by Chukwuma Soludo
My attention has been drawn to some of the tirades on social
media following my frank response during an interview on Channels TV regarding
the “investments” Mr. Peter Obi claimed to have made with Anambra state
revenues.
Sadly, several of the comments left the issue of the
interview to probe or suggest motives, inferred from my response on
“investment” that I am opposed to Peter Obi’s ambition and therefore committed
a “crime” for which the punishment is internecine abuse and harassment even to
my family.
Some people even suggest that the gunmen who went to attack
a checkpoint at my hometown on Saturday 12th November but were gunned down was
part of the mob reaction. I used to think that for decent people, certain
conducts are off-limits, and that in Anambra, politics is not warfare.
Of course, as a Christian, I know that telling the truth can
be very costly, even suicidal. Our Lord and saviour was crucified simply for
telling the truth the people did not want to hear. I promised that I won’t be
the usual politician, and will not knowingly lie to the people. I am not an
Angel but rather than knowingly repeat the same deceitful character that
politicians are known for, I would leave public office. It is a vow I made to
my God and to my family.
Only God knows how many days I will be on this seat but
whether I am on it or not, I will always say it as it is— knowing fully the
suicidal consequences of telling the truth in a political arena, especially in
a country where lying and deceit by politicians have become culture and
celebrated as being “smart”.
Ideally, I should just have laughed off the infantile
exuberances as many friends advised (I am used to this, having been in the
‘Arena’ for a while). I always re-read the quote “The Man in the Arena…” by
President Theodore Roosevelt (1910) to remind myself of the burden of public
office. Several well meaning Nigerians and Ndigbo called to advise that I should
just ignore them. A respected Igbo elder-statesman who called, advised that I
should just ignore what he described as “Peter Obi and his social media mob”.
According to him, “everyone knows that he is going nowhere, but they are
looking for who to blame”. After some 20 minutes of discussion, he advised that
I should personally author a response— just for the records.
Everyone knows that I don’t follow the winds nor one to
succumb to bullies, nor shy away from a good fight especially when weighty
matters of principles and future of the people are involved. One lesson I
learnt from my former boss and mentor, President Obasanjo, is never to be on
the fence. I learnt that one must always take a stand: for better or for worse.
I do so with every sense of humility, and leave history to judge.
Most people have commended me for “tactfully avoiding being
drawn into the Peter Obi issue” until now. Since I am now being forced into the
Arena on this matter, I have a duty and a right of reply, if only for the
records, and to also give the social media mob something substantive to rant
upon and rain their abuses for weeks. In this preliminary response, there are
some things I will refrain from saying here because, in the end, February/March
2023 will come and go, and life will continue.
At the outset, let me state that this exhibition of
desperation, intolerance and attempt to bully everyone who expresses the
slightest of dissent is reprehensible. This is Hitler in the making. When the
revered Archbishop Chukwuma stated that in Enugu State, they were not obedient,
he was ferociously bullied on social media. Any dissent is tagged a saboteur
or, in my case, it could be that I want to contest for president after office
or that I am envious of Peter Obi.
Soludo envious of Peter Obi? Totally laughable! But this is
the same person I was asking to return to APGA in March 2022 and contest for
president and yet envious or doesn’t want him to be president. This is madness!
Seriously speaking, the obdurate attempt to muscle the republican Igbos to
maintain the silence of the graveyard is antithetical to everything Igbo. It is
not who we are. Insulting other ethnic groups and religions or denigrating
others is certainly not the path to Aso Rock. If this is not checked, it may
indeed endanger the future political and economic interests of the Igbos.
In his time, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was the undisputed all time
leader of the Igbos but he had his arch rivals and even independent candidates
won landslide elections against his party, NCNC, in Igboland. Obafemi Awolowo
had stiff opposition among the Yorubas while Ahmadu Bello had his share of
opponents in the Northern region. Today, no one has accused Afenifere or other
strong presidential candidates from the South West of being “anti Yoruba”
because Tinubu is a frontrunner, nor has anyone accused Kwankwaso and several
other Northern candidates of being “anti-North” for not supporting Atiku. As a
full blooded republican Igboman and democrat, I reject this despotic
intolerance.
Yes, I fully understand the anger of some urban and Diaspora
youths and some Nigerians who are dissatisfied with the trajectory of the
country or with the candidates of the major parties and wished other options.
Not knowing much about others, some see Peter Obi as the contrast they wished for.
I get the point. But this is a democracy: the minority will have their say, but
the majority their way. Translating anger and social media agitation into
political outcomes requires humongous work.
For full disclosure, let me state that Peter Obi and I are
not just friends, we call ourselves “brothers”. But we have political
differences: he left APGA for PDP after his tenure as Governor while I have
remained in APGA since 2013. During the last two governorship elections in
Anambra in 2017 and 2021, he led the PDP campaigns but APGA won landslide in
both elections.
