Understanding the Peter Obi Dilemma
HObiow time flies! I met Mr Peter for the first time almost 19 years ago — in August 2003 to be specific. He had come to the THISDAY head office in Apapa, Lagos state, on a visit to Mr Olusegun Adeniyi, then Sunday Editor. I was the Saturday Editor. As I saw him in front of Adeniyi’s door, I recognised him instantly: his face had been all over the papers. He was acclaimed to have won the Anambra governorship poll on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) but the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), under the guidance of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had done some magic with the figures and declared Dr Chris Ngige as the winner.
We exchanged pleasantries and phone numbers. I thereafter went to see him in his office at Apapa. We had a very long, engaging conversation. Something struck me about him: his modesty. For a billionaire, he had no airs. He told me how he made his money through the franchise of choice wines and spirits, among other businesses. He said he decided to go into politics the day he saw “Bakassi Boys” (the forebears of Unknown Gunmen) burn a man alive in Onitsha, Anambra state. He told himself “lunatics have taken over the asylum”, that something needed to be done to restore sanity to the society. We became friends
and I would easily say I was one of the closest journalists to him.
As he now seeks to be president of Nigeria, he is, without a doubt, eminently qualified. He has paid his dues to the development of our democracy. During our conversation that day, we discussed his struggles over the 2003 governorship poll. He was so sure he would win his petition at the tribunal. “My position is that the election was held, it was peaceful and there was no rigging whatsoever,” he explained to me. “But I am saying the wrong results were declared. We have the result sheets from all the local governments signed by all the returning officers. What INEC declared in Awka was totally different. I am asking the tribunal to declare me governor based on the authentic results.”
The following weekend, I “officially” enlisted in the campaign for electoral justice in Anambra state through my weekly column. The title of my first article on it was “The Man They Call the People’s Governor”. I highlighted the electoral banditry that took place in the state on April 19, 2003. But if I thought getting justice was going to be a walk in the park, I was awfully mistaken. As a delay tactic, PDP had lined up 425 witnesses. APGA had 45 and INEC 12. That was a total of 482! It took two years for the tribunal to listen to all the testimonies and take evidence. I was so exasperated at some point that I asked in one of my articles: “Will Peter Obi Ever Get Justice?” (THISDAY, December 20, 2004).
On August 12, 2005, the tribunal finally delivered judgment in Obi’s favour. For the record, he filed the petition on May 16, 2003. The first phase lasted for well over two years. His lawyers established before the tribunal that the results declared by INEC across the 21 local government areas were written by the same person. The police presented a handwriting expert who testified against INEC and PDP. That was the first election result to be overturned in the fourth republic. PDP went on to file an appeal and this lasted for another seven months. On March 15, 2006, the Court of Appeal ruled in Obi’s favour. In those days, governorship petitions did not go beyond the Court of Appeal.
At long last, Obi was inaugurated as governor of Anambra state on March 17, 2006. Effectively, Obi waited for almost three years to get justice over a four-year term. But the “owners” of Anambra were not sleeping. Seven months after his inauguration, they struck again. They organised an illegal impeachment on November 2, 2006. Obi sought justice and won his case in the High Court as well as the Court of Appeal. Both courts declared that the house did not form the required 2/3 quorum and the recognised place of legislative sitting is the chamber of the house of assembly, not someone’s dining room. Obi was re-instated on February 9, 2007. But, as Nigerians say, “trouble no dey finish”.
Another issue came up: would Obi leave office in 2007 after only one year, whereas the constitution stipulates a minimum of four years? He headed for the courts again for the constitutional definition of a “term”. INEC, under Prof Maurice Iwu, did everything to get rid of him: they conducted an