In my previous article titled: “Anambra State and the One-Term Governor Syndrome” published in Nigeriaworld.com on March 8, 2007, http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2007/mar/081.html, I traced the history of governors in democratic dispensation in Anambra state and how they were all restricted to one-term irrespective of how good they were. Starting from the time of Chief Jim Nwobodo and Chief Christian Onoh of the old Anambra state through Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Dr. Odera Mbadinuju, and Dr. Chris Ngige of the new Anambra state, the state has never produced a governor that had the privilege of two terms.

Governor Peter Obi is now front and center with history. History is not on his side. That jinx has never been broken. Of course Gov. Obi knows about this jinx and wants to give it a fight to see whether he would break it. With Obi’s doggedness and tenacity, he can as well break another record. So it is only time will tell whether he would break this barrier that others before him could not. But Obi's is putting tremendous efforts to consolidate his hold to power by his sterling performance. Time has changed; Anambra is more politically savvy than was given credit by the bookmakers. Anambra State is a unique state, despite what detractors and so-called analyst say, history has shown that they cannot properly analyze our state. Anambra is on its own program. It is the first and only state with the highest turnover of governors. Between 2003 and now, Anambra produced four different governors and five different administrations as I pointed out in the Part I. The time I wrote the first part of this article, Prof. Maurice Iwu, the Independent National Election Commission was in the process of disqualifying Gov Obi of APGA, Chris Ngige of AC and Nicholas Ukachukwu of ANPP from participating in the April 2007 election and thereby making way for the ‘chosen one’, Andy Uba.

True to people’s fears, Prof Iwu disqualified Chris Ngige, Peter Obi and Nicholas Ukachukwu based on spurious charge that Ngige did not come back to Nigeria to swear to an affidavit in front of a High Court Judge, even though Ngige’s form of intent to contest an election was sworn to by Ngige before a Judge in Maryland, USA and thereby satisfying that provision of the electoral law. Gov. Peter Obi was also disqualified by INEC from contesting the election, basing its action on the fact that APGA had two factions. But Iwu recognized the faction of the expelled former chairman of APGA, Chekwas Okorie, even though a court of competent jurisdiction has recognized the Chief Vincent Umeh faction as the genuine faction of APGA. It was later alleged that Iwu’s INEC forged an Abuja Federal High Court judgment recognizing the Okorie’s faction. Prof Iwu usurped the power of the court by suspending candidates from election, a power reserved to the courts as the Supreme Court had ruled in the case between Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and INEC had shown.

Also at the time I wrote the first part of this article, Peter Obi was at the Supreme Court for it to interpret section 180 of the 1999 constitution with regard to his tenure. Obi had argued that since his tenure was usurped by Ngige and that since his (Obi’s) oath of office and oath of allegiance was taken on the 17^th day of March, 2006; that his tenure has not expired, judging from the the provisions of section 180 (2) of the constitution. When he was going to court for the interpretation of the constitution, many people did not believe he would make it. Many thought that Obi has lost his mind and that his belief was an utopia "taken too far". But he did not listen to nay-sayers. But as the matter was going on in the Supreme Court, INEC conducted the ‘sham’ called election and (s) elected Andy Uba. Uba was sworn in on the 29^th day of May, 2007 but the Supreme Court ealier warned him that if Obi’s case succeeded at the court, that Andy Uba would be sacked. Andy ruled Anambra state for barely 2 weeks (from May 29 to June 14 2007) before the Supreme Court sacked him ruling that Peter Obi’s tenure was still subsisting until March 17^th, 2010, and that Andy Uba was sworn in to the post of governor that was not vacant. In other words, the kernel of the Supreme Court ruling was basically that it is biologically impossible for a woman to conceive a second time while she is still pregnant. The court also chastised INEC for wasting the tax-payers’ money to conduct an election to the post of a governor that was in contention even when INEC was a party to the suit. INEC also went ahead to conduct an election thinking that it would circumvent the judgment of the apex court.

By the Supreme Court’s ruling, Peter Obi resumed his office as governor. By the ruling of the court also, Andy Uba cannot be said to be a governor since the post he was contesting was not open for contest. But for the purpose of this analysis, Andy Uba has added his name to the list of the ‘one-termers’ in Anambra state.

That leads us to the issue of the day: can Obi defy the gods and win a second term? The answer lies sometime between January and February 2010 in line with section 178 (2) of the constitution which states that:

“An election to the office of Governor of a State shall be held on a date not earlier than sixty days and not later than thirty days before the expiration of the term of office of the last holder of that office.”