By the way, in 2016, he visited and proposed that I defect
to PDP and contest the 2017 election against the incumbent Willie Obiano, but I
declined. After my victory in November 2021, he called to congratulate me as I
did to him in 2010. That is the Anambra way: we fight fiercely during campaigns
but share drinks at the next social events. After all, it was the great Zik of
Africa who taught us that in politics, there are no permanent friends or
permanent enemies but only permanent interests.
We sat next to each other during the Emeka Anyaoku lecture
at Nnamdi Azikiwe University on 8th March, 2022 and I made an offer for him to
return to APGA and contest as its presidential candidate. Yes, I did. In my
mind, it was time for Igbos to organise their region politically before
stepping out to bargain power with other organised coalitions. On his part, he
tried to convince me that he expected APC to unravel while PDP would be the
“only one” standing. We debated and he proposed that we could meet later to
discuss further.
He attended my inauguration on March 17. A few weeks later,
he requested and I obliged him to use the Anambra State government house
facility to launch his presidential bid under PDP. I was surprised to read in
the news later that he had defected to LP (a party with literally zero
structure), thereby attempting to weaken the same PDP he saw as the saviour a
few weeks earlier. He paid me a courtesy call as the presidential candidate of
LP, and we had frank discussions.
During our meeting, I reminded him of my proposal to him to
come and contest under APGA. More importantly, I told him (possibly to his
surprise) that I did not make the proposal in the belief that he will win in
2023 but that it would give us the opportunity to get our people organised as a
bargaining force, with him leading the effort since I was busy as Governor (my
immediate predecessor, Willie Obiano had indicated to me that he was not
disposed to contest an election). We noted that we were in opposing political
parties and in response to my direct question as to how I might help him, he
requested that I should just ensure a “level playing field” and let the people
decide.
In fidelity, my government has provided the atmosphere for
him and his supporters to operate freely in Anambra without any molestation
(compare with treatments to LP even in other South East states), and allowed
his billboards which are, in many places, wrongly placed almost on the roads.
As a person, I have several shortcomings but being petty is not one of them. We
have shown him tremendous goodwill—which he did not extend to the same Labour
Party when he was Governor (Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, as LP governorship candidate in
2013 was denied the use of Ekwueme Square for his rallies).
Someone reminded me that a mob has no head and hence cannot
reason. The same Peter Obi was one of those who told Ndigbo that APGA was the
vehicle through which Igbos would organise to engage the rest of Nigeria
politically. He was said to have sworn to Ojukwu and publicly that he would
quit politics the day he leaves APGA. The rest is history. When he was the
Vice-Presidential candidate under PDP in 2019, the emotive train then dubbed
the ticket “the Igbo project”. As then chairman of planning and strategy
committee of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, I cautioned for a more pragmatic
approach but the emotive blaze of the time held sway. We were vindicated
afterwards.
By the way, APGA is Nigeria’s third largest political party
today (after APC and PDP, it is the only other party with a state governor and
third largest presence at the National Assembly). And some people have the
temerity to suggest that APGA’s candidate should “step down” for Peter Obi as
the “Igbo candidate”. I wonder when Igbos met to choose a candidate. They even
argue that afterall APGA supported President Jonathan and did not field a
candidate then. Well, the fact as I was told was that no candidate showed
interest under APGA then. Besides, APGA’s unwritten rule then was to support
the party at the centre — which, if we apply this time, should actually be APC.
But we have our own candidate.
Recall that all the political parties had their primaries during
the same period. Once Peter Obi realised that he won’t get the presidential or
vice-presidential ticket of PDP he ran to Labour Party (a political party known
as a transit camp for aspirants who lost primaries in APC, PDP and APGA), and
the chorus by a vociferous minority now is that LP has become the “Igbo
project”, and the APGA candidate who emerged the same time as Peter Obi should
“step down”. Ridiculous! Now I truly understand that a mob cannot reason.
When will Ndigbo understand and learn politics, especially
of Nigeria? When Bola Ahmed Tinubu defied the political wind of the time and
stood out as the “only man standing” in AD and later AC (before ACN) against a
sitting president of Yoruba descent, no one accused him of being “anti-Yoruba”.
Indeed, everyone recalls that both Tinubu and President Obasanjo disagreed
politically, and probably still disagree—but none is being accused of being
“anti- Yoruba”. Under Tinubu, the South West strategically organised under a
different political party, the ACN and went into a formidable alliance that
kicked out a sitting president (in Africa?), and that alliance is not broken
yet. Igbos, in their frenzied Nzogbu nzogbu politics, have sadly found
themselves in a political cul de sac. Tragic indeed! When will my people smell
the morning coffee?
