Governor Peter Obi and his media assistant have tried to draw comparisons between the two of us. They desperately want to divert attention from the issues I raised about the Anambra state governments rule by propaganda. I really understand that. But why compare apples and oranges? We have different backgrounds and as young men, we chose different career paths.
Governor Peter Obi and his media assistant have tried to draw comparisons between the two of us. They desperately want to divert attention from the issues I raised about the Anambra state governments rule by propaganda. I really understand that. But why compare apples and oranges? We have different backgrounds and as young men, we chose different career paths.
I do not consider myself superior to Obi or to any other person for that matter. I gather that Obi considers himself to be superior to me. That is ok. I have always considered him a successful trader although he likes to call himself a banker because he owns shares in some banks and has served as a director in one or two banks. Someone needs to teach him the basic difference between a banker and a shareholder in a bank, even if the shareholder served as a director or chairman. I do not think that both terms are interchangeable.
The Governor and his media team have devoted so much time and resources of the state on this issue of Obi’s financial and academic superiority over me. A publication to that effect appeared in the Sun newspaper of 17 July 2012 and on the Internet. The Anambra state broadcasting service from the 15th to the 17th of July 2012 ran a vile and vicious commentary, denigrating my person and business interests while upholding Governor Obi’s saintly virtues, his huge wealth and intellect. This is a waste of public funds and betrays a lack of integrity on the part of the state leadership.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
Yes, I accept the Governors financial superiority over me because when you multiply 250 million naira per month by six years, the figure you get will send even Aliko Dangote scurrying for cover.
On academic superiority, I beg to disagree. No matter the certificate a person parades, first, second or third class degree as the case may be, once you cannot express yourself in English, the language you used in acquiring the certificate, It should be legitimate to question the authenticity of that certificate or the integrity of the bearer if not both.
Graduates of Law and the social sciences, political science, philosophy, sociology etc, should be able to express themselves in English. In 2008, Governor Obi shared the Sun newspaperman of the year award with Governor Rotimi Amechi at the golden gate restaurant, ikoyi, Lagos. Giving his acceptance speech with his wife by his side, Governor Peter Obi said: ‘of the five people who have been given this award before now, four of them [is] from Anambra state’. The lights went off. For someone with a degree in philosophy to release that kind of ogbunigwe, something must be wrong somewhere.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });
Please permit me to say a thing or two about my life since they have decided to make me the issue. I was born on the 19th of November 1964 at the island maternity, Lagos. I was baptized at the Saint Anthony’s Catholic Church, Gbaja, Surulere, Lagos in April, 1965. That makes my age easily verifiable. In may 1975, as a pupil of Ekulu primary school, Enugu, at the age of 10 years +, I made aggregate 34, one point short of 100% [36] in the East Central State common entrance examination.
I also made a grade one in the West African School Certificate Examination [WAEC] in 1981 at Age 16 years+. Even though I was a science student in the College of the Immaculate Conception, [CIC], Enugu, I still made an A in government and economics. I did not do well in the University of Nigeria, Enugu campus. I was distracted and I suffered for it. But I still graduated at the age of 23 in 1987 and was called to the Nigerian bar in 1988. Obi and his people should study the timelines above and try and match it with his own.
Which primary school did Peter Obi attend and what did he score in the common entrance examination and at what age? WAEC nko? How did he gain admission to study philosophy in UNN without passing Jamb? A graduate of philosophy whose written and spoken English is well below average must have ‘sorted’ his way through school. Where then is the integrity.
They have also tried to ridicule my political career, accusing me of rigging and suggesting that I am jealous of Peter Obi for getting elected as governor at the age of 42. Two of my friends, Orji Kalu and Donald Duke, got elected as governors at the age of 39. So, Peter Obi did not set any record in that regard.
I took my seat in the House of Representatives in June 1999, at the age of 34 years. I served as the chairman of the special committee on joint venture oil operations. I was re-elected in 2003 and served as the chairman of the public petitions committee. I was a member of the ECOWAS Parliament from 2000-2005 and served as chairman of the committee on energy and scientific research.
As chairman of public petitions committee, I personally prepared all the committee reports and presented over 100 of those reports to the House for consideration in the two years I served as chairman. The history of Nigeria’s local content legislation cannot be complete without a mention of a certain Hon Chudi Offodile. I left the House in January 2006, after almost seven years of meritorious service following a flawed decision of the Court of Appeal, Enugu division, on the intra party dispute within the PDP. No court, tribunal or any panel ever found me guilty of rigging as the Governor frequently alleges.
Governor Obi has tried to tie me to what he calls the old order. Those who lost their access to the public treasury on his ascension to power. Out of choice, I have maintained a very safe distance from the Anambra state treasury since the creation of the state in 1991. On the contrary, I have invested my own resources in the state and created employment. Obi’s government is determined to destroy my investment through callous propaganda but I am also determined to ride the storm. I will also continue to point out the lies, the deceit and the propaganda in the conduct of affairs in Anambra state.
As governorship candidate in 2003, our man of integrity, Peter Obi promised that his children will go to school in Anambra if elected. He reneged on that promise. He swore with the lives of his children that he will not steal from the state. What has happened? Anyway, I believe that nothing will happen to those children because the poor kids are innocent.
I had pointed out at the beginning that Peter obi and I chose different career paths. Unlike Obi, I never made the pursuit of money the cardinal objective of my existence. I am motivated by ideas not money. I have, over the years, put forward my own ideas on public policy, the oil industry, on legal and constitutional matters. These ideas and opinions were found worthy of publication in Nigeria’s mainstream media beginning with my magnum opus; ‘ideological fluidity in Nigerian politics’ published in The Guardian newspaper of 25th August 1996.
Peter Obi has so much money but what has this graduate of philosophy ever written. Always remember as the bible enjoins us, that "Man shall not live by bread alone".
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });