Through time and chance, former Governor Peter Obi of
Anambra State has remained a positive influence on humanity, writes Valentine
Obienyem, who pays tribute to the 55 years old businessman-turned politician
Former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi is 55. Born
on the 19th of July, 1961, he remains a man of strong will and gentle speech,
of imposing purpose and simple sentiments. His character and his politics have
continued to please the people. He is genial, witty, unassuming, and endowed
with a charm that atones for his errors. Simple and unpretentious in appearance
and attire, he has steadily established a reputation for political sanctity and
love for our country, Nigeria and its people.
Mr. Peter Obi will certainly receive many phone calls
congratulating and wishing him well at 55. I am pretty sure that his family –
wife and children, perhaps excepting his eccentric son – have rendered the
traditional ‘Happy Birthday’ chorus to him. Corporate bodies and institutions
alike will duly seek expensive birthday gifts for him which,
characteristically, he will refuse – or most likely request they be monetised
to enable him continue his support for schools across the land.A look at the development of Peter Obi’s character through
growth, responsibility and circumstances as well as his positive impact on
humanity and society, is revealing. In secondary school, he was already engaged
in different trades through which he made money. In an experience from which we
coined the term ‘Peter Obi’s Egg Principle’, we were informed how he
meticulously guarded the eggs he put up for sale on the sound logic that the
loss of even one meant the loss of his profit in that venture. That experience
helped define his famed prudence and financial discipline.
As a university student, Peter Obi was travelling abroad on
business. Among others, there is a Mr. Fonzy with whom he maintained a strong
trading relationship until the older man’s recent retirement. Their partnership
lasted long because they kept to their agreements; indeed, their word was their
bond. We can therefore say of Obi that he is faithful to his words and even if
there be one hair binding him to his fellow men or business partner, he does
not let it break. When they pull, he loosens and if they loosen, he pulls.
Surprisingly, once I visited the then European Union
Ambassador to Nigeria, HE MacRea with him on one of his numerous outreaches
that helped him in the governance of Anambra State. The then new Ambassador
told him of how his old friend, the same Mr. Fonzy on learning he was going to
Nigeria told him to look out for Mr. Peter Obi as one man of impeccable
character he could trust and deal with. I shed tears while witnessing this
encounter.
Graduating with a second class degree, Peter Obi
concentrated on his businesses, which grew to make him an influential player in
the corporate world. In the meantime, he also sharpened his entrepreneurial and
managerial competencies at Kellogg, London School of Economics, Oxford,
Cambridge and Columbia, among other renowned institutions.
Seeking a wider platform to serve the society and humanity,
Peter Obi contested the governorship of Anambra State, but was denied victory.
Like a vessel nature has preserved for a special purpose, he went to court,
shunned all manner of ‘settlements’ and intimidation – and thus, became the
first Nigerian politician to regain his electoral mandate through the courts.
Dogged by the predators, he was also the first elected State Governor to return
from impeachment. The travails of his tenure altered the structure of elections
in Nigeria.
Easily, Peter Obi has become a model on what good governance
is all about and for justifiable reasons. After barely 6 months in office, he
was impeached by the Hon. Mike Balonwu-led House of Assembly. The first charge
was that he went against the ‘Constitution’ and single-handedly renovated the
destroyed Government House with less than N50 million against the over N200
million appropriated in the budget.
While the leeches agonised over their lost grip on the
treasury, many of his friends were disappointed he did not make them
millionaires using the instruments of government. Some others wondered why he
did not offer them appointments like his counterparts elsewhere did for their
cronies. These people forgot that appointments are often the offspring of genuine
needs and necessities and not as political settlement and that understanding
must be in terms of these necessities.
Before the tenures of Dr. Chris Ngige and Peter Obi, road
travel in Anambra State was a nightmare in several ramifications. Building on the
foundations laid by Ngige, Governor Obi gave the state the best road network in
Nigeria. Tremendous impact was also made in other sectors and sub-sectors with
the novel Anambra State Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS).
With the benefit of hindsight, Peter Obi’s return of schools
to the initial proprietors – particularly the Churches – is acclaimed as his
most critical achievement as governor. Though some other persons now claim to
be involved in the momentous decision, they were really among the vociferous
resentment massed against the move. It was Peter Obi’s resolve, courage and
decisiveness that ushered in what is internationally-acknowledged as re-birth
of education in Anambra State.
As the governor, the compulsion of his character made things
happen in the state. Due to this positive characteristic, at times in the bid
to avoid mistakes, he fled from action into thought, from rash certainties to
cautious doubts. He reminds us of the Latin maxim, “in dubio, noli agere” (In
doubt, do not act). He knew well enough to discern that not all the truth or
error is on one side; but on both. Often, he placed his actions on the scale of
‘proof beyond reasonable doubt’. Regrettably, what some people told him which
he doubted and did not act upon for not being sure, turned out to be the truth.
From the privilege of having not suffered any major
ill-health since he was born, he sees health “pythagoreanly” as a harmony of
the parts of the body and character. He has often observed that what people
suffer are direct consequences of seeking what they do not need and what are
not in sync with their constitution.
On his part, he goes the extra mile in trying to maintain
this harmony in the firm belief that once one allows excess of import over
export, it will disturb the internal economy. Thus, he exercises routinely to
burn fats and keeps his body athletically trimmed – no extra ounce of flesh to
burden him.
He was able to keep Anambra State one and united through
many ways, excluding force. Those that wanted to fight him, he disarmed by
joining them at dinner in their houses – for some he went to their houses
uninvited and even passed the night. What this teaches us is that governance is
not by raw force or by going on long convoys; but an intellectual business. We
can actually achieve much by intelligently analysing situations and applying
informed solutions.
An example is a pretty story that Plutarch, the father of
biography, told of how an epidemic of suicide among the women of Miletus was
suddenly and completely ended by an ordinance decreeing that self-slain women
should be carried naked through the market to their burial. If the decree was
for their property to be seized, would it have achieved the same result?
From his tenure as Governor of Anambra State, he recognised
the need of working together amongst the states in the east. He recognises that
no society can survive if it treats its members to behave towards one another
in the same way in which it encourages them to behave as a group towards other
groups. Internal cooperation is the first law of external competition.
This is why he held the people of the state together,
putting up with their foibles. His tenure as Chairman of the South-east
Governor’s Forum was also a success. With his humility, sincerity and
appreciation of Justice, he carried everybody along and made sure the states
shared their joy and grief together as brothers and sisters.
Like the period following the Dark Ages was known as the
“Renaissance,” Peter Obi’s period of governance in Anambra may soon be
inaugurated as “The Age of Re-Birth.” Before him, many things were dead in
Anambra State – security, Agriculture, education, health, environment, commerce
and industry – but after him they are all born again.
Since leaving Government House, appreciation of what his
administration did for the state seems to have come into marked focus. There is
hardly anywhere he goes in the state that he is not acknowledged in ecstasy –
with ‘Okwute! Okwute! This, I think, should serve as a lesson that service to
the people has its own reward.
On the social media, the predators and their agents try to
use him for target practice – clamouring to outdo one other in polemic vitriol.
They satirise him with hilarious caricature, some depicting him as a vampire.
These are not necessary!
Peter Obi is successful in every sense of the word. But
despite all forethought and foresight, he made (to our hindsight) an ample
variety of mistakes, both in judging men and in calculating results. Clearly,
he did not know that those he trusted in APGA were only out to trade with the
state, but he has played his role in giving Anambra State a pride of place in
the Nigerian federation.
As we toast to Peter Obi’s continued good health and
well-being, we pray that the Almighty God will continue fulfill all He has
destined for him.
