Mr Peter Obi, the Executive Governor of Anambra state held court at the Leadership Centre, Stratford-London on Bank holiday Monday (28^th August 2006) to meet and address Anambra indigenes in the UK on the state of affairs in Anambra state.  

Listening to him explain away the Anambra problem to Ndi Anambra who turned out in large numbers to receive the governor, Mr Obi cut the impression of a forlorn figure fighting desperately against time and against the monstrous forces that have since cornered and chicanered the state. 

During an hour –long speech which culminated in a question and answer session, Mr Obi reeled out to the astonishment of his listeners the many groups that have continued to hold Anambra state hostage through their nefarious activities, most especially the Bakassi Vigilante Group/Anambra Vigilante Service (AVS), NARTO and MASSOB. He recounted how his government had to pay an extortionist amount of 18 Million Naira amidst other demands to one of the groups in his first month in office, a payment that has since been discontinued. He wondered why these groups which have been operating mafia – type rackets and extortions don’t demand similar sums from the governments of the other states where they also operate.  

He used the occasion to announce the achievements of his government in its first 100 days in office; these were well documented in a 15-page report titled - Planning & Laying The Foundation (Part 1) which was handed out at the event. Among the many mentioned include the purchase of official cars for permanent secretaries in the state ministries, the award of the contract for the construction of the stock exchange building in Onitsha, re-establishment of relations with the federal government which has continued to attract the goodwill of the Obasanjo government, culminating in the re-imbursement to Anambra state of the sum of 4 Billion Naira being money spent on federal roads in Anambra state by Dr. Chris Ngige (his predecessor). According to the governor, “The renewed relationship with the federal government has now influenced major international agencies such as the EU, World Bank, JICA, UNEP, UNICEF, DFID and WHO to come back to Anambra state and undertake certain projects”.  

He called for patience from Ndi Anambra and gave reasons why it appears his government is slow, this according to him was because “We want to get things right and have had to go back to the drawing board, if you have not planned, then you have planned to fail”. He used the occasion to praise the former governor (Dr. Chris Ngige) for the good job he did on roads in Anambra state but warned that, that still didn’t exonerate him from his complicity in stealing the people’s mandate.   

Speaking later to this reporter, Ndi Anambra in the UK agreed that the governor may have started well, judging from his speech which earned him a standing ovation in the end. According to Chief Chidi Oli (Amandianaeze), an Enugwu-Ukwu indigene, “We can only give the governor the benefit of the doubt, since he is not the architect of the Anambra crises”. Christian Udechukwu, the CEO of BusinessinAfricaevents.com agrees, “Listening to the governor, I believe that his administration has started well. It is now up to him and his government to deliver on his selection of project deadlines in order to ensure that Anambra people finally begin to enjoy the peace, stability and progress that has continued to elude them. I also believe that his government should communicate his vision better than it is doing at the moment. Better communication would help to mobilise Anambra people to discover how they can individually and collectively support his administration”.    

Jennifer Okafor, the Chairwoman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) UK Chapter says that “Governor Peter Obi is the evidence that something good can come out of APGA and also Anambra state”. In his own remarks, Ben Etiaba, the event organiser said that the event was a good opportunity for Ndi Anambra in the diaspora to come and witness what the government is doing back home, “Hopefully, this is a good beginning of the healing process”, he concluded.  

Murphy Mofunanya (Mofus) however asks Ndi Anambra not to applaud yet, “We have to see tangibles before we arrive at any conclusions on Governor Peter Obi’s stewardship, I also feel very disappointed that the governor has failed to use this opportunity to tell Ndi Anambra in the diaspora what he had earlier told some of us during a courtesy visit at Awka, that his administration would have a dedicated diaspora office in the government house”. According to him, “we don’t know if that has been done, who is responsible or if it was just political talk”. 

Bola Oba, a presenter and TV Host with UK based ethnic channel – Ben Television believes that the governor has failed to maximise the opportunity. According to him “The governor blew a big opportunity here today, he has not engaged his people very well as many of them I spoke to were still very unclear on his future plans for the state”. 

Concluding, Leo Nkwonta (Obidigbo) says that “Peter Obi means well but time may be against him”.  

Controversy had dogged this event which was almost cancelled at the last minute as a result of the confusing signals received by Ndi Anambra from a dissenting group which had called for the boycott of the event. It does seem as if the governor has fallen out with a faction of his party members in the UK led by Ike Ofoche, they had earlier sent out fliers, text and email messages to Ndi Anambra calling for the boycott of the event. An anonymous respondent who spoke to this reporter says that the event was only rescued by Nnewi people in London, “look around you, this is like an Nnewi town union meeting, where are the rest of Ndi Anambra in London? He queried.  