So our answer would come at that time. However, hate Gov Obi or love him, he has changed the political landscape of Anambra. With no god-father and being in the minority party, he enjoys the goodwill of the masses. Prior to his becoming governor, Abuja or Lagos politicians had dictated who gets what in Anambra state. Before Obi, no one has won a landslide victory against a ruling party only to be rigged out in a landslide.

Also before Obi, no candidate has ever dethroned a sitting governor! When he was going to court to recover his mandate stolen by Ngige and his cohorts, no one gave Obi a chance to win in the court. He was called a ‘day-dreamer’, ‘idealist’ and even ‘utopian’ but he kept faith with his ideals. He was offered political settlement and cash to off-set his campaign expenses and he refused. He lost close political associates when he was involved in the struggles to recover what rightly belonged to him. The Chairman of his party at the time, Chief Chekwas Okorie, threw him overboard and went to Ngige to surrender APGA and Obi’s mandate. However, when he finally won in the Court of Appeal, his ‘friends’ came back. Just like everything in life, everyone loves a winner, but everyone would not go to the trenches with you to fight.

It becomes the norm now for rightful winners of election to go to court and stand firm to get what belongs to them. Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state and Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo state had followed suit and helped in solidifying our democracy. Also other states have not completed election challenges in the tribunals. States like Delta, Osun, Imo, Ogun, Oyo etc are still battling in the tribunals to recover what they believe are theirs. Ekiti state had its election nullified by the Court of Appeal and a new election scheduled by INEC on the 25^th of April 2009. There are many other states that had witnessed intense challenges at the tribunals both in the gubernatorial and state and federal legislative houses. This is unprecedented in our history, but thanks to the precedent Obi created, every candidate now believes that following due process and trusting the judiciary would lead to recovery of political power brazenly stolen by professional riggers, the PDP. Obi’s name is therefore associated with due process and rule of law. He has expanded the interpretation of the constitution and has by his fight to recover his mandate made for the broadening of our status as a country that practices federalism.

Also Peter Obi has changed the election calendar in Nigeria. Before now, elections were held uniformly in the whole federation. Governorship and Houses of Assembly elections were held in every state in Nigeria on the same day. But with Obi’s history at the Supreme Court, election would now be held after the term of a governor expires counting from the day he took his oath of office and oath of allegiance. Anambra state now has its own gubernatorial election time-table, and also Edo state, Ondo State and Rivers State.

Gov Obi also made another milestone when he became one of the few governors to have their purported impeachment nullified by court. His party, APGA had only one member out of thirty in the House of Assembly but the majority party, PDP, could not muster a 2/3 majority to impeach him but violated section 188 of the constitution that deals with impeachment of a governor of a state. Obi was able to get 13 members to oppose his impeachment.

Also prior to his becoming governor, NARTO (National Association of Road Transport Owners) was a parallel government in the state. They collect park dues and rates without accounting to the state government. In other words, any dues or levies they collect go not to the government but to them and they feed fat on the government funds and accounted to no one but to themselves. Obi stood up to them and put a stop to that even when it was seen as political suicide to challenge the almighty NARTO. Now I do not know whether anyone knows why the Internally Generated Revenue of the state is now in billions of naira.

Many towns and villages now have a feel of government presence. Before now, funds allocated for all kinds of projects were embezzled by state officials and their collaborators, state officials were at the payroll of contractors. Contractors collude with government officials and the so-called town union representatives to embezzle money allocated to their towns for government projects. All these are in the past since transparent government and accountability is the signpost of Obi’s administration. Before now, who knew that Anambra could actually rank among the best states in the federation in terms of development.

Also prior to Obi’s government, private security or vigilante is the order of the day. Mbadinuju’s government used the services of Bakassi Boys to provide security of life and property even when there a law enforcement entity called the Nigerian Police. But he came on board and disbanded the dreaded Bakassi Boys. Also MASSOB (Movement for the Actualization of Biafra) was infiltrated by some sponsored hoodlums to cause problems in the state, but Gov Obi showed some political courage and banned them from the state. He received severe criticisms from politicians that wanted to play to the gallery, but he stood firm believing that it was the right thing to do.

