The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Peter Obi

  • Obi claimed credits for my projects as governor, says Ngige

    Obi claimed credits for my projects as governor, says Ngige

    Senator Chris Ngige, former Anambra State Governor  and Labour and Employment Minister, reflects on his time in the Government House and lamented how his successor, Mr. Peter Obi, who inherited many of his projects, failed to give him any credit.  NICHOLAS KALU reports

    You have been Governor, senator and minister. Can you walk us through your journey through public service and politics?

    My journey to the Government House did not just start and I did not dropped from heaven and became a Minister. I did my primary school at St. Patrick’s Ogbete, Enugu. I went to St. John’s Secondary School, Alor. I was by the grace of God the school captain. I also had the second best result of school certificate from the school. I later went to University of Nigeria, Nsukka where I studied medicine. I did my prelim medicine in Nsukka campus in 1973 September to June of 1974. And thereafter, I had my MBBS degree in Medicine and Surgery in 1979. From there, I went to Onitsha General Hospital for my housemanship and I did my NYSC in 1980 to 1981. Thereafter I was employed into the National Assembly Service, the National Assembly Service Commission in 1981.

    Later on I was posted to the office of the Senate President as the Senate President’s physician. And not long after that, I did that job for just one year. The military struck in December 1983. And the National Assembly was the first casualty to be dissolved. And we were then absorbed into the Federal Civil Service. I alongside other colleagues became medical officers in the Federal Ministry of Health. After that, I was in the Federal Government Special Guest House Clinic.

    At one time I had a stint in Dodan Barack’s Clinic. And from there, I went on a course to Pakistan and did a System and Hospital Administration. I came back and went to the Ministry of Health headquarters as an Assistant Director and Consultant IV. And later on, I was promoted to Deputy Director. As we are doing that, the civilian regime was being formed by Abdulsalam Abubakar in 1998 and I decided to join partisan politics.

    At what point did you join politics?

    I joined the partisan politicians and I became a mentee of the late Dr. Alex Ekwueme, who was the brain box and the architect of G34. G34 also now formed the nucleus of the PDP. The 34 members, apart from about one, two, three of them, all others were members of the formation of the People’s Democratic Party.

    And like I said, I was new in partisan politics. So we had to do tutelage under Dr. Alex Ekwueme. We carried his bag to meetings, as politicians would call it. I am a founding member of PDP. Pa Solomon Lar was then elected by the Caucus. When democracy was full blown and the PDP had produced a president and National Assembly members, the other parties ANPP and AD also produced National Assembly members but they didn’t win the big trophy which is the presidential seat. Olusegun Obasanjo, our candidate and he won.

    I was elected as the National Secretary of the PDP and the Zonal Secretary for the South East Zone. We started that and served diligently again. From there, when the appraisals of governors were done in 2002, the party found the then Governor of Anambra State, the late Chinwoke Mbadinuju wanting and did not want to support him. So they didn’t give him an automatic ticket.

    Read Also: Unruly behaviour: Keyamo reads riot act on aviation safety, security

    Then, a group from Aka Ikenga in Lagos and Mbgoko Igbo in Lagos fused. But some people at home were pushing for my candidacy. I contested and won the primaries. To be a governor was not my first choice. My first choice was to be a senator.

    My journey through the government house is another kettle of fish, another big story. But I put in my best for the people of Anambra State. And from there, the court removed me. It’s important to know that I was the first governor to be removed by the court in Nigeria. At that time, governorship election petitions abated and stopped at the Court of Appeal level so it was easy for my traducers to do what they wanted to do. I had to leave honourably so that there would be no bloodshed in Anambra because the people were in a very bad mood. Yet, the people rallied around me and showed it in 2007, which the courts nullified. They also showed it in a 2010 governorship election. Again, some mysterious hands walked against me coming back and my votes were balkanized and a lot of them declared illicit. I moved from over 147,000 votes to I think they gave me either 87 or 88 thousand. And the winner of the election won with 96,000 votes and was declared winner. Professor Soludo came third after me with 85,000 votes.

    So, I took it again with equanimity, no hassles, and I won the contest for Senate in 2011, four years after. Because I won the senate seat, again, there was a very heavy backward push from INEC. INEC has always been the problem in Nigeria’s electoral process. All said and done, I won the majority of votes against the late Professor Dora Akunyili and I was sworn in as Senator for Anambra Central and I served from 2011 to 2015, four years. And after that, I couldn’t pass through for a second term in the Senate. But by then, we had formed the All Progressives Congress and I was the Campaign Deputy Director General in charge of the Southeast. So I was Zonal DG and after that, I was appointed Minister in the cabinet of late President Muhammadu Buhari.

    I was reappointed after four years when he came for his second term in 2019. And I served again from 2019 to May 2023 when the administration came to an end. And since then, I’ve been a private person trying to rebuild my life, my family life in particular because not being near home affected some of the family needs, bonding with children and so on.

    How have you impacted on the lives of the people of the state and the country in general?

    I had done a civil service job in the Department of Hospital Services of the Ministry. That department is in charge of medical practice in the teaching hospitals, federal medical centers, federal staff clinics, dental centers, and psychiatric centers all over Nigeria. And then the centers of excellence that were being established also served as units for specialization. I was in that department, like I said before, after my training in Hospital Administration and System Management. But before that I was in the clinics. I served in the National Assembly Clinic in 1004. So the legislators’ families were coming to me. One thing stands out for me. Whenever I was in the clinic, you will see a long line of patients wanting to see me. They didn’t want to go into other consulting rooms. I didn’t know why, but it happened. From practice, when I was in the Federal Government Special Guest House, I was the same. I was treating foreign patients and people like the former Liberian President, Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor. They were all patients. Even when Nelson Mandela visited Nigeria, I was officially attached to him because I was in charge of the Federal Government Special Guest House. Even the late M.K.O. Abiola, I was his doctor for the period 21 days when we were in Indonesia and Malaysia under the G15 Economic Cooperation Council, which Babangida initiated for us.