The message (reproduced here unedited) which was signed by Phil Chinwuba, Odenigbo – Chidi Anyaeche, Ike Ofoche, Iyke Oti and Andrew Emelife reads:  

BOYCOTT PETER OBI 

Ladies & Gentlemen 

Re. Boycott any gathering for Gov. Peter Obi 

The Anambra State Governor. Mr. Peter Obi has commissioned the son of his deputy Mr. Etiaba to organise a party with citizens of Anambra State in London on Monday 28th of August.  The question is simple? Is this a private visit or official visit? Mr. Peter Obi was elected under the flag of APGA. Why is APGA (UK) not involved in this arrangement? 

If this visit is official, what government policy is the governor coming to discuss with Anambra State citizens in London.  This is the man who ordered federal troops to shout and kill his people.  Anambra State streets is today under the occupation of Nigerian army with assault raffle.  Is he coming to sweet talk us into understanding why he is a failure for not recording one single achievement since he assumed office?  Is he coming to tell us why he has decided that it is right to demolish part of the famous Onitsha main market to build a propose stadium. 

Has this governor gotten any priority right?  Is he trying to explain why he is associating with known arsonist-Mr. Andy Uba and Mr. Chris Uba-those that are burning Anambra State. 

Nigeria operates a federal state, vis, the federal government, the state government and the local government.  In Anambra State there are no local government chairmen.  This is a one man administration of a confused governor.  The choice of his deputy's son who has never identified himself with Anambra people in UK shows the governor lack of vision and disrespect for APGA.  Mr. Peter Obi has forgotten that it was APGA members in UK that launched his model campaign in 2003. 

The fact still remains that no matter any sort of public relation damage he wants to achieve, he will not be re-elected. Mr. Obi deserves all our condemnation.  His action since coming into office has been utterly very disgusting.  May I appeal to all peace loving people of Anambra State in London to shame Mr. Peter Obi and sit at home or go about their normal business? Mr. Peter Obi does not deserve any attention because he is not worthy of being our governor.  Whether his visit is official or otherwise, he is on his own. 

Kindly sit at home, do not go to meet with the governor because he has nothing to offer our state rather misery and anarchy with his political goats at Abuja. God in his mercy loves Anambra State and will send us another good governor come next year 2007. emelife@loans4assets.com ike.ofoche@virgin.net
 

The real motives of this group remains unknown as at the time of writing this piece, but the general consensus from Ndi Anambra who attended the event was that the governor deserves the patience and cooperation of all stakeholders in order to restore  Anambra state to its pristine glory.  

In the words of the governor, “I have inherited problems I did not create, but we are determined to reclaim our state from these dark forces that have since made Anambra state their operational home. For this reason we have renamed the Anambra slogan from Anambra state – Home for All to Anambra state – Home for All Good People”.  

Action from the state government is indeed what Ndi Anambra need at the moment; the time for rhetoric may finally be over. .  

September 2006.

Pictures from the event

Robot  # 1 | 04.09.2006 11:34

...Read the full article.

sniper  # 2 | 04.09.2006 16:46

Uche, Long Time, Well It Is A Shame That Only Few People Were Present At The Function Because Of The Carnival It Was Also My New Baby's Naming Ceremony Funny Enough I Had More People At My House Than A Visiting Governor That Is To Tell You That People Are Sick And Tired Of Cheap Sychophancy. Please Uche Advice The Governor To Buy Jeans And T Shirts From Primark As He Has A Lot To Do Before His Tenure Ends. A Governor That Really Wants To Serve His People Does Not Need Cheap Publicity, There Is Too Much Work Which Needs Done At Home Than Coming To The Uk To Spend The Poor States Money On Self Praising Projects. Uche You Know And I Know That Any Serious Gov. Will Never Leave His State During His Tenure Has There Is Too Much Work To Do Even When Elected For A Second Term. Our Youths And Elderly In Anambra Do Not Need A David Beckham (celeb) Style Gov. Finally, That Isi Ewu In Presidential Is Not The Best Oh, I Want To Invite You To The Den In Cricklewood To Try The Sea Food Special As I Be Lagos Man . Peace Denrele