Just like when a barrier is to be broken, not many people would come on board. When Barack Obama wanted to be president of the United States, many people, including this writer, did not believe that a skinny black man with funny looking ear and a funny sounding name would prove cynics wrong to become the president of the most powerful country in the world. Also when former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu said that Enyimba Football Clubs of Aba would win the African Cup of Champions for the first time for Nigeria, many people called him "big-mouth". When they won and Orji Kalu said that they would win the cup back to back, some people did not believe him, but it came to pass and the jinx that stopped other Nigerians elite teams were broken. Gov Obi has been doubted before and many doubt that he would scale through the one-term jinx, not with the political forces against him. But Obi is not a superstar as our typical politicians are. As Henry Kessinger would say:

"The modern politician is less interested in being a hero than a superstar. Heroes walk alone; star derive their status from approbation. Heroes are defined by inner values, stars by consensus"

So for now the one-term jinx remains. With Obi's breaking many barriers, let us wait and see whether he would meet his waterloo in this election or whether he would break yet another record. As this one-term jinx stares him in the face, we will know as Obi had said whether we are cursed or whether we are the cause.

*Chukwudi Nwokoye writes from Maryland, USA nwokoyeac@hotmail.com

Robot  # 1 | 09.04.2009 21:37

In my previous article titled: “Anambra State and the One-Term Governor Syndrome” published in Nigeriaworld.com on March 8, 2007, http://nigeriaworld.com/..., I traced the history of governors in democratic dispensation in Anambra state and how they were all restricted toone-term irrespective of how good they were. Starting from the time of Chief Jim Nwobodo and Chief Christian Onoh of the old Anambra state through Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Dr. Odera Mbadinuju, and Dr. Chris Ngige of the new Anambra state, the state has never produced a governor that had the privilege of two terms. Governor Peter Obi is now front and center with history. History is not on his side. That jinx has never been broken. Of course Gov. Obi knows about this jinx and wants to give it a fight to see whether he would break it. With Obi’s doggedness and tenacity, he can as well break another record. So ...Read the full article.