    In my handover note to Mr. Peter Obi, they affirmed that I had N13.8 billion left in all the various accounts. Obi is not the only person who left money. I left money for him, but he’s not talking about it, and that is not good. I left money for him in all those accounts. Also, I did articulated education, joining up JSS3 into UBEC. That was the idea of UBEC. Some of my secondary schools got new classrooms, new equipment. As a matter of fact, the computer system donation, which Obi did later, was my idea. I was the one who paid for HFP computers. I paid for 2,000. I renovated many hospitals. I’m a doctor. The Onitsha General Hospital didn’t have good theaters by the time I came back as governor. We had two theaters operating while I was there. When I came back, I put up three new theaters. I ordered for medical equipment because I wanted Onitsha to become a specialist hospital, which the Federal Government can take to be a medical center, which is what has happened now. 

    What did you do differently with Ekwenugwokeke Polytechnic?

    From Ekwenugwokeke Polytechnic, my predecessor said it was Anambra State University with seven buildings. So what did I do? Luckily, they had awarded contracts for those who will build faculty buildings, but no payments had been made. They couldn’t mobilize the contractors. I brought them back, mobilized them and they did faculty buildings immediately. When I came, there was no budget for them because it was May. So I did an extra budget for them and by 2004, we had invited the National University Commission (NUC) to come for accreditation. 60 courses were accredited in one fell swoop. Over 30 of them were full accreditation. In 2005, again, we did the same and they got full accreditation for those that had partial accreditation. By then we already had over 100 courses. Before I left, we had gotten the Council for Legal Education to approve their Law Faculty. Also, before we left, UBEC had conducted what they call an appraisal of schools that were under UBEC and Anambra, my state, won. They won three trophies. But by the time the trophies were being presented in December of 2006 or so, I had left office. So, the accolades went to my successor. But where I bother is that there is no mention that these things were done before my successor came. It is not right. There was also no mention that I had handed over schools to the missions in 2005, 95 schools, primary and secondary. The records are there. I did my broadcast, handed over the schools on October 1, 2005 under the supervision of then Commissioner of Education, Professor Leonard Moghalu, who is a Professor of Education. So we did a lot of work. Maybe my successor built them, but he’s saying he built them from ground zero, which is not good, which is not true. I have to talk about it now, because the government is a continuum and you need to give honor to whom honor is due. The money I left was construction money, majorly, because I have an account called Infrastructure Account. In that one, we had about N8.7 billion left there. Then the one in the CBN, we had over N1.7 billion, which I encumbered.

    Then the ones I left in other banks, Bank PHB and Zenith Bank and the rest of them are accounted for the other funds. My investments were not talked about. I invested in Orange Petroleum. I was the one who paid. I was also the one who got the land, the acreage Anambra State Government gave them to be monetized as our investment.

    Even though Orange Petroleum is not doing too well today, I made investments and Madame Etiaba also made her own investments into it. The bank debts, I paid them all off. I paid them all off. I didn’t owe any bank. The gratuities to civil servants who were there served and reached their retirement age, which is like severance, I paid all. Nobody was owed gratuity by the time I left. So, anybody claiming he paid all gratuities is not speaking the truth. I paid off everything as well as the pensions. The pension I didn’t pay is a component that is of old Anambra. I didn’t I pay because reconciliation and verification were needed. But once you are an Anambra person, and you’re a pensioner, I started giving them 142 % rise. I was the second state to do it in Nigeria. Peter Odili in Rivers started, then Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos. We paid 142 % rise. So pensioners, who were supposed to be paid 10,000 naira as pension, were getting 30,000 under my command in Anambra.

    I was also the governor who put salaries on the first line charge. You don’t need to see anybody before your salary is paid. Anambra is an economically commercial state. Their markets are their strength, starting from Onitsha Main Market, the Nnewi Market. Then after Onitsha Main Market, you now have Onitsha building materials and others. 

    Were you able to deliver urban renewal projects in some of the cities?

    I decongested Onitsha and sent out the people selling building materials and brought them to a land belonging to Ogidi, Nkpor, and Ogbunike. If you are driving into Onitsha from Okah end, you will see the building materials on both sides. Otherwise, they were in Onitsha, in William Street and Ozomagala Street and they were blocking the place. So I moved them. I moved the people selling electrical to Oba. Others selling stationeries and paper near QRC and CKC were moved to Onitsha. I decongested Onitsha and they started tarring the roads and opening them up. From the Onitsha Township Roads, we reticulated the roads into the hinterland of Anambra. We constructed a total of about 600 kilometers of roads. And when I say 600 kilometers of roads, I mean first-class roads that are still standing today. They are still standing, all of them. They were constructed by first-class contractors. Those who bought shops in that place that I relocated them to, paid just over N1 million. Those shops are costing N300 million today. And there are a lot of them. So I made their money to be big investments. I made their trade flourish. I made it for other Nigerians to come into Onitsha and buy. So I did all those.

     What impact did you make on the civil service?

    But again, people will not know that I restructured the civil service in Anambra State. I was the one who introduced the clocking-in system for work. I was also the one who put in promotion of civil servants by written exam and oral exam. It was absent until I came. I got that from my time at the federal level because I sat for exams. For the appointment of permanent secretary, I introduced exams, too. This was done on the whims and caprices of the governor.

    I encouraged the judiciary too to do that. In the appointment of judges, even though they were not writing exams, they did something near it. If you’re a lawyer who wants to be a judge, your chamber will be evaluated by a special team. My then Chief Judge told me that I had to stay clear from that area for him. So I didn’t interfere. But he showed me what he was doing. And I was satisfied with what he was doing. The first judges were appointed. We appointed 10 new judges, young men. Two of them are going to the Court of Appeal. One is the Chief Judge of Anambra State now. They were young. They were in their 30s. The eldest was in their 40s. They were firebrand boys. We had to make them judges. We also gave the judiciary new buildings, renovated their old ones. I gave them cars. I started the cars with my 10 judges because they were the newest. For the other people who had cars that had been broken down, we sat with these people and then we came back to those who had cars before that now needed to be replaced.