VOR  # 3 | 04.09.2006 17:11

According to the article below, this event was boycotted by the people of Anambra and rightly so!! I hope others will follow this and start boycotting events organised to massage the egos of our rulers. Chidi Anyaeche Monday, August 28, 2006 LONDON'S DENUNCIATION OF GOVERNOR OBI'S IRRESPONSIBLE VISIT The title of this article especially the word 'irresponsible' may seem too harsh to a liberal minded individual but in reality that is the case - Governor Obi's official visit to London was an exercise in executive irresponsibility and that was why Anambra citizens in London denounced and boycotted the visit with tremendous success. Governor Peter Onwubuasi Obi in March this year became the executive governor of Anambra state after a two half year protracted legal battle between his party (APGA), erstwhile Governor Chris Ngige and INEC. Since Governor Obi assumed office, Anambra has literally and physically ground to a halt, Chris Ngige's massive road construction projects have been suspended, Onitsha and Nnewi have government troops patrolling the streets with a shoot to kill mandate, maiming and killing innocent citizens, there is dusk to dawn curfew in the state with its attendant economic implication, no pipe borne water, massive employment, insecurity to lives and property that makes Baghdad a haven, to name a few of the problems that the state is compounded with. Anambra state has over one hundred and fifty (150) towns with twenty one (21) local government councils, each town and local government has numerous problems that if absolute care is not taken, will take generations unborn to solve. Governor Obi has no solution in place to tackle these problems, mere mention of his name in Anambra state at present draws the irk of the masses. Governor Obi has visited only a few of the twenty one local government headquarter's late alone the towns, to parley with the electorate, to feel their pulse, to find out what their problems are, to sense their anger and frustration and to give them hope. This writer is from Ukpor, the headquarters of Nnewi South Local Government, Mr Peter Obi since sworn in, as Governor has not visited Ukpor and this is a fact. What do the Anambra electorate with all their hopes built and nourished by ex Governor Chris Ngige derive from Governor Obi, nothing, except over Five Billion Naira contracts awarded since he became governor, without due process, to friends and cronies. Most of them meaningless. Onitsha, Nnewi and Awka, the principal towns in the state are littered with refuse, roads are not motorable, armed robbery is the order of the day, the list goes on. runs a federal system, the presidency, the states and the local governments with elected chief executives manning each arm of the federal system. Anambra state since the inception of Governor Obi's administration has no chief executives at the local government level, infact, there is no government at the local government level where over eighty percent of the populace reside. A local government without a chief executive is like a state without a governor or a country without a president. How can Governor Obi justify this? Even despotic IBB and Sanni Abacha made sure that the local governments at least had chief executives. In the face of all these maladministration by Governor Obi, APGA, on whose platform he got to power remains silent. Silence as the saying goes in consent. As if all these incompetence's exhibited by Governor Obi are not enough, he decided to pay an official visit to London with the main aim of addressing the indigenes of the state in diaspora about the success (or otherwise) of his administration to date, What was the purpose of the missionary journey? What will it achieve? Only he knows the answer. There are, I believe, Californians living in Nigeria and other parts of the world, has Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited them in Nigeria to sensitize them about the success of his administration. That was why there was a massive boycott of the Governor Obi meeting in London by Anambra state indigenes. The message was simple "He who is well has no need for a physician". The Anambra indigenes in London are fine. Governor Obi go back to Anambra state and do your job. Governor Obi your constituency is Anambra state and not London. You were elected to better the lives of your constituents living in Agulu, Ukpor, Onitsha, Ihiala, Ogbunike, Aguleri, Abagana, etc. Please visit your constituents in their respective towns, to find out what their problems are and what your government can do to remedy them. Stop wasting taxpayers' money and government time in the guise of meet-the-people tour to London. The problems on the ground in Anambra state are enormous, please stay at home and confront them. Your so-called official trip to London during these trying times in Anambra state is downright IRRESPONSIBLE. Anambra state indigenes in London have spoken, they have acted and they have sent a clear message to Governor Obi - stay at home and do your job. I hope indigenes of other states will emulate the actions of Anambra indigenes by sending clear-cut messages to irresponsible Governors like Peter Obi. Political sycophancy must end for Nigeria to move forward. http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2006/aug/281.html

emj  # 4 | 04.09.2006 17:29

hmmmmmmmm---from what i know, London is Peter Obi's second home. Am sure that it was more of a private visit than official. His aides merely turned his usual visits to his second base to a meet the people one. Good to know that the people of anambra state in diaspora can take a stance such as these to send a clear message to the governor that it is not business as usual(though the same people will troop to his house for onre thing or the other under the cover of dark). I wish that other nigerians in diaspora will do the same to their ajala travel governors. Their various constituencies back home are suffering and starving. They've not accounted for their stewardship back home, but set out to impress those in diaspora with long list of near achievements..............:rolleyes:

salstep  # 5 | 04.09.2006 18:35

Na wah o. at risk of getting slapped, why do people still go out to attend these events? The electorate dey for naija, yet he dey com woo voters wey no reach 50,000 for london. Shame on all those yansh licker wey attend.