Hon. Chinedu Opukiri-Nkwo  # 2 | 17.04.2009 07:36

I read with great interest the publication of Chukwudi Nwokoye Esq. I was really taken aback by his praises for Peter Obi extolling him as dogged and tenacious. He went on “But Obi's is putting tremendous efforts to consolidate his hold to power by his sterling performance.” In my usual way of doing things, I wanted to ignore this as usual but I felt the responsibility to not allow the goat give birth under unusual circumstances as an elder. I do not know the last time that Chukwudi visited home, even if he has not visited, I do not know the news channel that feeds his political appetite. The entire Nigeria knows that Peter Obi is not performing, even his wife has admitted same. I am not really taken by the one term governor syndrome picture that he has painted, lets face it, no one is really interested in that as it does not add value to any life. What relevance does history have with now, this is typical of diaspora Nigerians, too much book, theory, story. Mr. Nwokedi implied that court document obtained from Maryland, USA should be admitted in Nigeria, an independent Federal State in a different continent. I am off to Ekwulobia high court tomorrow to get an order that Mr. Nwokedi should vacate his house in Maryland for me as I am the rightful owner. I thought he is a lawyer. Ngige and Peter Obi were disqualified by INEC and not Nicholas Ukachukwu. Ukachukwu ran the election under ANPP. Without getting into the nitty gritty of APGA as I am a hard core PDP man and Mr. Nwokedi does not seem to be there as well from his information point of view, it was Chief Victor Ume faction (Not Vincent Ume) that still approved the candidacy of Dame Virgy Etiaba to run as the guber candidate for APGA. It is amasing that you want us to believe that INEC abandoned their responsibility and became errand boys for APGA where they started coordinating oluwole judgement against Chief Victor Ume faction. It would be sensible to believe that if Chief Chekwas Okorie was interested in getting the recognition of INEC, he could as well make out time and sort his oluwole judgement. I do also think that such a atatement is libellous as the legal onus would be on Mr. Chukwudi Nwokedi to prove that INEC negated their position, sought and administered fake judgement. What do I know, I am not a lawyer. “Also at the time I wrote the first part of this article, Peter Obi was at the Supreme Court for it to interpret section 180 of the 1999 constitution with regard to his tenure. Obi had argued that since his tenure was usurped by Ngige and that since his (Obi’s) oath of office and oath of allegiance was taken on the 17th day of March, 2006; that his tenure has not expired, judging from the the provisions of section 180 (2) of the constitution” I can not feel the point being made here. Is Mr. Nwokedi suggesting that because Peter Obi was in court that INEC should have waited till he finished? Was there a verdict on the tenure expiration before the 2007 election? What would have been more irresponsible, not conducting an election and conducting one later? Does the constitution allow for tenure elongation supposing the supreme court had disagreed with Peter? What will happen to the State if the verdict had gone the other way and there was a vacuum in government? I am not a lawyer. “In other words, the kernel of the Supreme Court ruling was basically that it is biologically impossible for a woman to conceive a second time while she is still pregnant” Mr. Nwokedi really writes exposing his foreign orientation. Let me remind Chukwudi that not too long ago, a goat, real he goat with bear bear was paraded on the Nigerian television by the police as a crime suspect. The goat was charged to court and it had to hire a sheep as its attorney. Sounds like a joke but true. The churches have put it into our being that everything is possible. You are lucky you have not been accused of taking the luck of the other children in your family. Wait until you come on holidays. For a woman to conceive a second time while still pregnant is a very easy story to believe. Hear this then, one child was stuck in the womb and the woman became pregnant again. The original baby could not come out because the step mother to the husband does not like her. The second pregnancy (ie baby) then pushed out the first ppregnancy (ie baby) after the woman drank the holy water she got from the pastor after an all night vigil, it is a miracle. Easy. Is Mr. Chukwudi Nwokedi still doubting? The biological impossibility is in Maryland not Naija. I do know that Andy Uba never for one day argued with the courts or refused to vacate. He went on national television and announced that he was abiding with the verdict of the apex court. No houses were burnt but I can tell you that I saw real men cry for the first time in my life. "Andy Uba cannot be said to be a governor since the post he was contesting was not open for contest. But for the purpose of this analysis, Andy Uba has added his name to the list of the ‘one-termers’ in Anambra state". Mr. Nwokedi sounded a bit confused here, is he saying that Andy was a former governor or not? For clarification, Andy Uba is on record as a former governor of Anambra State whether it is for a day or two or we like it or not, His Excellency is His Excellency for life. Peter Obi is His Excellency for life whether I am happy or not. It is in no way in the hands of Mr. Nwokedi to determine Andy Uba’s status under any circumstance. To put up another argument for Mr. Nwokedi, if he thinks Andy should not be seen as an ex governor, what about Ngige? I am not a lawyer. “That leads us to the issue of the day: can Obi defy the gods and win a second term”? Let me answer this question for you and do not be surprised with my answer, yes, Obi can win the next election if the present confusion in the PDP and other political parties persist. If no credible candidate is presented by other political parties and the faces and names that present themselves are criminals, the people would have no choice than to stick with Peter for another four years. Believe me, this is a likely possibility than anything else at the moment. It may sound as a shift from my normal position but it is not. He will not win because he has done well but on the grounds of sticking with the known evil. I am preparing to go on exile for four years and my Idengeli market dance in my full natural regalia; I will not go back on my words. “So our answer would come at that time. However, hate Gov Obi or love him, he has changed the political landscape of Anambra. With no god-father and being in the minority party, he enjoys the goodwill of the masses.” Mr. Nwokedi should not make a fool of himself, Governor Obi has not changed anything at all in Anambra State, people are suffering much more today than ever. Which goodwill is this man talking about, Peter does not enjoy the goodwill of his closest staff, you can find out, not in Maryland, in Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria, West Africa, Africa. “However, when he finally won in the Court of Appeal, his ‘friends’ came back. Just like everything in life, everyone loves a winner, but everyone would not go to the trenches with you to fight” You are very correct; no one wants to be with a looser, even your own family. I am certain you never knew where the battle was fought; the people that were involved were abandoned. Emeka Etiaba was number one; he knew the battle field and the ammunition dump more than Peter, what happened after? “Also