A leading nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Anambra State has accused the outgoing state governor, Mr Peter Obi, of being anti-Igbo as far as the economic development of the state is concerned.
In a statement in Onitsha today, the Anambra Renewal Movement (ARM) charged the governor of using resources of the Anambra people to develop his several businesses located outside not just the state but also the entire Southeast geopolitical zone even though he has been the chairman of the Conference of Southeast Governors for an unprecedented long period.
In the statement signed by its president, Dr Barnabas Nwokike, and the secretary, Geofrey Obiamalu, ARM mentioned two examples of key investments made outside Igboland by his private firm since he became the Anambra State governor in 2006, claiming that the firm is “most likely to be financed by the resources of our people which are not even adequate to meet the basic needs of the state”.
The group cited the instance of Next International Shopping Mall in Abuja, which it described as the largest shopping complex in the Federal Capital Territory.
“It must have cost at least five billion naira”, it stated, noting that it was “conceived, designed, built and completed while Mr Obi was in office as the Anambra State governor”.
ARM observed that “even in the unlikely event that the money of the Anambra State people was not diverted to this humungous project”, most reasonable people would have expected that the complex “would be located in the state to enhance economic activity, employ our numerous idle but highly talented and educated people and assist in the enhancement of the architectural aesthetics of our environment.
“The expectation owed to the frenetic and energetic manner in which the governor has of late been going about his Igbo nationalism.
“Many people thought he was sincere until they began to cross check facts and saw through the gaping hole between rhetoric and reality.
“While the governor tries to demonise any person who does not belong to his All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which he calls the Igbo party, he has ensured that all his investments are outside Igboland”.
ARM said that it was not likely that the Next International Shopping Complex in Abuja could be built without “the outgoing governor tampering with the state’s funds if his antecedents are anything to go by”.
After all, it recalled, the governor’s closest aides were caught by policemen on Sunday, May 31 , 2009, at the headquarters of Next International at 7, Aerodrome Road in Apapa, Lagos, with 255million naira cash in a sport utility vehicle belonging to the Anambra State government, which forced Mr Obi to abort his official trip to Abuja and flew hurriedly from Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu to Lagos to personally take charge of the damage control measure which included heavy lobbying of journalists at Planet Hotel in Maryland, Lagos.
The group also cited the disqualification of former Central Bank governor Chukwuma Soludo from the APGA primaries as an example of Gov Obi’s anti-Igbo agenda.
Professor Soludo was disqualified reportedly because President Goodluck Jonathan might not be favourably disposed towards him for fear that the CBN governor might not support him in the 2015 general elections.
ARM wondered whether Jonathan “is either Igbo or an APGA member that his body language should be of utmost concern to the outgoing governor who seems satisfied to exploit the Igbo for his personal benefit”.
