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For Anambra, The Battle Must Continue By Obiora, Fabian Chukwuma
It was the late former Senate President, Dr Chuba Okadigbo, incidentally from Anambra state that described politics in a very provocative if lewd manner. He likened politics to a bikini with its interesting revelations and tantalising, scant concealment. The Anambra imbroglio has provided more than enough ingredients to fit this description.
The Anambra saga reached a turning point when the court of appeal judgement affirmed an earlier lower court’s stand that Ngige and PDP never won the governorship election on 4-19 2003.
To be sure, Anambra is a tale of two Chrises. One is of the fence(Ngige) and the other of wealth(Uba). A failed relationship saw the Chris of the wealth trying to breach the fence to undo the other Chris. But he had all sorts of fence around him, true to his name - physical, legal, constitutional and populist. His adversary equally had a great war-chest, being fortified by ‘Uba’ in both senses – wealth and number. The physical fence was therefore easily breached but Chris of the fence still had his legal, constitutional and populist fence intact. Not even reinforcement of his fiends from higher centres was enough to undo him. Ironically, the legal and constitutional fence that had hitherto protected him eventually did him in. But it did the other Chris no favours either.
The details of the events described above are lurid and eye watering. It brought to the fore naked ambition, avarice, idol worship, unprecedented plundering of public funds, massive election rigging, intrigues, mudslinging, grand deception and more, which have proved to be the hallmarks of politics in Nigeria – interesting revelations! And the scant concealment – We may never know why only Chris Ngige of all that were rigged into executive office, lost his position. We may never know the relationship between Obasanjo and Chris Uba and indeed other touts in Nigeria. We my never be able to tell why there is so much negative interest in Anambra State.
Chris Ngige became the governor of Anambra state on the platform of PDP on 29th May 2003. Prior to this time, successive governors and their cronies had serially raped the state. The state was massively in debt. Roads were the worst in the country, salaries were not paid, no social amenities. In fact by May 2003 many secondary schools in the state had lost one academic session due to protracted strike action by the teachers occasioned by backlog of unpaid salaries, yet the state receives monthly allocations from the federation account. Curiously, millionaires were springing up here and there in the state. It was in this miasma that Ngige took over the reigns of power in Anambra state. The crises that followed exposed the cartel that had milked the state dry with the active collusion of a morally bankrupt federal government. Ngige quite surprisingly (considering how he came to power), stood his ground and maintained that this purloining business must stop. He went a step further. He made Anambra people feel for the first time, the presence of government. He paid off the backlog of salaries and started developing infrastructure – something hitherto seen only on television in the state. He became the darling of all in Anambra and beyond. But the beasts benefiting from the status quo could not let him be. They went from kidnapping to court through PDP suspension all in a bid to remove him from office, but he remained resolute and focused. Finally, out of desperation and obviously egged on by a federal government that has no redeeming features, they went into destruction spree. Of course the police were there to ensure that the destruction was carried out to its logical conclusion! By the time the smoke settled, Anambra was taken at least 60 years back! Till date, the beasts are walking free with the bigger beasts plotting to extend their misrule.
The change of baton that recently occurred never diminished Ngige one bit. In fact Peter Obi must forever remain grateful to Ngige for preserving his mandate from the hawks. Ngige actually thwarted their game plan. The plan was to intimidate Ngige out of office and install his deputy who will be a lackey, a la Okey Udeh. The tribunal will then be manipulated to affirm PDP’s victory and the looting and impunity continues. But Ngige’s ‘stubbornness’ presented a novel problem. The late entry of INEC into the fray, praying the court to cancel its own election, confirmed this and in fact showed the level of their desperation. It may be too early to conclude and rejoice that the era of the thieving and rogue godfathers that have bled the state white is gone, but Ngige’s attempt at stopping them remains unrivalled. That is why he is a hero. Obi must recognise him as such. He must take up this fight from where Ngige stopped if he must not end up in ignominy.
More than a few characters were thrown up in this stranger-than-fiction battle. Obasanjo has been the most disappointing. I was one of his greatest admirers and was actually involved in serious altercations several times with my friends who are disposed otherwise, on arguments bordering on his credentials and fair-mindedness. He actually pulled the rug under my feet. I saw a man actively destroying a state he is supposed to be protecting as a president. That is incestuous. He parried several questions on Anambra while the crises raged. When he managed to talk, his words were incredible. He said that certain issues transcended constitutionality and legality, in an obviously failed bid to justify the kidnap and attempt to intimidate a sitting governor out of office because he refused to hand over the state’s treasury to some scumbag. I instantly knew that Nigeria was in deep trouble, being presided over by this man. Beyond constitutionality and legality, what remains is illegal and unconstitutional. Is that what this president prescribes for Nigeria? Is that not a highway to the Hobbessian world? He added for good measure that Ngige should resign on moral grounds, even against the popular opinion of Anambrarians, leaving no shred of doubt about his reprehensible position in the festering crises. Today, the proponents of Obasanjo’s third term are anchoring their unpopular proposition on constitutionality and legality, especially when reminded that it scores zero on the moral scale. That informs the frenzy and dubiety with which the constitution is being amended. Political gymnastics, you may say! Despite his pretensions to the contrary, the Anambra debacle will forever remain a sore point in the annals of Obasanjo’s stewardship in Nigeria. Rogue and heartless leadership cannot be more pernicious. Hatred and disdain for a people cannot be more brazenly displayed by a sitting president. It is as incredible as it is unprecedented. The attack on Anambra is not due to Obasanjo’s love for Chris Uba and his brother, Andy as many would want us to believe. It is due rather to his hatred of Anambra and its people. The Uba brothers only happen to be willing tools and are in fact dispensable. Our hearts still bleed but we are convinced none of the vampires both in and out of office will go scot-free. They must reap the whirlwind in full measures, having sown in the wind.
One Femi Fani-Kayode, supposed to be speaking for the president, congratulated Peter Obi on his new position. He added for good measure that the court’s verdict justified Obasanjo’s earlier position that Ngige should resign, having rigged himself into office. That man’s statements are rather comical and puerile. He keeps spewing forth egregious illogicalities delivered in poorly constructed grammar. In most cases his conclusions never manage to connect with his premise, suggesting a very shallow thought. Assuming Ngige rigged elections in Anambra state, Is that why he should be kidnapped by the federal police? Is that why he should hand over the state’s treasury to Chris Uba? Is that why Chris Uba should be supported by federal government to burn down Anambra state? Yet, we know that Uba confessed to the arson and election rigging which earned him the nickname ‘odalu iwu eje nga’ meaning ‘one who breaks the law without going to jail’ by his evil admirers. Fani-Kayode could not mention Chris Uba as the actual election rigger. He was rather rewarded with the membership of their party’s Board of Trustees, the highest party position by any Anambra man or woman, by their party, the PDP. One is tempted to believe that this cerebral inadequacy also extends to the presidency itself. And we must ask, where does this rigged election leave Obasanjo and his ‘presidential mandate’?
Obiora, Fabian Chukwuma, 74 Cardigan Street, Luton Bedfordshire, LU1 1RR, United Kingdom.
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