Let me now address the substance of my response during the
interview, and I stand by what I said. On record, I doubt that any governor in
Nigeria has paid as much tribute to his predecessors as I have done during
campaigns and in office. I always said that ALL of them did well and to the
best of their abilities.
Yes, Peter Obi was governor for 8 years (2006-2014) during a
period of unprecedented oil boom and prosperity in Nigeria (Nigerian economy
was growing at average of 6-8% per annum, and oil price was highest during this
time). I have seen all kinds of funny comments and interpretations regarding
what I said about the value of his “investments”. Some refer to SabMiller and
bandy all kinds of figures as to how the investment of $12 million is now worth
less than $3 million.
Of course, there is room for legitimate debate about the
logic or quality of the investments. For example, people might differ as to the
propriety of using taxpayers money to promote a company in which one is a
shareholder in the name of “investment”, or even whether so called “savings”
are warranted when there were dozens of schools without roofs or classrooms, or
local governments without access roads or hospitals without doctors/nurses.
A Bishop recently publicly advised that I should please try
to construct the “Ngige type of quality roads”, stating that the ones done by
his successor (that is, Peter Obi) had washed off, while Ngige’s remained. I
promised and we are delivering quality roads that Anambra has not seen before.
For sure, prudence in public resource management is
desirable and we are opening new frontiers in that area. People will however
differ as to whether saving money in the bank account is a KPI (key performance
indicator) for a government where poverty is escalating except where its
institutions for absorption are weak or where the government has no robust/big
agenda for transformation.
Governments exist to save lives, not to save money. We can
debate and differ on this— (by the way, I know when/how it is appropriate to
“save” as I built Nigeria’s foreign reserves from $10 billion I inherited to
all time $63 billion, and even after paying $12 billion to pay-off Nigeria’s
external debt and going through unprecedented global financial crisis, I still
left behind about $45 billion— Go and verify!).
Funny, in the rabid frenzy to grab every straw, they cut a
clip during our governorship debate where I was stating vital statistics and
they claimed that I was “praising” Peter Obi then while committing a crime now
by “criticising” him. Hahahaha! Well, it is true that I said during the debate
that, according to National Bureau of Statistics, poverty in Anambra actually
grew (from less than 25% in 2005) to about 53% under Peter Obi in 2010/2011 but
fell under Willie Obiano to 14.78% in 2020.
Yes, poverty more than doubled under Peter Obi and more than
50% of Ndi Anambra were in poverty under him. Go and verify! I am Governor, and
sitting on privileged information which I will not want to use against a
political opponent. But on matters of facts, I will always state same as is. As
the saying goes, you can fool some of the people some of the time but never all
the people all the time. Enough said for now!
Where do we go from here? I listened to my friend Gov
El-Rufai on TV explaining why the northern governors decided that power should
shift to the South. According to him, they asked themselves what would their
founding fathers—Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa or Aminu Kano have done in the
circumstance. Today, I ask my people, Ndigbo: do we ask what Azikiwe or M.I.
Okpara or Akanu Ibiam would do in the present circumstance? I worry that Ndigbo
as Nigeria’s foremost itinerant tribe and with the greatest stake in the
Nigerian project does not yet have a strategy to engage Nigeria—politically!
Every four years, we resurface with emotive Nzogbu Nzogbu political dance (“it
is our turn dance” but without organisation or strategy) and fizzle out
afterwards while others work 24/7 strategising and organising.
Let’s be clear: Peter Obi knows that he can’t and won’t win.
He knows the game he is playing, and we know too; and he knows that we know.
The game he is playing is the main reason he didn’t return to APGA. The brutal
truth (and some will say, God forbid) is that there are two persons/parties
seriously contesting for president: the rest is exciting drama! That many
Americans may not like the fact that Joe Biden (79 years) and Donald Trump (76
years) are two frontrunners for president in their parties does not remove the
fact that if both of them emerge as candidates, definitely one of them will be
president in 2024.
As my brother, I wish him well and even pray for him. I told
him during his courtesy call that my prayer is that himself or Prof Umeadi of
APGA would win, why not? That is from my heart, but I also told him that my
head and facts on the ground led me to know that its probability is next to
zero (what I cannot say before you, I won’t say behind you). So I already told
him my opinion.
Indeed, there is no credible pathway for him near the first
two positions, and if care is not taken, he won’t even near the third position.
Analysts tell him you don’t need “structure” to win. Fantasy! Of course, LP won
governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun on social media and via phantom polls,
while getting barely 2,000 votes on ground. Creating a credible third force for
presidential election in Nigeria requires a totally different strategy and
extreme hard work.
Of course, Peter Obi will get some votes, and may probably
win in Anambra state— as “home boy”. But Anambra is not Nigeria. If he likes, I
can even campaign for him but that won’t change much. From internal state by
state polling available to me, he was on course to get 25% in 5 states as at August
this year. The latest polling shows that it is down to four states, and
declining. Not even in Lagos state (supposed headquarters of urban youths)
where Labour Party could not find candidates to contest for House of Reps or
Senate.