    The magistrates also got cars from me. I didn’t want magistrates to be standing in bus stops with their gown and all. Some of them were riding on okada. I was the first governor to do that. I was the first also to allow the Chief Judge to operate a budget. They weren’t operating on a budget. They were coming to the Governor’s Office for everything. I said, Accounting General, whatever we are budgeting for the judiciary, even though we are sure our money wouldn’t be 100 % complete in the budget because there must be a deficit element, we must give them the 60 % at least, which we were sure were going to have in budget implementations. We moved up 60 % to the Chief Judge’s office. So we gave the judiciary independence so to say. And there were so many other things we did in Anambra State which I cannot say but I was happy that I opened up the place.

    I did several road projects and the least of them was 20 kilometres. The then federal government didn’t give me a refund. They didn’t like my face. But they gave to my successor, Peter Obi, the sum of N15 billion. 

    Do you have any regrets leaving medicine for politics?

    I have not left medicine. Medicine is like an art. You learn it. It is like an art. You learn it. That’s why my three children are medical doctors. If the profession is not good, I won’t allow them to go there. I encourage them. So medicine is a noble profession. It’s a noble profession. And it has a way of taming you. Especially if you’re schooled in medical school in Nigeria here, you will be tamed, whether you like it or not. The exams will tame you.

    Through your professional and political life, what has been your guiding philosophy and what would you want to be remembered for after leaving the stage?

    Well, my guiding philosophy is that I want a lot of people, the generality of people to be happy. That is why I did medicine in the first instance because I wanted to alleviate pain. And of course I did some unionism with medicine. I flouted instructions from my superiors.

    You have not followed your friends to the African Democratic Congress (ADC). Why is that? Also what are your fears about the upcoming Anambra elections especially against the background of escalating insecurity in the state?

    I am not going to ADC. I am still a member of APC. But I watch what they’re doing. And so as somebody on political sabbatical, I am like a spectator now, watching people play football in the field, and I get excited and I laugh. Some mistakes here and there. Even my own party makes their mistakes too. ADC people are seasoned politicians and to me what they are doing, they have a right to form their own party, but they have succeeded in dragging out my people to start contestations with them too early in the day. That’s what they have succeeded in doing.

    On the Anambra elections, I have no fear about that. What fears? There will be free and fair elections in Anambra state. Those who say they will write the results, whether you are a Labour or you are APC or you are APGA or PDP, nobody can write results in Anambra State. We are a different state. Nobody will write a result in Anambra state. Enough of those talk about writing results. They will not have the leeway to write results in Anambra State. It’s not possible.

  • JUST IN: Former LP deputy gov candidate Awude dumps Peter Obi, leads scores to join APC in Ondo

    JUST IN: Former LP deputy gov candidate Awude dumps Peter Obi, leads scores to join APC in Ondo

    A former deputy governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the November 16, 2023, gubernatorial election in Ondo State, Hon Dayo Awude, has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

    Awude, a great supporter of opposition leader, Peter Obi of the LP, with scores of his supporters and members of the Sunshine grassroots Network (SGN) across the 18 local government areas of the state, were warmly received into the fold of the APC by Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa in Akure on Monday.

    A former stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before joining the LP, Awude defected to the APC alongside the former chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the state, Dele Ogunbamerun.

    Speaking at the defection ground held at the Akure Town Hall, Awude disclosed that his decision to join the APC with his supporters was informed by the development strides of Governor Aiyedatiwa and the progressive achievements of President Bola Tinubu.

    He noted that he and his group of supporters, especially in the Akure axis, have come over to the governing party to add value and ensure that President Tinubu gets an overwhelming victory in 2027.

    “The current President [Tinubu] is our son in the Southwest. Should we now open our eyes to allow some people to chase him away in the 2027 general election? No. We must come under this party to ensure he is victorious.

    “Yoruba land must be great. We must join hands for its progress. We have come to add value to the APC. I can assure Mr Governor [Aiyedatiwa] that our coming to the party will increase support, especially for President Bola Tinubu.

    “So, I’m asking our people to go back to their units and wards to get integrated. We are here for progress and to support our son [Tinubu] and to also support the government of Lucky Aiyedatiwa,” he said.

    On his part, the former SDP chairman, Dele Ogunbamerun, said their coming to the APC was an opportunity to serve and support President Tinubu’s re-election bid across the length of the state.

    “I see our coming as an opportunity to work. I have gone through a lot in other political parties, but I thank God I am now back home. I appreciate Dayo Awude, who leads us into the fold of the APC.”

    Welcoming the defectors, the Chairman of the APC in the State, Ade Adetimehin, saluted the courage of Awude for finally pitching his tent with the ruling party.

    He also described the former SDP deputy governorship candidate as a man of capacity, whose weight in the politics of Akure is highly respected at his unit and ward levels.

    Presenting Awude and his supporters to Governor Aiyedatiwa, the APC chairman further solicited more support for the party ahead of the 2027 general election.

    He assured the defectors of a level playing ground in the APC, urging them to begin canvassing for the party from their various units and extend it to the ward level.

    “So, I welcome you all to this party, and we are happy to also receive you, but don’t forget that any politician who cannot deliver his unit and ward is not a politician. I urge all our new members to work towards strengthening the party at the grassroots,” Adetimehin said.

    Receiving the Awude and his supporters, both from the LP, PDP, and SDP, Governor Aiyedatiwa said the defectors have made the right choice to join the fold of the APC in the state.

    The governor urged the decampees to begin grassroots mobilisation in earnest for the party ahead of the general elections, saying the APC must retain power at the federal and state levels.

