The scramble for Anambra State 

By Levi Obijiofor 

Friday, 23 February 2007 

IN the past few weeks, Anambra State, Andy Uba and President Olusegun Obasanjo have dominated news headlines and commentaries in the Nigerian press. And it is all because of the covert scheme in Abuja to hand over to Andy Uba the governorship of Anambra State on a golden platter.  

Ever since Anambra State was created, the state has been particularly unlucky. It has had to fight several wars of survival in order to fend off the evil plots of businessmen and women, as well as the machinations of political leaders in the People's Democratic Party (PDP). In the league of Nigerian states, Anambra State is a bundle of contradictions. Anambra is like a beautiful bride being wooed by con artists in Abuja. Although the potential grooms suffer from immense credibility problems, their interest in Anambra State is driven by a common bond to keep the state permanently underdeveloped. Internally, Anambra State cuts the image of an orphan, a child of misfortune and a victim of rapacious greed by gangs of crooked politicians who pretend that they know better what the people in the state want. 

Here is a bit of history. When Chinwoke Mbadinuju was elected governor, he spent the better part of his tenure wrestling with his political sponsor Emeka Offor. Midway into Mbadinuju's four-year term, Anambra had been turned into a wrestling arena in which the spectators - ordinary people of the state - suffered economic and mental bruises. The exit of Mbadinuju and Offor produced yet another incredible duo - Chris Ngige and his lawless godfather Chris Uba. For three years, Ngige and Uba took their personal quarrels to the streets of Awka and an unknown shrine where their supporters engaged in regular shootouts.  

When Ngige was ousted by an appeal court decision and Peter Obi was declared the rightful winner of the 2003 governorship election, everyone thought the drama in Anambra State would come to an end. Hardly had Peter Obi settled down than a cluster of legislators from the state House of Assembly impeached him. Like a child of fortune, Peter Obi was recently restored to his job by an appeal court. In 2007, Obasanjo and Andy Uba are seriously engaged in an unholy alliance which, if it succeeds, would further consign Anambra State to the refuse bin of history. Neither Andy Uba nor his political grandfather, Obasanjo, has good intentions for Anambra State. In Andy Uba, Obasanjo is backing a wrong horse. But Obasanjo does not want to know. He believes he was anointed by God to lead Nigeria. In that context, Obasanjo also believes that anything he touches must have been pre-ordained by God. 

Unfortunately, everything Obasanjo touched since his third term attempt collapsed in the National Assembly has turned into an embarrassing disaster. Most recently, he tried to remove Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. Three days ago, the Court of Appeal in Abuja ruled that neither Obasanjo nor the PDP had the power to remove Atiku as vice president. In fact, the Court of Appeal judgment also reprimanded Obasanjo and the PDP hierarchy for overreaching their powers.  

Obasanjo's desperate attempt to impose Andy Uba on the people of Anambra State may produce an outcome that is similar to Obasanjo's third term disaster - total failure. Obasanjo does not enjoy credibility in Anambra State. He is seen as the master spoiler, a shadowy figure who watched quietly as Chris Uba - the car-cleaner-turned-millionaire - engaged in violent acts during the legendary battle between Ngige and Chris Uba. In fact, Obasanjo is known in Anambra as the man who turned a peaceful state into a den of political cowboys, of which Chris Uba is the gang leader. 

When Obasanjo speaks of his faith in the ability of Andy Uba to govern Anambra State, he (Obasanjo) reminds the people of Anambra State of his own character flaws, as well as the shortcomings of Andy Uba. By all counts, Andy Uba is a political liability, indeed an albatross on whose head many questions continue to hover. Beyond credibility concerns, Andy Uba is not a marketable governorship candidate. He has no record of achievements in Anambra State during the period he served Obasanjo. Intellectually, he could neither articulate properly the problems that hinder progress in Anambra State nor could he offer reasonable solutions to the problems. In this regard, his enemies describe him as an intellectual dwarf. There are some candidates you just cannot sell easily, no matter how many millions of naira you throw at voters. Andy Uba would soon find out that money may buy votes easily in Nigeria but, this time in Anambra State, money will not buy him easy entry into the Government House in Awka. 

The idea that Anambra State has been reserved by political leaders in Abuja as a farewell gift to Andy Uba, months ahead of the governorship elections, is both an insult to the people of Anambra State, a violation of the spirit and letters of the constitution, and absolute contempt for the principles of democracy. If one man can single-handedly decide in advance who should be the governor of a state, why should the nation bother with the rituals of conducting elections. We might as well fold our arms and ask Obasanjo to appoint state governors based on his wacky interpretation of what is best for the nation. And Obasanjo seems keen to do so. Here is evidence.  

At a rally held in Yola last weekend for Umar Musa Yar'Adua, presidential candidate of the PDP, Obasanjo threw modesty to the river and spoke in the manner of a tyrannical bus conductor. Obasanjo said that Adamawa State had been held hostage by Governor Boni Haruna who had performed below expectations. Obasanjo said Atiku Abubakar was responsible for the poor state of affairs in Adamawa essentially because of his alliance with Boni Haruna. To everyone's surprise, Obasanjo said he would never "allow a governor that can be held hostage by his mentor to be voted as governor of Adamawa State". 

Apart from the apparent grammatical blunder in Obasanjo's statement, he did not explain how he would execute his threat to "appoint" a governor for the people of Adamawa State. When a president issues such an ill-advised statement that threatens the democratic process, you wonder whether Nigeria is indeed a democracy. Where does Obasanjo draw the mandate to speak about the powers he does not have? It is well known that Atiku Abubakar's name easily triggers off a bout of migraine in Obasanjo. However, when a president says that he would not "allow" someone he does not like to be elected the governor of another state, he raises serious questions about the ability of his government to conduct free and fair elections in April. What would Obasanjo do if his "enemies" win the forthcoming elections? Is he going to declare a state of emergency to enable him to remain in office until he finds the candidates that appeal to him? Does Obasanjo really have the power to impose his choice of governorship candidates on voters? The answer must be that Adamawa and Anambra states are not business entities awaiting acquisition by Obasanjo and Andy Uba. 

Governorship elections are conducted so that voters can exercise their free choice to determine who should govern them. The plots and backroom deals that are taking place in Abuja in the twilight days of Obasanjo's tenure should remind everyone about the conspiracies that Sani Abacha, the supreme military dictator, manufactured in order to perpetuate himself in office in the late 1990s. In the final days of Abacha' regime, the organizations that passed for political parties were manipulated to the point where each party yelled openly that Abacha was its only viable presidential candidate. 

In the forthcoming governorship elections, Anambra State is the state to look out for. There are too many interests at stake in the state. The people of Anambra State have every reason to worry about Obasanjo's alliance with Andy Uba. Obasanjo has a reputation for catapulting political nonentities from positions of absolute obscurity to the status of absolute monarchs. If Andy Uba emerges the winner of the governorship election in Anambra State by default, Anambra voters would have cast a proxy vote for Obasanjo. That would be a major tragedy.