub-section 2 of the 1999 constitution which declears that the tenure of a governor starts from the day he took the oath of office and would run for four years except in the case whereby the governor dies or became incapacitated by ill health. Peter was not able to stop INEC from conducting the election neither was the prayers of his counsel; Bright Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) granted on 28th May 2007 to stop the swearing in of Andy Uba who was the beneficiary of the criminality called election by INEC. However, justice kastina-Alu led panel of supreme court justices expressly stated that the swearing in of Andy Uba does not extinguish the Res of the case brought by peter. Andy Uba was sworn in but stayed only sixteen days as the supreme court ordered him to vacate the governors office for Peter to complete his term. Peter again proved the confidence in Nigerian Judiciary. It was a landmark judgement that changed the time table of Nigerian election. Anambra state thus paved way for a reinforced federalism where component units move at their pace without neccessarily suffocating in the unified pace of the center. With Peters return by the supreme court, it was obvious that most political obstacles have been dealt with hence time to get to work and make up for time lost. This Peter did through Anambra integrated development Strategy (ANIDS). Every single sector of the state received due attention and aggressive infrastructure development took place. His giant strides includes: completion of over 800km of roads, attraction of foreign investement such as sabmiller brewery, computerization of over 270 secondary schools in the state, building of stock Exchange in Onitsha, two mini stadia in Onitsha, Judges complex, new state secreteriat, Orient refinary, CBN branch, over 200 hilux vans to security agencies, accreditation of all the sixteen general hospitals in the state, kidney and cardiac center at General hospital Onitsha, Anambra state University Teaching hospital, return of schools to churches, massive civil service recruitment, unprecendented erosion control significantly at NANKA, OKO, EKWULUOBI and AGULU. First official cars to permanent secretaries, judges, magistrates, traditional rulers, bore hole in all the 177 communities of the state, school buses to over 270 public secondary schools in the state, generator sets to schools including private schools, Shoprite in Onitsha, Awka and Nnewi, housing estates in Awka, school of Agriculture Mgbakwu, upgrade of school of health obosi, over 200 buses for Transport Corporation of Anambra State (TRACAS), rehabilitation of Onitsha water scheme, and host of other achievements. The striking thing about Peters style of governance is his prudence with finance and ability to conceive long term projects. For example in 2008 Onitsha was listed as one of the fasted growing cities in the world along a city in Singapore which politically means that Onitsha is already on UN-habitat map and as such implementation of Onitsha master plan would be of global interest. To this effect, Peter has opened up nearest suburbs to Onitsha such as Ogidi and Obosi to aid in decongestion of the Mega city. Peters visionary leadership also brought about federal projects to south East. Such include the upgrade of Akanu Ibiam airport Enugu to international standard, ground breaking of second Niger bridge, repair of Enugu- Portharcourt road, Enugu-Onitsha road, Ohaofia military barracks, state burial to late Biafran leader Odumegwu Ojukwu, appointment of Igbo sons and daughters to strategic positions in federal positions and federal commercial support to Innoson motor factory Nnewi. As the former chairman of South East governors forum, vice chairman defunct Nigerian governors forum (under Rotimi Amechi) and member Nigerian economic team, Peter has distinguished himself with excellence and ingenious style of leadership. Above all, Peter has raised the political consciousness of Anambrarians such that they can distinguish between political administration and political showmanship. This accounted for their recent massive support to Willie Obiano(the new governor) as against the political popular Chris Ngige. Indeed Anambrarians knows best to entrust their mandate with people that have shown consistent excellence in resource management than those that throws money into where their emotive drives points to score cheap political gains at the expense of long term development. Peters impact to Nigerian democracy can scarecely be contained in a write up as short as this. His deep Catholic background, financial prudence, administrative sagacity and intellectual ingenuity gelled together to produce the personality -PETER OBI. This personality continues to be an enigma to his detractors who cannot outsmarts him even with their wealth. His simplicity is as challenging as his academic profile. After eight years of governance, Peter leaves #75 billion for his successor including $25billion consolidated assets. He has challenged those in doubt to investigate the financial status of the state even as he has set aside two years salary of new recruits into the civil service. Peter would be greatly missed by Anambrarians, the likes of Dangote, Okonjo- Iwuala, Ben Bruce, Anyaoku, and others have described him as an outstanding manager of human and financial resources. His team of commissioners are champions in their chosen professions hence the administrations success came naturally. Plato is indeed vindicated in Peter. Until Philosophers become kings or kings turn to philosophy, the ills of the human society will persist Celestine Chidozie Writes from Ibadan.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 03:54:23 +0000
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