Peter Obi has changed the election calendar in Nigeria. Before now, elections were held uniformly in the whole federation. Governorship and Houses of Assembly elections were held in every state in Nigeria on the same day. But with Obi’s history at the Supreme Court, election would now be held after the term of a governor expires counting from the day he took his oath of office and oath of allegiance. Anambra state now has its own gubernatorial election time-table, and also Edo state, Ondo State and Rivers State” What point are you trying to make Sir; I want to understand the relevance of this to the development of the State. Are you saying we shall count it in as a part of his achievement? Because elections are now scattered, we should thank Peter Obi, what is wrong with my brain? “Also prior to his becoming governor, NARTO (National Association of Road Transport Owners) was a parallel government in the state. They collect park dues and rates without accounting to the state government. In other words, any dues or levies they collect go not to the government but to them and they feed fat on the government funds and accounted to no one but to themselves. Obi stood up to them and put a stop to that even when it was seen as political suicide to challenge the almighty NARTO. Now I do not know whether anyone knows why the Internally Generated Revenue of the state is now in billions of naira” Could you please explain this billion naira scenario? Are you talking about weekly, monthly or yearly collection of Internally Generated Revenue? If we are collecting two hundred million every month, of course it shall run into millions by the end of the year. How much did Mbadinuju and Ngige collect in a year? As you are a man of statistics which I believe you inherited from Okwute Peter Obi, could you please provide us with the details as to appreciate the difference Peter has made? If you must know, Peter never believed in consultants until he found out he could not deal with IGR his own way. “Contractors collude with government officials and the so-called town union representatives to embezzle money allocated to their towns for government projects” Mr. Nwokedi, you talk recklessly as if you are not a lawyer, do you have any evidence of these. You have called contractors, government officials and town union representatives criminals; can you not see that it is a bit too much? You can feel that all of them are criminals but it would be difficult to prove if any of them decides to take it up with you. Was there a central meeting point by all these guys to agree on how to collude, connive and defraud? Peter is still working with these guys; does it mean they do not collude anymore? Another miracle may be? I have my concerns about you. “Before now, who knew that Anambra could actually rank among the best states in the federation in terms of development” What the hell are you talking this man, which development? “Also prior to Obi’s government, private security or vigilante is the order of the day. Mbadinuju’s government used the services of Bakassi Boys to provide security of life and property even when there a law enforcement entity called the Nigerian Police. But he came on board and disbanded the dreaded Bakassi Boys” Mr. Nwokedi, I do not want to loose the urge to address you as a Mister but you are striving towards that. You may not know, Anambra State was a robbery den when Mbadinuju came in. People would come home for weekend and would not venture to switch on the generator or the erratic NEPA as not to attract any attention. So many people would leave their homes and go to sleep in churches until the robbers started invading the churches. The strong ones would climb on top of trees to sleep; of course some unlucky ones fell off and died. When all these were going on, Mr. Nwokedi, the Nigerian Police was there. When Mbadinuju introduced Bakassi, Anambra State became the safest State in Nigeria. Most diaspora guys from all parts of Nigeria spent their holidays in my State. People could wear their jewerries and move about at any time of the day or night without any problems at all. Mr. Nwokedi, you could leave your money in front of your house and come back next week and still pick it up, what is the situation now. Let me tell you because you do not know, I was in Awka once when armed robbers spent five solid hours robbing all the banks at Zik’s Avenue. No one dared harass them or you will pay the price. For your information Mr. Nwokedi, such an act of complete disregard to authority by the criminals could not have been thought of under Mbadinuju, it would be unimaginable under Ngige but guess what, it happened under Peter Obi. How much oil are we drilling now in Anambra but you must be told that kidnapping is on the rise in the State. Your man Peter confessed that he has not seen anything like it before and he is the Chief Security officer of the State. You need radical moves to take care of radical activities; your man has failed woefully in this area. To put it in your own language, statistics, give us the argument of better security that your man Peter Obi has provided ahead of Mbadinuju and Ngige? “When Barack Obama wanted to be president of the United States, many people, including this writer, did not believe that a skinny black man with funny looking ear and a funny sounding name would prove cynics wrong to become the president of the most powerful country in the world” I hope the above statement is not a backyard way of comparing Peter and Barack Obama, Barack has been ridiculed by his people, the Africans. “Also when former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu said that Enyimba Football Clubs of Aba would win the African Cup of Champions for the first time for Nigeria, many people called him "big-mouth". When they won and Orji Kalu said that they would win the cup back to back, some people did not believe him, but it came to pass and the jinx that stopped other Nigerians elite teams were broken” Bia this man, I hope you are not trying to compare men with effeminates? You dare not make such a comparison because they are no political equals. “Gov Obi has been doubted before and many doubt that he would scale through the one-term jinx, not with the political forces against him. But Obi is not a superstar as our typical politicians are” You seem really to be out of touch, Peter Obi does not have any jinx, he is the jinx. There are no political forces against him, he is against himself. Coursed or the cause, Peter is the two brov. “With Obi's breaking many barriers” The major barrier the man has broken is his bank accounts; unfortunately he will not give you some. The man checks his accounts two to three times a day and carries different sizes of calculators at any given time. He said it; you can ask him, I can give you his number if you do not have it. “let us wait and see whether he would meet his waterloo in this election or whether he would break yet another record” As a brother, I will tell you to advise him to shut up and pray that there would be more confusion in PDP, AC, and PPA. He may get lucky second time. *Chukwudi Nwokoye writes from Maryland, USA nwokoyeac@hotmail.com I would have been surprised if he had written from Nigeria, he is definitely a man that does not have any contact what-so-ever with home and that’s for a very long time. Bros, try and touch home, unless you have stolen the luck of your family member and please do not announce your presence, unless you want to be kidnapped.. Talk to me if you need to talk. Regards.