The polls also show that he is taking votes away mostly from
PDP. Indeed, if I were Asiwaju Tinubu, I would even give Peter Obi money as
someone heading one of the departments of his campaign because Obi is making
Tinubu’s pathway to victory much easier by indirectly pulling down PDP. It is
what it is!
The current fleeting frenzy, if not checked, will cost
Ndigbo dearly for years. The South East has the lowest number of votes of any
region, but it is also the only region where the presidential race might be a
4-way race (it is a two-way race in the other 5 regions) thereby ensuring that
our votes won’t count in the making of the next president of Nigeria.
Afterwards, we would start complaining that we don’t get “what we deserve” or
cry of marginalisation.
During the 2019 presidential election, the five South East
States were united for PDP but contributed merely 1.6 million votes to PDP
which was about the votes that Kano state gave to Buhari. The emotions might
run to heavens but politics-power is about cold calculations, organisation and
building alliances for power.
In a democracy, it is a game of numbers. So far, I don’t see
any of these–and 2023 might again be a wasted opportunity for Ndigbo! What is
our Plan B when Peter Obi loses in February 2023? Some people prefer that we
should play the Ostrich while Peter Obi toys with the collective destiny of
over 60 million Igbos. Yes, you pray that he wins, but what if he fails as he
is certain to? The Bible says that my people perish for lack of knowledge. As
the saying goes, only those who Plan can control the future. Ndigbo, wake up
and smell the coffee!
What would Zik of Africa or M.I. Okpara do in this
circumstance? Our founding fathers understood that in politics, you don’t get
what you deserve but what you bargain/negotiate, and you negotiate with your
organisation and VOTES. Not social media militancy or bullying (where over 90%
of actual voters are not on social media)! Our fathers built alliances with
other major political parties in other regions (not with socio-cultural groups
that don’t command any votes), and Ndigbo were in the reckoning in the first
and second republics.
After the elections, we will see how many votes any of the
leaders of the socio-cultural groups will get for Peter Obi from their wards.
Sometimes I even sense a conspiracy to nudge us on a path to nowhere thereby
further pushing us into irrelevance, and I pray that I am wrong. Just my two
cents!
It is not too late for Ohanaeze Ndigbo and progressive Igbo
leaders to pre-emptively start charting a pragmatic future for Ndigbo in
Nigeria after the elections. Armchair social media analysts can have the luxury
of fantasizing with wild speculations. Right or wrong, they earn their pay and
with no consequences.
For us as leaders, the lives of tens of millions are at
stake. We have a historic duty to act and being silent or politically correct
is not an option. For starters, Ohanaeze should study the report of my
committee (planning and strategy) in 2019. It may still be relevant today.
Second, Ndigbo should seriously study the MoU signed at the Yar’Adua Centre in
2010. The leader of Igbo Political Association, Chief Simon Okeke, and our
members are still there. Thirdly and for me, Ndigbo should strategise and
bargain especially with the TWO candidates likely to be president on at least
four central issues:
A) Lasting peace and security in the South East, including
the release and engagement with Nnamdi Kanu.
B) South East Economic transformation agenda and the FGN’s
Marshall Plan for the South East as promised since the end of the Civil War
(the post war ‘reconstruction’). We appreciate the Second Niger Bridge and
recent contract for MTN to reconstruct the Onitsha-Enugu expressway. But the
rail-lines to the five state capitals, speedy access to the sea, highways
linking South East to the North and South South, addressing our existential
threat as gully erosion capital of Africa, Free Trade and Export Processing
Zones, etc.
C) Restructuring Agenda for Nigeria that devolves
powers/resources to the subnational entities and in which it would no longer
matter where the President comes from.
D) Levelling the playing field for the unleashing of the
private sector and the full participation of Ndigbo in the economic and
governance space; etc.
To conclude, let me once again wish my brother Peter Obi
good luck. He should have fun and enjoy the fleeting frenzy of the moment. But
he must moderate the desperation as exhibited by his social media mob. There is
a limit to propaganda. A mob action often reflects the character of its leader.
No one has a monopoly of social media violence, and no one should play God.
Life won’t end by February/March 2023.
I hope that after February 2023, Peter Obi will return to
APGA (the party that made him everything he is politically) as I offered him on
8th March, 2022 and begin the hard work, if he truly wants to be president of
Nigeria. It won’t happen by desperately jumping from one party to another or by
unleashing a social media mob on everyone who slightly disagrees with you.
I decided to pen my views personally — again for the
records. On this, I don’t mind being a one man minority. As history beckons, my
conscience and sense of duty to my people dictate that I should never be
silent. I will happily accept the judgment of history for standing by the
truth!
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