    “You have made the right decision. This is the right place to be because the utmost interest for any political party is to be in power. For us in APC, we want to retain power, and we must do everything that is needed to retain the power.

    Read Also: Ondo Reps by-election: PDP youths make case for ex-Commissioner Awude

    “We acknowledge that you have decided to join us. Your coming will be rewarded. As you can see, the dividends of good governance are showing themselves under the leadership of President Tinubu and me as your governor in the state,” he said.

    “You all can see that our house is APC. Once again, I want to congratulate you for this very wide decision you have made because there’s no alternative to the APC as of today. Our declaration for Asiwaju is that Ondo State is for Tinubu in 2027.”

    He added, “The whole of Ondo state for Tinubu come 2027, and to realise that, you have decided to join us. We know winning Ondo state is not an issue, but to have overwhelming votes, and you are the evidence of those votes.

    “I salute the Sunshine grassroots Network. (SGN) who are members of different political parties before joining us. So, the remaining votes that we did not get in the last governorship election will now come for President Tinubu. We have enough room to accommodate all of us.”

  • Obi’s new fixation

    Obi’s new fixation

    It started as a three-pronged farce, but you can trust Peter Obi, Labour Party (LP) candidate in the 2023 presidential election, to weigh in with comical nobility!

    It was all intra-African Democratic Congress (ADC) manoeuvering to game that platform’s presidential ticket, among the many wannabes scrambling for that lolly.

    Crafty Atiku Abubakar, now the northern irredentist (as he postured in 2023, thus dealing the PDP a near-mortal blow), then a born-again(st?) pan-Nigerian, as he now postures in the run-up to 2027, started it all with that farcical pledge: I will only do one term and quit!

    How would that help anyone, though?  After his one term, who takes over?  The North which should duly have, had it waited for the South to finish own eight years, watching its back as it does?  Or the South that would now step into, Heraclitus-speak, an entirely new river, in Nigeria’s perennial challenge to find true nationhood?

    It was crafty Atiku’s attempt to explain the crass illogicality of own rabid ambition.

    Then, Rotimi Amaechi, a decent governor at Rivers and passionate Transport minister under PMB, but whose politics is out-and-out boyish and infantile.  “I’ll do one term too,” he pledged. “If I renege, stone me!”  As boyishly infantile as Rotimi Amaechi!

    But of course, anywhere there’s political inanity — for our man is condemned to talking (sense or trash) — there you’d find Obi!  In the latest political burlesque in town, he certainly must show up!

    Read Also: Doyin Abiola: Family announces date for burial of Nigeria’s first female editor

    Waxing poetic over the farce, Obi compared himself to the American duo of Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy and South Africa’s eternal pearl, Nelson Mandela, the one and only Madiba.  Well, talk is cheap! 

    It’s clear heresy, driven by a chronic personality flaw, for gas-emoting Obi, with his China stats and constant lies, to ever compare himself to this trio.  It’s even worse for a guy whose tenure as Anambra governor was at best mediocre, to swear, with some papal solemnity, that he would solve all of Nigeria’s problems in four years, without realizing his clear self-mockery. His usual empty drivels are the clear opposite to rigour!

    Well, such drivels drove him to his over-performance in 2023.  Why not an encore in 2027?  Best of luck to him!  He’s often reminiscent of one of James Hadley Chase’s popular titles: believe this — believe Peter — you’d believe anything!

    That’s the comic Peter Obi projecting his new-found fixation with spending four years and vanishing.  Again, good luck to him — and hey, it’s a democracy!  The right to self-scam, aside scamming the gullible, is free and democratic! 

    Even then, nothing appears more amusing than comic Obi doubling down on his new fixation with a single term, like some agama lizard, nodding furiously to what no one knows. 

    It’s comic relief, en route to 2027!  Enjoy it!

  • Peter Obi advocates 5-year single tenure for President

    Peter Obi advocates 5-year single tenure for President

    Peter Obi, Presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) during the 2023 presidential election has advocated for a 5-year single term for President in Nigeria.

    Obi stated this in Bauchi on Friday when he paid a courtesy visit on Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State.

    According to him, there shouldn’t be any second tenure for president, adding that instead of the four year tenure, it should be five years as practiced in South Korea.

    “I’ve said it and I want to say it again in this government house that if I have the opportunity, we should stop having a second tenure for president.

    “It should be five years straight, so that people can come in knowingly they have a job to do.

    “What people do now is to be president for one year and use the rest of the years thinking about their next tenure. We must stop it, let’s face the real job, do your own and go,” he suggested.

    The 2027 presidential hopeful insisted that if elected as Nigerian president in 2027, he would only serve for one term, promising that he won’t spend a day longer than four years in office.

    He added that if given the opportunity to serve Nigeria, he would ensure that every political party functions properly.

    Obi said, he would ensure that political parties were bigger than the elected people.

    Read Also: We want you back in PDP, Bauchi Gov Bala tells Peter Obi

    “I want the party to be bigger than the president and the governors so that we can have orderliness,” he said.

    Responding, the Bauchi state governor called on Obi to come back to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), saying that that’s where he belongs.

    “We want you to come back to PDP. Please come back because that is where you belong.

    “We want you to be in PDP, there are plans, desires and strategies,” he said.

    Mohammed further said that politics in Nigeria could not be done with ego, differences and personal interest, while calling on all oppositions to harmonise their interests in the interest of Nigerians.

    (NAN)

  • PMB: Simplicity in life, dignity in death

    PMB: Simplicity in life, dignity in death

    It would have been surprising if his death last Sunday, July 13, in a private hospital in London, had been received with universal approbation and adulation of a virtuous, unblemished life in a polity as complex and fraught as Nigeria. First, there are no human beings without fault. With the possible exception of the immaculately spotless Peter Obi, according to the holy gospel of the ‘Obidients’, mortal leaders are no angels. Again, an inevitable and unavoidable price of greatness is the intense controversy evoked by those who make a significant impact on history across time and space. Those who love them do so fanatically, and those who detest them are implacable in their hatred. And so it was with President Muhammadu Buhari, unassuming military Head of State for about 20 months between December 1983 and August 1985, and two-term elected President of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. It was no different with Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa, Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ladoke Akintola, Murtala Mohammed, Odumegwu Ojukwu and several others who had played prime roles in Nigeria’s political evolution.

