…Reveals Pact between Ojukwu and Obi
Governor Peter Obi of Anambra state reached an agreement with the late Ikemba, Chief Emeka Odumegu-Ojukwu, to support a person from Ojukwu’s home town of Nnewi as his successor.
Four high chiefs from Obi’s home town, Agulu, Anaocha LGA, have therefore cried out to the out-going Governor that it would be unconscionable and condemnable of him to whimsically renege on the promise he made to the supreme Igbo leader who had against all odds convinced the Anambra people to vote in Obi as Governor eight years ago. The chiefs told journalists in Agulu, on Wednesday that was an agreement between Ojukwu and Obi. The chiefs, Ozo Ebubeagu Onyedibe, Ichie Hon. Anthony Oguejiofor, Sir Chief Chistopher Chukwuemeka Diliinye, and Chief Ichie Julius Iloh, said that they were disturbed that the binding promise that Obi reached with Ojukwu, has been reneged upon simply because Ojukwu is now dead. They said they were not only present when Obi made that statement but that day they were actually the ones who spoke on Obi’s behalf because “he is a small boy and should not be heard when real elders are talking”. So that day we were the ones who spoke on his behalf, we asked Ojukwu to support our son, Peter Obi, who is from our home town of Agulu. The respected Ikemba, may his souls rest in perfect peace agreed to our demands and promised to openly ask Anambra people to vote Obi in as governor just for his, Ojukwu’s own sake. It is on record that Ojukwu made that request; and because Ndi-Igbo could not say no to the great warrior and uncommon leader who sacrificed everything for his beloved people, Ndi-Igbo, Obi was voted in as Governor”.
Onyedibe, the Head of Ozo Ezeana Obeneshi Agulu, who spoke for the group said that it was also on record that Ojukwu asked that Obi should work for an Nnewi person to succeed him, and only after that should the needed rotation among the various peoples of the state continue. It was based on that firm promise which Obi swore to and sealed before a man that is now among the ancestors that he nominated an Nnewi woman Dame Virgy Etiaba to be his Deputy-Governor with the full understanding that Obi would not seek a second term but leave office after four years single tenure.
Now, Obi has served for two terms instead of one, but it is his promise to Ojukwu that bothers us. If he wants to break it by supporting Willie Obiano of his All Progressive Grand Alliance party, we want to say that as old men, we cannot join him in hiding, disrespecting and desecrating the truth. We are titled elders and so we are not supposed to lie, and Obi knows that I am telling the truth. I also had believed that Obi as a Governor and a very religious Catholic, should have no problem with keeping his promises – especially those made to a dead man who is no longer here to ask him any questions or state his own side of the story. Sincerely, people should not tell lies against the dead, and promises made to anybody, whether living or dead, but more so the dead, them should be respected.
Now that an Nnewi man, Dr. Ifeanyi Patrick Ubah is in the race to be Obi’s successor as Governor, we thought that Obi should have done everything to support him or even attract him to APGA. And if he does not like Ubah, he should have attempted to find another Nnewi man or woman in the same way that he found and brought up Obiano who was a banker and never a politician until now, to fly the APGA flag.
The chiefs, Onyedibe, Dilinye the Ichie Ukwuzo 1 of Agulu, Ilo the Ichie Ukwu of Ebentoor Agulu and Oguejiofor the Agidigbo of Agulu, Akaeze Agulu, said “We want to state that we are from the same Agulu town with Governor Obi. He is our son. We have stood by him through several crises. We will still stand by him as he leaves the Governor’s office and climb higher in Nigerian politics or business. But on this promise to Ojukwu, we cannot support him in flouting it. We know that we have no powers, but our support is for Dr. Ifeanyi Patrick Ubah because it is a promise we made while negotiating with Ojukwu who is no longer on this plane of existence with us – but it remains Agulu’s promise to Nnewi; our senatorial District to Ojukwu’s.
We call on Governor Obi who is our son and we are his fathers; we call on him to do the right thing and support Ubah’s candidacy. God and man have heard us; that is the duty we owe to our consciences. Anambra voters should show any regard to the man they called their leader in war and peace time and vote in Ubah as Governor. This will be mark of regard for Ojukwu’s memory.”
