Peter Obi: A Governor’s Dilemma

Peter Obi: A Governor’s Dilemma

By: Jimmy Osifo

Governor Peter Obi of Anambra state caught a pathetic picture of an individual under siege, but who desperately needs a rescue from his quandary. His statements in his recent press briefing on “the 2010 Governorship election in the state (Anambra)” exposed him as such. The Governor’s dilemma is understandable when one considers his experience with the 2003 election conducted by Dr. Abel Guobadia’s INEC, where his mandate was stolen by Dr. Chris Ngige of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Peter Obi’s saving grace was the Appeal Court judgment which restored him as the Governor of Anambra state.

In the press statement which was reported in some national newspapers of Tuesday February 17, 2009, Governor Obi stated emphatically that the only obstacle between him and the Anambra State Government house in the forthcoming 2010 gubernatorial election is presumed likely bias of Professor Maurice Iwu, chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. He called on the Federal Government to “sack Iwu now” before the election. There are pertinent questions arising from the Governor’s Awka pronouncements. Peter Obi needs to be asked if Iwu is the Resident Electoral Officer in Anambra state, whose responsibility it is to conduct the gubernatorial election in the state? Does Governor Peter Obi have it on a good authority that Iwu has instructed the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) to influence the outcome of the election to his detriment? Do the electoral laws vest on INEC the final authority to decide election winners without the courts? Has Peter Obi suddenly lost confidence in the judicial process that restored his 2003 mandate? Why is Peter Obi pushing the cart before the horse? Given his previous experience, one would have thought Peter Obi will be more pragmatic by ensuring the presence of vigilant polling agents and intelligence gathering in the likelihood of his election fears happening. Deep down in his heart, I think Governor Obi knows why he is adopting this panic strategy. We shall come to that in a short while.

Governor Peter Obi depicts the do-or-die character that is typical of the Nigerian politician, who will always desperately want to “serve the people”. In his apparently beleaguered state, he has unconsciously insulted the intelligence of the over 150 million Nigerians when he advocated we “ask Ghana to loan us their chief Electoral Officer for the purpose of election in Anambra state”. Is the Anambra State Governor suggesting that the Nigerian IQ is inferior to the Ghanaian? Does Peter Obi reason that there are no competent individuals to conduct credible elections in Nigeria? Is His Excellency crediting only the Electoral Commission in Ghana without also evaluating the positive contribution and cooperative attitude of the Ghanaian politician and the enabling environment provided by levels of Ghanaian government? Has he also thought that if such attitude and same environment is guaranteed our Electoral Commission by our politicians and levels of government, elections outcome will not be different? How does Governor Obi think? What has driven him to this level of inadequacy complex?

As I was saying, the Governor Obi we know should be more intelligent than the statements credited to him in his press briefing. We do know too that the Governor is really, stressed. The press briefing was simply a frantic strategic option at redeeming a waning hope to a dampened camp. His lack of coordination in his answers to questions posed by some journalists reflected his unsettled mind. The truth that must be told is that the Anambra people are holding Governor Obi to account for his four-year stewardship, but there is a difficulty on the part of the Governor in finding a correlation between his ambition to be returned for a second term and his failure to deliver political dividends to Anambra people in his first term in office. Put tersely, Peter Obi has not done well to deserve another term. He knows this. And the journalists in his press conference too, know. Hence, in desperation, he has become hysterical and un-coordinated.

Journalists in attendance at the press conference asked Governor Obi why his administration has failed to conduct Local Government election in his state since the expiration of the tenure of the last office holders. The Governor’s response to the question as reported in The Nation newspaper of Tuesday February 17, 2009 was not only awkward but undignifying. First, His Excellency declared that he knows the best “voting option”(?) that will suit Anambra political temperament, Option A4. “Local Government election without Option A4, he said, would likely precipitate mayhem…if you put ballot boxes anywhere in the state, they will carry it and run away”. What is Governor Peter Obi trying to rationalize? Is it his failure as the chief security officer, with stupendous security vote, to provide an enabling environment for the conduct of a Local Government election in his state? Is Peter Obi saying Iwu or INEC or his Ghanaian chief Electoral Officer will run away with the ballot boxes?

Amusingly, the same Governor also said that conducting Local Government election is a waste of the state’s financial resources “because there is already a process of selecting people into leadership position in Igbo land by the Umunna (kindred, community and village selection process)”. What Peter Obi did not however explain is how this Anambra peculiar brand of democracy works with the provision of the 1999 constitution on election of officials and local government administration in Nigeria.

Peter Obi’s real fear is the reality of losing the power and fortunes his office has brought him so far. He is truly embattled in all fronts. His perennially troubled APGA party’s popularity in Anambra politics has dwindled due to Obi’s misrule. There are indications that the party will not risk his candidature in the forth-coming election. The son to the Governor’s deputy is the next prospect for his position as APGA candidate. Obi’s approval rating among Anambra people is at its lowest ebb ever. His panic efforts at winning the people over by paying arrears of salaries and allowances owed workers in the state is not persuading. Several of his political appointees and top aides are deserting him in droves. Then, what was Peter Obi’s motive for his press conference? Was it an alarmist advocacy strategy to graduate his Umunna political concept in Anambra State? However, Governor Obi has unknowingly, succeeded in giving us insights to the murky terrain of Anambra politics and his leadership failure. INEC must have to grapple with this reality in its conduct of the 2010 election in the state. Nigerians must take note.

Jimmy Osifo is a public affairs analyst josifo@yahoo.com