WaleAkin  # 6 | 05.09.2006 04:55

REVENUE GENERATION WITHIN THE CHURCH I want to temporarily draw your attention to an issue once discussed on this board about the spate of growing churches in the world. The visit of Governor Obi was held at the Leadership Centre in Stratford which belongs to the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Trinity chapel Parish under the able leadership of Dr Fola Alade. The church rents out its big and well decorated main hall and adjoining halls for social use and thus raise money for the church to help in its daily runnings and payment of staff, this avenue of generating revenue is highly welcomed as it will relieve the burden on church members from costant church offerings and/or donations. I hope other parishes and denominations will take a cue from this noble act as its not all about OFFERINGS!, OFFERINGS!!, OFFERINGS!!! God bless Dr Fola Alade for this good idea! Cheers, WaleAkin

akuluouno  # 7 | 05.09.2006 05:34

I think that at the point of being accused of being an 'otimkpu' of Gov PO, that villagers are a bit unfair in their criticism of his visit. Many govs have visited and will continue to visit the UK and other parts of the world. I read recently of Gov OUK of Abia who went on a presdiential campaign of some west african countries on a private jet. Others have gone on foreign tours with GMG's of dollars and pounds sterling. Some have even asked their sisters-in-law to assist them in this jamboree. While others have had their emissaries in the export of looted funds eg Gov AF of Ekiti stopped by the eagle 'hands' of EFCC. So for having successfully arrived UK unscathed, I think PO should be commended. I think that beyond normal politics, the expectations from him are indeeed very high and as a student of philosophy I hope he would be able to meet these challenges as the governor of one of the states that have been battered by its former leaders since creation. I think that essentially, a combination of poor publicity, the bank holiday and the Nottinghill carnival which many stressed Londoners cannot compromise for a photo ops with Gov PO were what marred the poor showing at the event.

Uwani92  # 8 | 05.09.2006 13:15

Hey ,am not from Anambra to start with but as an ibo man what concerns any ibo speaking state concerns me.Till tomorrow i blame the wooes of Anambra State on lustrous sons and daughters of the State that allowed challantants. ,good for nothing illiterate and money bags to control the state ,while they shy away ,this boycott is a start and i welcome it. A state that produced people like Ekweme,Ojukwu,Anayaoku,Achebe,Emeagwali and the rest,my thing was ,why not allow Ngige to finish,his reception here in the States witnessed a good turnout why ,because people saw what he was doing. The last time i was home going through ,onitsha was not the onitsha i knew growing up same with Nnewi where my Godfather lives ,i couldn't believe my eyes. Ike Good Job,but more needs to be done ,till we see a postive change back home ,we have not started.

Odinaka  # 9 | 05.09.2006 14:16

According to Peter Obi, this is one of his achievements: re-establishment of relations with the federal government which has continued to attract the goodwill of the Obasanjo government, culminating in the re-imbursement to Anambra state of the sum of 4 Billion Naira being money spent on federal roads in Anambra state by Dr. Chris Ngige (his predecessor) Sounds rather ridiculous. Makes it appear like Ngige was such a bad guy that the president wouldn't trust him with money or that the crises imposed on Anambra by Obj boys were the fault of Ngige. Absolute sycophacy. Nice to hear that folks boycotted his meeting. If APGA wants to retain the governorship of Anambra, they shouldn't think of Obi again, he's turned out to be a disappointment

igwe  # 10 | 05.09.2006 17:58

PO may be criticised for spending precious time in London, and that's understable. But we also need to know if the sole purpose of his visit was just to "meet" Anambra people or the meeting was just an afterthought. However, to just conclude from there that he's a failure is pure ignorance. And going to the length of calling for a boycot is share bitterness on the parts of some opponents. Anambra can have only one governor at a time. In the little time he's been in office, Obi has achieved a lot in terms of reclaiming the state from godfathers who have been cornering revenue from motor parks that should rightly be going to the state govt. Hospitals and schools are being upgraded and agriculture and industry are being revived. He has promised that Osha will be calm by December or he will resign. Moreso, by December, if he keeps his promise, Onitsha and other major cities in the state will be clean. Infrastructures are being built in a sustainable manner. Ngige built roads, yes, but PO will surpass him in that regard as we will soon witness. For the first time in decades, water may start flowing from taps in homes in the state. Apart from building roads, and this concentrated on certain parts of the state, what else did Ngige do? Mbadinuju took the state's university of science to his home town and Ngige did the same thing. Building a few roads, including unsuccessfully fighting a godfather he agreed to serve in the first place, may be a clever way of appealing to people's sentiments. But apart from building roads, I challenge Ngige's fans to show us his much touted achievements. Let us not forget that so many people lost their lives because of the struggle b/w Ngige and those who put him in power. Indeed, the state lost more because he came to power in a fraudulent way, whether he admits it or not. PO took on powerful forces Ngige dared not confront and the state will be the better for it. Even Chris Uba is already feeling the heat the way he never felt before. His police orderlies are being withdrawn! There can't be two governors in a state! Let us give PO the support he needs to sanitize the state. Calling him names and longing for Ngige to come back is simply an illusion. And by the way, I think Saint Ngige has some explanations to give to EFCC. PO is completely different from Ngige. He wants to establish law and order in Anambra and let us help him to succeed.

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