    When he died in 1987, the great sage, unrivalled administrative genius and first Premier of the Western Region in Nigeria’s First Republic, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was passionately mourned by his teeming followers and remorselessly reviled by those who could not differentiate him from Satan. The great novelist and thinker, Professor Chinua Achebe, had issued a public statement after Awolowo’s death, accusing him of supporting genocide during the Nigerian civil war, and vigorously canvassing against according the great politician a state burial. He did not believe that the dead deserved some respect, and he was no doubt entitled to his view in a free and open society. It is instructive in this regard that Awolowo’s arch political opponent, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, who defeated him in the 1979 and 1983 presidential elections, awarded him the National Honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), even though Awo was never President.

    A near-unanimous refrain in the outpouring of emotions following President Buhari’s transition to eternity from both his friends and foes alike, however, was the unrivalled ethical pedestal he bestrode and the impeccable moral integrity that characterised his over five decades in public life. His aversion to material accumulation earned him the lifelong adulation, adoration and reflexive loyalty of millions of ordinary Nigerians, particularly in Northern Nigeria, where mass poverty is particularly pronounced, largely as a result of leadership lack of vision and elite venality.  Indeed, in his slim but powerful classic, ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’, Achebe had traced the excessive materialism that is the bane of contemporary Nigeria partly to what he described as the deficiency in the political thought of some of our key founding fathers.

    Read Also: FULL LIST: 29 countries to phase out passport stamps

    As Achebe put it, “A perceptive student of Nigerian politics, James Booth, has drawn attention to the poverty of thought exhibited in the biographies of Dr Azikiwe and Chief Awolowo in contrast to the expressions of ideology to be found even in the more informal works of Mboya, Nyerere and Nkrumah! In a solemn vow made by Azikiwe in 1937, he pledged: ‘that henceforth I shall utilise my earned income to secure my enjoyment of a high standard of living and also to give a helping hand to the needy’. Obafemi Awolowo was even more forthright about his ambitions: ‘I was going to make myself formidable intellectually, morally invulnerable, to make all the money that is possible for a man with my brains and brawn to make’. Thoughts such as these are more likely to produce aggressive millionaires than selfless leaders of their people. An absence of objective and intellectual rigour at the critical moment of a nation’s formation is more than an academic matter. It inclines the fledgling state to disorderly growth and mental deficiency”.

    Though controversial, Achebe ‘s contention here in my view contains some grains of truth. Buhari was no intellectual and did not pretend to be one. He was a simple soldier who defended his country’s territorial integrity first on the battlefield, next in a war against indiscipline and corruption through ‘redemptive’ military statecraft between 1984 and 1985 and then on the partisan political terrain as a politician and emergent statesman between 2003 and 2023. Yet, he had a strong moral orientation to life undoubtedly influenced by his deep commitment to Islamic spirituality. It is amazing that a man who was military governor of the former North Eastern State comprising about five states today did not seize the opportunity to amass stupendous wealth. He was a former Chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and military Head of State but never allocated any oil bloc to himself. He never acquired any property in Lagos. It almost sounds like fiction.   It was after he left office in 2023 that the succeeding Tinubu administration upgraded his house in Kaduna.

    When he assumed office as military Head of State in 1984, following the martial overthrow of a thoroughly corrupt and decadent Second Republic, the military still had the image of being a redemptive, messianic institution with the requisite reservoir of patriotism and professional integrity to rescue Nigeria from the havoc of predatory politicians. There is no doubt that Buhari and his deputy, Brigadier General Tunde Idiagbon, pursued their War Against Indiscipline and Corruption in essentially purist and uncompromising, Messianic terms. Thus, they set up anti-corruption tribunals that tried and jailed corrupt politicians of the Second Republic for terms that amounted to life sentences. They publicly executed drug couriers and jailed foreign exchange speculators. They drafted draconian punitive laws against a media they perceived as veering beyond the bounds of liberty into licentiousness.

    Even before his emergence as military Head of State, Buhari ‘s patriotic commitment to Nigeria was indisputable. In his thrilling and authoritative book, ‘Soldiers of Fortune’, the lawyer, writer and historian reputed for his extensive knowledge of Nigerian military history, Max Siollun, wrote, “Buhari was in charge of troops sent to Nigeria’s north-eastern border region in 1983 to prevent infiltration by armed rebels from the neighbouring Republic of Chad. After his troops successfully cleared the rebels from the border area, the troops advanced several kilometres into Chadian territory. The political hierarchy ordered Buhari to withdraw his troops, but he refused, arguing that the Chadian rebels would return to the area as soon as his troops departed… Buhari was finally persuaded to withdraw after President Shagari enlisted Buhari ‘s superior officers, Lt-Generals Jalo and Wushishi, to order him to pull back.”

    As expected and as Max Siollun writes, the incident created a tense relationship between top members of the Shagari administration and Buhari and that “It also caused enough concern in the government for the Transport Minister, Umaru Dikko, to place Buhari under surveillance. Dikko also pressured the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Wushishi, to block Buhari ‘s posting to Lagos…The strong-willed Buhari complained to President Shagari that Dikko had asked his movement to be monitored. When Shagari raised the issue with Dikko, Dikko did not deny the accusation, but simply warned Shagari that Buhari could not be trusted and should be retired. Dikko had woken a sleeping tiger.”

