Perceptions 2023: Peter Obi

Femi Akintunde-Johnson

By the mere spectre of appearances and possibly autosuggestion, Peter Gregory Obi appears like one of the brightest persons that should lead these disparate nations blithely called Nigeria into the next decade: well educated, well trained, well prepared; he comported himself above average in governance; and remarkably prudent in the management of state resources.

Obi came into our consciousness when he contested for the turbulent governor’s seat in Anambra State in 2003 as a member of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, against the PDP candidate, Dr. Chris Ngige. He believed he was blatantly robbed, and spent the next three years pulling the ears of the judiciary to hear his case, and give him justice. The Court of Appeal hearkened unto his pleas in 2006; and Ngige was “de-seated”.

In March 2006, Peter Obi was sworn in as Anambra governor in a state whose legislature was dominated by the aggrieved PDP. It didn’t take the legislators up to eight months to contrive some heinous charges, and uproot the ambitious businessman and naive politician. So, in November, 2006, Obi was impeached, and kicked out of the state house. His deputy, Virginia Ngozi Etiaba, became the first substantive female governor in Nigeria – for three months.

Of course, Obi was relentless; he resumed his judicial wrangling, and he found compassionate ears again in the court which reinstated him in February 2007. Nonetheless, his troubles did not abate. A couple of months after his return, the 2007 election was upon him, and PDP’s Andy Uba was swept in as the next governor. Obi would hear none of it. He insisted he had not completed his obligatory four-year term as a result of the sundry political impediments erected on his path. The Supreme Court agreed with him, nullified Uba’s election, and for the third time on the canter, installed Obi, so he could complete his tenure. Eventually, his first term ended in 2010, and he confidently won the second election attempt to cement an unbroken second term.

Obi came into governance well stuffed, economically and educationally. Apart from obtaining a philosophy degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 1984), he also attended several short courses to hone his management skills: in Lagos Business School, Harvard Business School, Boston, USA; London School of Economics, Institute for Management Development, Switzerland; Kellogg Graduate School of Management, USA; Oxford University’s Said Business School and Cambridge University’s Judge Business School (both in UK).

With well-tuned corporate muscles gained in few financial companies, Obi’s time as governor was rated to be above average when juxtaposed against the coterie of journeymen who have ruled that region in the past 20 years. When he left office in 2014, Anambra had been stabilized socio-economically; salaries and gratuities were paid as and when due; the balance sheet of the state was healthy and promising, posting several billions of naira in reserves, and not a whiff of debt…something rare in our mystifying administration of state affairs. It was this burgeoning reputation that earned him a spot on the PDP presidential ticket for the 2019 elections.

That same opportunity, to his critics, was perhaps most illustrative of some level of desperation that persuaded a well-adjusted and seemingly pristine Peter Obi to accept the role of a running mate to an individual whose notorious baggage had made him virtually unelectable, overwhelming whatever putative attributes the pairing could have engendered.

(To Be Continued)

BOLA AHMED TINUBU (Part 2)

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s critics also accuse him of a unique profundity: the rare capacity to be famous (well-known) as a personality, yet strangely amorphous in persona. Here is something roughly aping inscrutable virgin conception: some folks quarrel over his age, his parentage, his basic educational qualification, and such indexes that normal people take for granted.

His supporters believe such views of him are stewed in jealousy, frustrated envy and blatant pull-him-down syndrome – after all, the man worked in Mobil Oil, an international corporation that many of his traducers will commit to bloody ritual sacrifices to get inside; he served in offices that demanded electoral gatekeeping… if he scaled those hurdles without official hiccups, the current contrived hoopla can only be mischievous, and idlers chasing shadows.

Surefooted and bullish, the arguments on both ends of the Tinubu fiasco are compelling and cogent. Yet, the man in the middle of the road should just vote for clarity where shades are alleged; and forthrightness where confusion belittles the steps of a man touted as a fantastic power-player and a revered enabler of men and resources.

It does smack of some sloppiness in finesse and comportment when a famous dancer has to scamper around looking for the perfect rhythm to project his great artistry, doesn’t it? You would think the dancer’s dexterity should soar, even in a rhythm-less orchestra. But we digress.

Tinubu is also credited with a near inhuman capacity to bounce back from crushing blows of disloyalty and dissembling from stalwarts who climbed his shoulders to ascend pedestals of power and personal enrichment… examples abound and continue to crawl out of the woodwork. He needs it; for we suspect more long knives await him in weeks and months ahead as he deplores his famed strategic ammunition, and travels the shifty crevices of Nigerian political fabrics in pursuit of his ‘life-time’ ambition.

Another crucible on the neck of Tinubu is his supposed overarching control of the power loins of Lagos State, which has incensed some core Lagosians for many years. The hapless throng of Lagosians resent and begrudge the establishment and virality of “Baba-Sọpe” (the godfather has spoken). That word may be broadly described as the spunk and audacity of one man (Baba) to select an individual of his liking, and subsequently convince (sọpe) others of the urgency and sanctity of working and pushing (even stealing, maiming, and killing, if necessary) for the success of the anointed fellow. A throw-back to the mafioso-rife communities of Sicily, Italy

Wherever Tinubu’s name is mentioned, especially as it concerns Nigerian presidential politics, there immediately arouses two opposite but bitterly divergent chasms – and there’s no prisoners kept: one side is vehement in vitriol and the other passionate in praise. No middle of the road, it appears, when the affairs of the nation are weighed against the prospect of a Tinubu presidency.

Nigerians just want a good man or woman in power, who is not likely to be imprisoned or crippled by pre-existing conditions (medical, moral or spiritual) which could become debilitating under the intense and maniacal pressure of effectively governing the beautifully turbulent country of 200 million people called Nigeria, and its many vigorous and rancorous nations.