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Anambra: Obasanjo is On His Own

This Day (Lagos)
OPINION
December 30, 2004
Posted to the web January 3, 2005

By Olajide Fadahunsi
Lagos
Eziuche Ubani's "The Janjaweed Option" (Thisday, November 19, 2004) is a
masterpiece. It is original, imaginative and sweeping in range. The analogy
between what Olusegun Obasanjo's regime is doing against Anambra people with
what is going on in the Sudan where the regime is in cahoots with Arab militias
to annihialate the black population which shares the same Islamic faith is apt.
But there is a bit of oversight in the analogy which should be pointed out.
Whereas the Khartoum regime enjoys the support of its Arab people in the war,
the Obasanjo government does not have the support of the Yoruba in the war
against Anambra State. The Yoruba are reputed to possess an acute sense of
justice.
One of the most interesting things in the unfolding political drama in Nigeria
is that no one is taking out Obasanjo's embarrassing leadership on the Yoruba
people. Chief Obasanjo is on his own. Obasanjo is politically speaking not one
of us. He is by no means implementing the Southwest agenda. For instance, he
does not subscribe to the idea of a Sovereign National Conference. Nor does he
believe in the imperative of restructuring Nigeria. All he wants is business as
usual, even when it is clear to the blind that Nigeria is not working and is
unlikely to work because of the way it is.
If Obasanjo had been one of us, he would not have joined forces with characters
like Chief Chris Uba, Chief Chuma Nzeribe of the House of Representatives and
others to bring Anambra State to its feet, thereby making a mess of the well-
cherished handshake across the Niger which has been on the political agenda
since the 1980s as part of an authentic national reconciliation and integration
process. The only so-called Yoruba people who would support Obasanjo in the war
against the Anambra people are political renegades like Senator Adeseye
Ogunlewe, the Minister of Works.
How could any self-respecting Yoruba person holding the position of president
of Nigeria be hobnobbing with very controversial characters like Uba and
Nzeribe? How many times has Nzeribe been in detention for acts inimical to
national security? Uba is supposedly under 40 years. Nothing ennobling has been
attributed to him, at least in public. The first time he came into prominence
was in 1995 when a building he was handling in Enugu collapsed, killing so many
people who ran to the place to take refuge because it was raining. The building
collapsed because Uba was using substandard materials, according to the Enugu
State government which investigated the tragedy. The next time Chris Uba made
the headlines was when he and his erstwhile mentor, Prince Arthur Eze, were in
different courts over the ownership of a building firm handling a multi-billion
government building contract in Anambra State. His appearance again the in
public consciousness was when he began a quarrel with former Governor Chinwoke
Mbadinuju over the morally scandalous Irrevocable Standing Payment Order which
enabled him to be paid at least 10 million naira a month even without
presenting evidence of work done. Following Dr Mbadinuju's setting up of a
contracts review panel to investigate expenditure of state's finances over the
years, aChief Uba took two-thirds of the newly elected legislators to a hotel
in Enugu and promised them mouth-watering sums to impeach Governor Mbadinuju
within a few days of assumption of office. When the governor noticed that Uba,
who is barely literate, had Obasanjo's ear, he decided to seek peace with him.
Consequently, the state went into a season of anomy for long.
Governor Chris Ngige's refusal since he was sworn in on May 29, 2003, to resume
this illegal payment plus three billion naira which Uba demanded ostensibly to
recover the election expenses has been at the heart of the one and a half year
crisis rocking Anambra State. The crisis came to public knowledge for the first
time on July 10 2003 when Uba used the police hierarchy to kidnap the governor
in a coup which failed. All Nigerians expected Obasanjo who swore to defend the
Costitution to immediately and unequivocally condemn the failed coup, arrest
the culprits and prosecute them for treason. None of all these happened, as the
president shocked everyone by saying there was no abduction in the first place.
The Uba group now moved to the judiciary where it got Justice Wilson Egbo-Egbo
of the Federal High Court in Abuja to declare that Governor Ngige should leave
his office for Dr. Okey Udeh, his estranged deputy who was one of the key
conspirators in the July 10 2003 botched coup. The National Judicial Council
headed by our highly respected Chief Justice was so outraged at Egbo-Egbo's
conduct that it suspended him and demanded his dismissal from the judiciary.
But, as usual, Obasanjo elected to shock all by retiring Egbo-Egbo with full
benefits! No one was told why Egbo-Egbo was deserving of such dignity. The Uba
group now turned to the Enugu State judiciary where it found a willing tool in
Stanley Nnaji who on January 2 2004 directed the Inspector General of Police to
remove Ngige from office. The Anambra State High Court gave a counter order,
supported by an interim order of the Court of Appeal in Enugu, but the IGP
preferred to abide for 10 months by the silly Nnaji order. The National
Judicial Council, of course, quickly suspended Nnaji and recommended his
dismissal.
Because of Uba, Obasanjo's regime went to the Election Petitions Tribunal
sitting in Awka where it asked a police so-called hand writing expert to
testify against Ngige over last year's election. In other words, it was the PDP
against itself! Could there ever be a better instance of anti-party activities?
Did the regime know that by challenging Ngige's election it was also
challenging Obasanjo's victory since both elections were held the same moment
and with the same voters? The more tragic part was that when it felt that Ngige
was winning at the tribunal, the Uba group resorted to a style unknown in
Nigerian history. Between November 10 and 14, it used over 250 thugs armed to
the teeth to destroy public properties and vehicles worth 30 billion naira and
killed about 12 persons, in addition to the destruction of private vehicles.
The police watched these arsonists and murderers akimbo as shown on the
Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) News, and in some instances helped them!
The very people who committed these atrocities are not only walking the streets
as free men, but have gone about addressing press conferences where they
threaten to unleash more havoc unless a state of emergency is declared so as to
remove Governor Ngige from office.
Rather than allow the law to take its course in this matter, or at least
caution these fellows, Obasanjo instituted a so-called committee to reconcile
Gov Ngige and Chris Uba. What he wants actually are plum political appointments
for Uba and co as well as mouth-watering contracts. Under Obasanjo's watch,
political brigandage is rewarded and transparent, purposeful leadership
punished. How can any nation ever make progress with this kind of ethical
standards right from the presidency?
No wonder, a brazen assassination attempt was made in the last week of November
on Governor Ngige. As his convoy was taking a Senate committee to the burnt
state broadcast facilities, hired thugs began to fire from both sides of the
road. They were overpowered by the governor's security aides. The Federal
Government which has, for all practical purposes, the exclusive right over
security, has not said anything about this development. And two days later, the
governor's residence was rocked by bomb blasts. Obasanjo's government kept
mute. How can foreign investments come into this country with all these going
on? Or how can Nigeria's international risk rating improve? One thing is
certain: the relations between Chris Uba and Obasanjo must be probed. Even if
Obasanjo is under a spell or was taken to the famous Okija shrines to swear an
oath of uncritical and eternal allegiance to Uba, he has obviously gone too
far. The destruction of any part of Nigeria and the killing of fellow citizens
are too high a prize to pay for any kind of friendship. I strongly suspect that
there is more to it than meets the eye.
Finally, the point must be repeated that there is nothing Obasanjo does against
other parts of Nigeria that has the support of Yoruba people. After all, the
person who moved a motion in the House of Representatives condemning the police
role in the tragedy and asking for a thorough investigation is a bona fide
Yoruba man. This clarification has become necessary so that the president
coming after Obasanjo would not do anything against interests of the South-west
in retaliation of what "your brother" did.

   

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