    Widely reviled by Nigerians, Umaru Dikko had a reputation for corruption, arrogance and contempt for suffering Nigerians. When asked on national television about the economic hardships being experienced by Nigerians under the Shagari administration, he responded by asking if any Nigerians had been seen eating from dust bins! The audacious attempt by the Buhari regime to abduct Dikko from Britain, where he had escaped to after the 1983 coup, an effort coordinated with the support of the dreaded Israeli intelligence outfit, Mossad, made global news at the time. Dikko had been successfully kidnapped outside his residence when he was taking a walk, anaesthetised into unconsciousness, bundled into a waiting van and driven away by Nigerian and Israeli security officers. He was later offloaded into a crate labelled “diplomatic baggage”, addressed to the Nigerian Ministry of External Affairs in Lagos and transported in a lorry to Stansted Airport, where a Nigeria Airways plane was waiting to depart for Lagos with its “diplomatic baggage” at 3 pm.

    Unfortunately, there had been a last-minute lapse in the operation and British security and immigration agents in and around the airport had been put on high alert. Attempts by the British authorities to inspect the diplomatic crate were vigorously protested by a Nigerian officer, Major Ahmed Jarfa Yesufu (rtd) and one Okon Edet, a member of the Nigerian High Commission in London. According to Max Siollun, “The vehement protests were dismissed and the police opened the crates with a crowbar. What they found inside was shocking. In the first crate was a bound and unconscious Dikko with his torso bare. Dikko ‘s captors had shoved an endotracheal tube into his throat to prevent him from choking on his own vomit when he was unconscious. His captors wanted him brought back to Nigeria alive. Besides him was Shapiro, brandishing syringes and a supply of additional anaesthetics to administer to Dikko if need be. Shapiro asked the customs officers, “Well, gentlemen, what do we do now?”

    Those were momentous episodes in Nigeria’s foreign policy at the time, resulting in a prolonged diplomatic face-off between Nigeria and Britain. Buhari’s transition from a feared military dictator to a democratically elected two-term President who governed with utmost respect for democratic ethos is unprecedented in Nigeria’s history. Obasanjo also governed as a two-term elected President after previously serving as a military Head of State who voluntarily handed over to a democratically elected President in 1979. But on his second coming as elected President, his attempt to secure a tenure extension for a third term in 2007 had to be thwarted by a concerted resistance of critical political stakeholders. Obasanjo sings his anti-corruption credentials from the rooftops and labels everybody else as corrupt. But the monstrous Hilltop mansion in Abeokuta and the expansive Obasanjo Presidential Library complex, as well as numerous multi-billion Naira private investments, give the lie to his rhetoric. Buhari has no such baggage.

    This column does not intend to join the debate on the achievements or otherwise of the  Buhari administration for his eight years as elected President.  His accomplishments are there for all to see, and his failings too, like any leader. One of these is that he was too trusting of some of his key aides who hid behind the cover of his unstinting integrity and credibility to amass humongous wealth without the slightest iota of compassion for the teeming talakawa that Buhari loved and who reciprocated his affection fervently. Yet, some of such unscrupulous persons see his consistently over 12 million votes over several electoral cycles as an asset they can inherit and trade with, even as the honest one leaves us in a blaze of glory. They should not underestimate the intelligence of Buhari’s masses.

    Flashback to October 1, 1974. In his address to the nation, Nigeria’s military Head of State at the time, General Yakubu Gowon, told his stunned countrymen and women that his earlier pledge to return the country to democratic governance by 1976 was no longer feasible. Aba Saheed, pen name of Akogun Tola Adeniyi, fiery and unsparing columnist with the then trail-blazing Daily Times, responded with a pungent and incisive piece titled ‘Death, I salute you!’. He warned about the transience of human existence, the ubiquity of death and the ultimate vanity of power. Buhari needed no such admonitions. According to his media adviser, as President, Femi Adesina, towards the end of Buhari’s tenure, he asked the former President, “after here, what next?” And he responded, “I’m looking forward to leaving. And from there, I go to my grave at the appointed time”. No wonder he was so indifferent to the obsessive accumulation of wealth and the arrogant utilisation of power. May the honest one rest in deserved peace.

  • We want you back in PDP, Bauchi Gov Bala tells Peter Obi

    We want you back in PDP, Bauchi Gov Bala tells Peter Obi

    Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed yesterday asked the 2023 Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The governor who doubles as the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum made the appeal during Obi’s visit to the Bauchi Government House.

    Governor Mohammed commended the former Anambra State governor for what he described as his new brand of politics.

    Bala said leadership must go beyond seasonal politics and lip service, insisting that Nigerian politicians must demonstrate knowledge, empathy and planning.

     “Politics is not about sharing rice during Sallah or Christmas. It is about understanding where the shoe pinches and acting accordingly,” he added.

    Read Also: Presidency dismisses Peter Obi’s one-term pledge as ‘a lie’

    Governor Mohammed stressed the need for the opposition to come together, warning that disunity only serves the interests of the ruling party.

    “Nigerian politics cannot be done with ego, differences or personal interests. The opposition — PDP, ADC, SDP, LP — must come together. We must harmonise our interests in the interest of the people of Nigeria,” he declared.

    “I told you last night, and I’m saying it again publicly — we want you to come back to PDP. That’s where you belong. Don’t go anywhere else.”

    Responding, Obi reiterated the call for collaboration and a shift in the nation’s political culture.

    “Your Excellency, let me continue to thank you for your warm reception and cordial relationship. I came to Bauchi to visit two schools of nursing. But beyond that, I came to meet my brother so we can talk about the problems of the people and how to solve them together,” Obi said.

     “To all of us in the opposition, it’s important that we work together. It’s no longer about us — it’s about our country. Our politics must change. It must be the politics of development, competence, capacity and compassion,” he added.

    Obi had earlier visited two institutions in the State  where he donated N15 million — N10 million to Malkiya College of Nursing Sciences and N5 million to Intisharu Taufizul Quranic Islamic School in Yelwa.

