It might not be the best of times for the immediate past governor of Anambra State, Chief Peter Obi. The myth appears to be thawing from the cult wizardry shrouding the ex-governor’s management of state resources while he reigned. This presumed expertise culminated in the much touted bequeathing of an impressive N75bn assets portfolio to Governor Willie Obiano, his successor. Since Obi proudly declared this inheritance a few days to vacating office on 17 March, 2014, the subject has understandably enjoyed sustained mention in the media, particularly the social media. Its recent hype in the mainstream media derives from the heightening piteous insolvency amongst state governments across Nigeria. The N75bn claim therefore stuck as the icing on Obi’s brilliant credentials in governance. Nineteen months after Obi’s declaration, Anambra’s healthy finances under Governor Obiano are unwittingly linked to Obi’s prudence. But Chief Obiano would now dispel this misrepresentation.
In a Press Conference on the 14th of November in Awka, the Government of Anambra State put holes in Obi’s N75bn claim. The assets portfolio purportedly handed to Chief Willie Obiano was discountenanced as a ruse, Prof. Solo Chukwulobelu’s (Secretary to the State Government) modesty in recognizing the ex-governor’s brilliance in governance regardless. The weighty incongruities in Obi’s declaration, against held position of the State Government were bared following the participatory clarifications among participants in the press session.
In defense of their patron, however, Obi’s men, in frenzied feats, insist that Obi, in his beneficence, left even a lot more than the declared assets – as if Obi was at liberty to choose what to add or remove from the record of his stewardship. One wonders if official records have ceased to be sacrosanct. In good conscience, since the issues in contention are technical they are less deserving of emotional defence, lest sound judgment suffers impairment.
For instance, the glaring discrepancy in Obi’s declaration of N3.5bn investment in Intafact Beverages Limited against the N1.4bn record of such holding available to both the State Government and Intafact need suffer no contradictions; just as Obi’s self-appropriation of Anambra’s N750m inheritance from Late Michael Okpala’s age-long investment in Emenite is dismissible. Again, how could one fault the query hanging on the untraced N250m 400MW project in Ogbaru which Obi bequeathed Obiano? Beside these, components of some of the portfolios in the N75bn scheme make their investment status suspect. For such gray areas, some expertise might be required to aid fair appreciation of the situation.
Loading ...These days the media space is suffused with fanciful tales of Obiano’s bent on improved salaries and enhanced workers’ welfare package in the state; we are told of the prodigality in furnishings and prodigious projects like the ongoing construction of the three flyovers in Awka, the roads to the Cargo Airport and the facelift of the Governor’s Office and Lodge. In a publication on page 15 of Vanguard Newspaper of Friday, November 20, 2015, Obi, in reacting to Obiano’s position on the N75bn, was reported as saying that ‘N5 billion (was) approved by the present administration for the celebration of the first 100 days in office … hundreds of billions (was) spent for 2014 Christmas decoration and buying of horses.’ We are put under pressure to believe that by these acts Obi’s legacy was frittered away. N5 billion in 100 days, hundreds of billions in nine months including other sundry squandering – out of N75bn lifeline? And the state still surviving many months after? Surely the figures, the impressions and the reality fail to add up. They rather conspire to put a lie to Obi’s conjectures.
Given the intensity and spread of puerile hate campaign against Obiano, it is clear that what drives the motive goes beyond functional critiquing of Obiano’s administration. The bile draining from Obi’s camp is suggestive of a sly godfather’s poise to avenge a failed bid. The current script was foreshadowed early in Obiano’s administration. A publication by Anambra State Concerned Professionals in the Nation Newspaper of April 11, 2014, warned about the ‘Dubious Demand for Refund of N7bn Election Expenses.’ Palpable perceptions are that the relationship between Obi and Obiano has since after the inauguration been dictated by the governor’s handling of this nocturnal liability.
Considering the sensitive nature of the N75bn core discourse and the lures of far-fetched poetics on a governor’s prodigality, the conclusions of the ensuing arguments might be long in coming. How ever the blame pendulum swings, the state would do better without the bitterness budding from the stables of zealous acolytes emboldened by a master’s surreptitious prodding.
All these brouhaha notwithstanding, it is pertinent to note that the Anambra State Government has not only evidenced growing and healthy economy, none of the contentious accounts for which Obiano’s crucifixion is canvassed has been accessed. Anambra State Government under Chief Willie Obiano has, since its inauguration, operated within the confines of dwindling federal receipts and progressively increasing Internally Generated Revenue. The reality of this position tend to incense those whose bent on demonizing Governor Obiano has made blind to the Governor’s signature attainments in rendering a secure and economically vibrant polity.
For those who might hazard condemning Obiano’s presumably delayed response to Obi’s bogus legacy, the wisdom in Diodotus’s speech that saved Mytileneoans from the threat of ancient Athens would suffice: ‘Those who make wise decisions are more formidable to their enemies than those who rush madly into strong actions.’ This agrees no less with our own Achebe’s counsel against ‘Fly(ing) off at a tangent and get(ting) lost altogether in the heady clouds…’ Obiano should not be bullied for choosing to be heard just now; probably if his preferences for restrained theatrics were obliged, the public would have been spared the sensations that characterize the disputations today.
While history will fairly report Obi for keeping his promise of facilitating the emergence of a successor who would be better and greater than he (Obi) was, wisdom admonishes weariness of the capricious traits of success, else a momentary feat of spite could dismiss a heritage that would otherwise endure.
Okechukwu Anarado writes from Adazi-Nnukwu.
