Several efforts had been made in the past to drive All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) out of Anambra government House. When he was Governor, Mr. Peter Obi literally walked the tight rope. Once, he was illegally impeached and he had to massage members of the House of Assembly who, in his first tenure were all members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In his second tenure, Obi struck a masterpiece of relationship with President Goodluck Jonathan to the extent that the President regarded him more valuable than some top members of his party. Such was the game Obi played to survive.
He did not just play politics alone. By the second half of his second tenure, the crafty Obi was perhaps, the best performing Governor in Nigeria. The only Governor he contended with in that position, people believed, was Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos state.
Obi had read the psychology of Anambra people very well, providing virtually every community with a tarred road even if they do not endure for long; handed over schools to their original owners thereby boosting school attendance after rebuilding those schools and assisting communities with money to do some palliative works on internal roads. Latching on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Obi was able to get a lot of financial support from foreign donor and development agencies. Anambra people believe that his programme fulfilled their yearnings and they followed him believing that he has provided what they needed to make progress. So, when the state ranks very low in poverty index, it is not surprising.
Such was the situation of things when Obi’s tenure drew to an end. To wrap it up, Obi dreamt of,and did what not many politicians had thought about and dared to do: hand over power to a person of Anambra North Senatorial district extraction that has never produced a governor and may not be able to produce one unaided.
In that context, the spirit was high among Anambrarians to go APGA with Peter Obi. So, when he brought in Chief Willie Obiano as his successor, his works spoke for him. Obiano seemed to have carried on well; pursuing his own programmes hinged on four pillars of development namely: aggressive mechanized agriculture, trade and Commerce, industrialization and Oil and Gas. The enablers are made up of fundamentals like Security, Education, Healthcare, Power Generation, the Environment, Finance, Social & Civil Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development, Hospitality and Tourism, Transportation, Water and Sanitation and Youth and Sports. However, things were no longer as they were when he took over from Governor Obi. It will be recalled that barely one year after he assumed office, Obi left APGA for PDP. This was followed by bitter wrangling among the three pillars of Obi, Chief Victor Umeh and now Obiano.
Many opponents of the party saw this as a loophole in APGA’s stranglehold of Anambra state with even Obi vowing to dethrone Obiano after his first tenure. So, when the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige spoke last week to the effect that his party, All Progressives Congress (APC) will be in serious contention for Awka Government House come next year’s Governorship election, it was seen as part of the political struggle for the soul of Anambra state.
In an interview with journalists at his Alor country home, Ngige had said: “APC will be in serious contention for the office of governor next year because we are determined to take over the Government House. However, it is too early to begin to talk about whether one will contest or not since, by the Constitution of Nigeria and the Electoral Act, the governorship election will take place perhaps, in December next year.
Before then, the marshal plan APC has for Nigeria would have been on ground properly as we believe that will help us during the campaigns. For now, anybody saying he is campaigning for the governorship is only wasting his time as there is still enough time for that”.
Ngige as usual insisted that he ran the best government in Anambra state boasting that both Obi and Obiano administration combined has not equaled his 34 months in office. Hear him:“Even when they tried to do multiplicity of roads, their roads have collapsed, while the ones I did are still in perfect conditions”.
“Even the handover of schools they are priding themselves about was started by me because I was the person that signed the Memorandum of Understanding with religious leaders in the state and handed over37 schools on paper before we left office. If they had followed my agricultural road map, Anambra State would have been feeding the whole south east with rice by now.
“If I were to be governor today, I won’t be going to Abuja for money because our state would have been self-sufficient. I will get the required licence and begin mining of some minerals in the state.” But he did not hint whether he would the governorship election again.
Prior to this time, he contested against Governor Obi in 2010 and against the incumbent governor, Chief Willie Obiano in 2014 and lost in both elections. He also lost his bid to return as Senator in 2015, coming a distant third in the election before he was appointed a minister by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Nevertheless, whether he will run or not ANgige’s statement could be read as a notice to Governor Obiano that his re-election will not be too easy as PDP had issued similar threats several times when Obiano’s predecessor was in office without realizing such ambition. And realizing such ambition now seems even more difficult with politicians of different parties have intermingled and shared their cheating tactics
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