  • Peter Obi urges police to release Sowore or charge him to court

    Peter Obi urges police to release Sowore or charge him to court

    Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, has called on the Nigeria Police Force to either release Omoyele Sowore immediately or charge him to court.

    In a statement posted on his X handle on Friday, Obi expressed deep concern over the detention of the activist, who voluntarily honoured an invitation by the police for questioning.

    According to him, the conduct of the police has the potential to erode public confidence in the institutions.

    The former Anambra State Governor said, “I was deeply disturbed to learn of the arrest of Mr Omoyele Sowore @YeleSowore yesterday, shortly after he voluntarily honoured an invitation by the Nigerian Police Force.

    “At the time of writing, no clear or credible charges have been made public, which further casts a troubling shadow over the nature and motivation behind his detention.

    “His arrest, particularly under circumstances where he presented himself in good faith to law enforcement, should be condemned by all who value justice and due process.

    “From all indications, no urgency or criminal flight risk warranted such high-handed treatment.

    “To detain a citizen who came of his own accord, without the public disclosure of clear, lawful charges, is not only a miscarriage of justice but an abuse of state power.

    Read Also: Sowore: Activist with penchant for self-glorification

    “As the ancient Greek philosopher Plato rightly said, “Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens.

    “When those entrusted with power act unjustly, they poison not only the legal order but also the moral conscience of the nation.

    “I therefore call on the Nigerian Police to immediately release Omoyele Sowore or charge him formally under the law.

    “Anything short of this would be a further erosion of public trust in the nation’s law enforcement institutions.

    “It is our collective duty to insist that the rule of law must apply to all citizens – regardless of ideology, background, or political alignment.” – PO

  • Their one-term kite

    Their one-term kite

    Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP)) in the 2023 elections, was not saying anything new when he spoke of doing only a single-term of four years, if elected in 2027. Before him, Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi said the same thing. It is all aimed at winning votes, no more, no less. But Obi, being who he is, has been trending on social media since he made the statement. First, to run again, as he did two years ago, Obi must get the ticket of a party. Which party will that be? LP? The coalition African Democratic Congress (ADC)? or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The question is pertinent because Obi seems to be caught in between the three parties. He claims that he is still in LP, but is romancing ADC. He and his running mate in 2023, Datti Baba-Ahmed, were at the coalition’s Abuja unveiling of ADC as its special purpose vehicle for prosecuting the 2027 elections. Typical of Obi, he is hedging his bet. He is running with the hare, and hunting with the hound. He has one foot in ADC, and the other in LP, where he is sure to get the presidential ticket – that is if he mends his way and stops hobnobbing with ADC.

    His erstwhile runningmate Baba-Ahmed has seen the light and run back to LP. He may cut the feet from under his principal in the emerging political scenario. Baba-Ahmed said he went back to LP to help in putting the crisis-ridden party back on track. Obi is still weighing his options on which way to go. Sensing his dilemma, the embattled PDP threw him a lifeline to come over to Macedonia and help to rebuild the party on which platform he ran with Atiku in 2019. Will he hearken to the call?

    He is at a crossroads. As he ponders what to do, he pulled a rabbit out of his magic bag, as they say. He says he would do only one-term of four years, if elected. Some have described it as a vow, pledge, promise, undertaking and so on and so forth. It is none of these. I see it more as a kite being flown to test the waters. This was the same bait that Atiku, the serial contestant, who has made the rounds of almost all the parties in his desperation to become president, dangled before the electorate in 2019 and 2023. Amaechi followed suit after they ‘hijacked’ ADC. Now, Obi is singing the same tune.

    When Atiku first flew the kite in 2019, it was to truncate the second term bid of the late President Muhammadu Buhari, a fellow northerner. His thinking was that the electorate would swallow the bait hook, line and sinker, and vote him in to complete the eight-year tenure of the north under the perceived power rotation agreement between the north and the south. The unwritten pact was broken in 2010 when President Umoru Yar’Adua, who succeeded President Olusegun Obasanjo died in office. Death prevented him from completing his first term, not to talk of doing a second term.

    Read Also: Invest in Nigeria’s eco-tourism destinations, says Balogun

    Certain politicians from the north have not forgotten about these ‘outstanding four years’ and they have been looking for all means possible to regain those years. Time, they seem to have forgotten, waits for no one. Since there can be no vacuum in leadership, President Goodluck Jonathan completed his principal, Yar’Adua’s first term in 2011. Politicians like Atiku then rose in arm during the next election to make a case for a northerner to become president to complete eight years that Yar’Adua would have served.

    With that process aborted by Yar’Adua’s death, and Jonathan constitutionally stepping in to fill the gap, getting him not to run in 2011 so that the north can have its way failed and the unwritten rotational presidency accord at eight years interval snapped. Atiku’s ploy to use the one-term bait to unseat Buhari failed in 2019, just as that of Obi and others to wrest power from President Bola Tinubu in 2027 will collapse.

    It has nothing to do with the sincerity of Obi’s statement, but what he has to offer. Obi’s performance in the 2023 presidential election has given him the false confidence that he is an astute politician. Saying that he would do one term is one thing, but what is his blueprint for turning the country around in those four years of that term? One term of what? What are the deliverables and what is his timeframe for achieving them? He should share them with the electorate. This is no time to say these are details he would keep to his chest until he gets to office. Nor that he would lay the foundation for others to come and build on. He should turn the sod and start the building, if he can, within the time allotted for that by the Constitution.

    The public does not want him to turn around later to say that the foundation was destroyed by successive administrations because they did not understand his ideas. He should execute his own ideas; nobody is going to steal or execute them for him because they are original to him. The fear of someone stealing anybody’s idea is a sign that none exists in the first place. If there is one, the brain behind the idea must have perfected it to the point of how it will be executed within a stipulated time to achieve maximum benefit for all. This is the beauty of an original idea, and stealing it would do the thief more harm than good.

