The relationship between Governor Willie Obiano and his predecessor in office, Peter Obi, is no longer as cordial as it used to be. NWANOSIKE ONU traces the genesis of the crisis.
The words making the rounds in Awka, the Anambra State capital, is that the relationship between the immediate past governor of the state, Mr. Peter Obi, and the incumbent Governor Willie Obiano is no longer as chummy as it used to be. The duo were said to be inseparable before now. They were both from the same institution, Fidelity Bank Plc, where Obi held sway as the chairman and Obiano as the executive director. It was for this reason that Obi went out of his way to install Obiano as his successor in office.
But, Obi is no longer comfortable with his friends handling of the affairs of the state, because the latter is believed to have started asserting his authority as the governor of the state. The jostling for positions ahead of the 2015 general elections is the major reason why the two friends are parting ways. It is said that those supported by Obi for one elective position or the other are being opposed by Obiano. For instance, Dubem Obaze, a former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters during Obi’s administration, is believed to be gunning for the ticket to represent Anambra North senatorial district in the Senate under the APGA platform. But Obiano is said to have endorsed Alphonsus Igbeke, who had occupied the seat before now, to vie against Obi’s candidate.
Besides, a source in Awka told The Nation that there would be a cabinet reshuffle soon, and all the people imposed on Obiano by Obi would be dropped. It is said that Obiano has now resolved that he would not be intimidated or used by any godfather and hence his decision to be a man. This is coming after Governor Obiano had scaled the second huddle of Election Petitions Tribunal at the Appeal Court in Enugu. Virtually all the political offices in the state were allocated to those loyal to former governor Obi, including retaining the incumbent secretary to the state government, Oselloka Obaeze.
The feud between the two has led to the resignation of Obi recently as the chairman of the board of trustees (BOT) of the ruling party in Anambra, the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). Obi had claimed at the time, via a statement from his media aide, Valentine Obienyem, that it was as a result of family issues and the non ratification of the position by the party.
Furthermore, Obiano, The Nation gathered, recognises the factional chairman of the party, Chief Victor Umeh, as the leader of the party and accords him more respect and privileges than his predecessor.
Though the Obi camp has not come out categorically against Obiano, but it has accused him of squandering the resources of the state. The fear, it was gathered, is that Obi is not comfortable with the current high performance credited to Obiano’s government, few months after he was sworn in as the Governor of the state. Obi, an APGA source told The Nation, is afraid that Obiano’s name will soon be on the lips of everybody in the state with the rate he is going with the construction of three fly-over bridges in the capital city of Awka.
The battle of the two giants, it is said, is likely to further destabilise APGA, given the the unending crises in the party which had led to its balkanization. During the twilight days of Obi in office, he began to do things without consultations with other party stakeholders and this earned him honour and respect as prudent person. In the days before the last governorship election in the state, he distributed sports utility vehicles (SUVs) to churches, hospitals, monarchs and all and sundry in the state. Through this act of generosity, as it were, it became a sing-song in the state by his cabinet members, traditional rulers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and even in the media, that Obi was a prudent governor who had the interest of the people at heart.
But it transpired later that he was only sharing the money that rightly belonged to the local governments. The Nation gathered that local government funds released during the administration of Obi were said to be in the region of N380 billion. One of the new projects initiated by Obi in the last days of his administration was the old Ikenga Hotel in Awka, code-named a shopping mall, which is estimated to cost 2.2 billion naira.
The reckless manner with which Obi was spending money at that time surprised a lot of observers, including Obiano who saw it as a way of compounding problems for him after his election. Even on the day of the swearing in of Obiano on the March 17, 2014, Obi had shared a good number of vehicles to organizations and groups as early as 8.30am same day.
Obiano, The Nation gathered, was not comfortable with the fact that his predecessor was dispossessing such government vehicles and nothing would be left for him to work with when he takes over.
Not only that. The Anambra State governor, The Nation gathered, was also not happy with his predecessor’s resolve to organize local government elections hurriedly less than two months before the expiration of that administration. The state had not been able to organise the election for 12 years.
The cold war between the two APGA key figures has led to some members of the National Assembly to quit APGA, which according to a source was alleged to have been instigated by Obi.
But one of the lawmakers, Hon. Victor Afam Ogene, representing Ogbaru Federal Constituency, told his constituents last week that it was mere blackmail against Obi, adding that the former governor did not instigate anybody against Obiano and the party. In fact, he said the issue was not discussed with Obi.
Ogene used the occasion to debunk the claim that he had joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He added that he was not ready to leave APGA because his constituents who sent him to Abuja had not endorsed such.