    Pledging to do one-term when the Constitution allows for two terms is a political gimmick that can no longer win votes. The electorate know what they want and they know how to go about getting it. They cannot be swayed by talks of one-term, no matter how it is framed, by those who cannot deliver when the chips are down.

  • Obi and politics of empowerment

    Obi and politics of empowerment

    • By Seye Oladejo

    The Lagos State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) notes widely circulated list titled “Peter Obi’s Donations for Social Interventions — Jan–July 2025.”

    While the document aims to portray Mr. Peter Obi as a generous and socially conscious individual, a closer inspection reveals patterns that are both politically strategic and regionally skewed. More importantly, it raises legitimate questions about selective philanthropy dressed as nationalism.

    Let us be clear: there is nothing inherently wrong with private citizens or politicians making donations. In fact, philanthropy should be encouraged. But when such acts are carefully curated and loudly publicized in ways that reinforce regional loyalties, exclude key demographics, and serve partisan narratives, they cease to be neutral gestures—they become tools of subtle political engineering.

    •Glaring Regional Bias

    A breakdown of the N596 million total disbursed between January and July 2025 shows that over 70% (N415 million) was spent in the South East. The rest of the country received crumbs by comparison:

    •South West (SW): N0.00

    •North East (NE): N6 million

    •North Central (NC): N60 million

    •North West (NW): N60 million

    •South South (SS): N35 million

    We ask: How does one lay claim to national leadership while completely ignoring the South West—the most economically vibrant and politically significant region of the country? Lagos alone, with its sprawling urban poor and overburdened public health system, did not receive a single kobo.

    Is this oversight or a deliberate snub? Either way, it tells a troubling story.

    •Political Targeting in the Name of Charity

    The states and institutions selected for Obi’s donations are not random—they are carefully chosen to reinforce his core base in the South East and to make inroads into Christian and minority communities in the North Central and North West. Of the N60 million given to Kaduna, for example, not a single kobo went to state-run institutions or Muslim-majority areas without religious overtones. Rather, the donations went to almajiri schools and Christian medical colleges—undoubtedly important, but also carefully symbolic.

    This is not nation-building. It is brand-building.

    •Philanthropy Is Not a Substitute for Leadership

    Peter Obi supporters often confuse generosity with leadership. Leadership is about policy, institutional reform, and vision—not just doling out money. The challenges in Lagos—traffic congestion, housing deficits, healthcare pressure, youth unemployment—require policy-backed solutions, not periodic handouts.

    Read Also: 2025 Flood: 191 dead, 94 missing, 134,435 affected in 20 States – NEMA

    Let it be known: Lagos APC and the Tinubu-led federal government are investing in long-term systemic solutions. Lagos is benefiting from federal infrastructure, improved rail and port systems, and social investment programs reaching thousands of households—not for headlines, but for impact.

    •Obi’s Donations Raise More Questions Than They Answer

    We must also ask:

    •Where is the source of these hundreds of millions?

    •What legal and transparency frameworks govern this “philanthropy”?

    •Why are public institutions rarely the recipients—while private, religious, and mission-based institutions dominate?

    A leader aspiring to govern a pluralistic, diverse Nigeria cannot afford to behave like a regional benefactor or a sectarian patron.

    •To Lagosians: Don’t Be Fooled by Optics

    Some may laugh off the exclusion of Lagos and the South West as a “strategy,” but we must treat it for what it is—a calculated marginalization of regions outside his narrow political comfort zone. Lagosians are not second-class Nigerians. We refuse to be treated as spectators in a nation we helped build.

    We urge all well-meaning Lagosians—and indeed all Nigerians—to interrogate the motives behind this carefully publicized generosity. Don’t be swayed by press releases and symbolic gifts. Ask deeper questions. Hold would-be leaders accountable not just for what they give, but why, where, and how they give it.

    Conclusion

    While Peter Obi is free to donate as he pleases, let no one mistake targeted philanthropy for national leadership. Nigeria deserves a president who is pan-Nigerian in thought, action, and empathy—not one who doles out favors along familiar lines while ignoring major regions like the South West.

    A rolling stone may gather applause, but it doesn’t build nations. We in Lagos APC remain focused on policies that uplift all, not PR stunts that divide.

    •Mogaji (Hon) Seye Oladejo.

  • Stakeholders defend Soludo, deny alleged attack on Peter Obi

    Stakeholders defend Soludo, deny alleged attack on Peter Obi

    Some stakeholders in Anambra State have risen in defence of Governor Chukwuma Soludo following social media reports alleging that his recent remarks at a political rally were targeted at former Governor and Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi.

    They dismissed the claims as unfounded and politically motivated, insisting that Soludo did not refer to Obi during his speech at the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) endorsement rally held over the weekend in Ekwulobia, Aguata Local Government Area.

    Read Also: Presidency dismisses Peter Obi’s one-term pledge as ‘a lie’

    During the rally, Governor Soludo had described some of his political opponents as “urchins” and said those campaigning with the promise of serving only one term in office should seek medical attention at a psychiatric hospital, noting that such arrangements have never succeeded in politics.

    However, reacting to the social media narrative, a prominent Igbo leader and elder statesman from the zone, Chief Obi Okoli (popularly known as Onwa Nawfija), told journalists in Awka on Monday that Soludo’s remarks were being deliberately misinterpreted by political mischief-makers.

    “The kind of dirty politics our people play nowadays is very unfortunate. How can they drag Peter Obi into what Soludo said at the rally?” Okoli queried.

    He added, “Soludo never mentioned or referred to the former presidential candidate of the Labour Party in any way. These two are brothers and have been friends for a long time. Some people are just trying to cause division for selfish political reasons.”

    Chief Okoli called on politicians and their supporters to approach politics with caution and decorum, noting that all governorship contenders in the state deserve respect.

    He further clarified that Governor Soludo’s focus at the rally was on upholding the zoning arrangement for the governorship seat in Anambra, emphasising that power should rotate among the three senatorial zones—South, Central, and North—before returning to the South.