In the beginning, he claimed not to be a politician but a saint and successful businessman that volunteered to serve and build a new Anambra. Less than 2 years to the end of his tenure, Ndi Anambara are beginning to see the true color of Governor Peter Obi. Like Apostle Simon Peter, “Saint” Peter Obi had enough faith in Jesus to start his political career by challenging the rigging of Anambra State Governorship election by Andy Ubah, just like Apostle Simon Peter started walking boldly on the water. But like Apostle Peter who began to drown when he saw the wind and waves, Peter Obi started drowning when he saw the massive flow of cash and powers of the governor on assuming office.
In the beginning, he claimed not to be a politician but a saint and successful businessman that volunteered to serve and build a new Anambra. Less than 2 years to the end of his tenure, Ndi Anambara are beginning to see the true color of Governor Peter Obi. Like Apostle Simon Peter, “Saint” Peter Obi had enough faith in Jesus to start his political career by challenging the rigging of Anambra State Governorship election by Andy Ubah, just like Apostle Simon Peter started walking boldly on the water. But like Apostle Peter who began to drown when he saw the wind and waves, Peter Obi started drowning when he saw the massive flow of cash and powers of the governor on assuming office.
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Jesus called Apostle Simon Peter "Mr. Little Faith" because he doubted Jesus and his word. I call Peter Obi the saint who sinned not just because he slept while he should be watching but because has deceived Ndi Anambra more than three times even while communing with the bishops just like Apostle Peter denied Jesus three times. Here, I will expose the hypocrisy, lies, deceit, foolishness, and arrogance of the governor who sinned.
Peter Obi is a man of many contradictions. It is an open secret that Peter Obi has heavily bribed and chained the State House of Assembly into a state of comma. Now all the house members do is gallivant around town and wait for “bills” or any form of executive action that requires their approval and then demand that it be “dressed up” before the house will give it due consideration. For a bill to be “dressed up,” it means that Peter Obi has to spend millions bribing the House members to have his way. That was why Governor Obi boasted in 2011 that, “I have known the rules of impeachment. Nobody can impeach me again. If they try it again, I will scatter them.” It is a sin for Peter Obi to continue to “scatter” the State House with ego Ndi Anambra.
Peter Obi’s other sins include metamorphosis from a defender of democracy to active rigger when he colluded with the likes of Dora Akunyili and Uche Ekumife to massively rig the Anambra Central Senatorial election in Aniocha LGA. His recent romance with Chuma Nzeribe; a celebrated evil with criminal mind further points to a man whose actions on a Sunday mass does not reflect his corrupt actions in the other 167 hours of the week. Perhaps, we should forgive him because as an English poet and novelist Aphra Behn said, “there is no sinner like a young saint”.
But Peter Obi is not young. He has been the governor for more than six years. Six years that the locust ate in Anambra State. Six years of performance that revealed hypocrisies in spades and yet he still claims to be sanctified. Peter Obi has been living in two worlds; half-sinner and half-saint or should I say 100% sinner and 100% saint? After months of offering “financial inducement to senior editors as well as placing advertising supplements in various newspapers in exchange for flattering reports and columns about his administration” as reported by Sahara Reporters, the governor recently compensated the reporters for a job well done by offering them the positions of caretaker committee chairmen in various local governments in the state. The reporters are one Tony Okafor, Emeka Odegwu, Chuks Ilozue and Jude Atupuluazi. The book of proverbs told us that it is better to be a sinner than a hypocrite. Governor Peter Obi has however chosen both.
It has been augured that Governor Peter Obi has succeeded in ‘chasing’ away looters and corrupt politicians out of the state. But in the process, he has made himself the “Alpha and Omega” of corruption in Anambra State. Awarding contract to cronies and friends without due process and open bidding; using his influence and the name of Anambra State to acquire shares for himself and children at SABMiller while the rest of us continues to wallow in poverty; appointing commissioners who are figureheads that cannot execute projects worth even fifty thousand Naira without the his “exclusive” approval.
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Theodore Roosevelt once said “The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” In Peter Obi however, Ndi Anambra has a Governor that is equivalent to tortoise in the animal kingdom. Governor Obi is the only ‘wise man’ in Anambra State, the king that deceives his subjects, and ultimately a one-man administration that has no regards to democratic principles and ethics.
Following the devastating flood that affected parts of the state, the government just opened several accounts named “ Anambra State Flood Disaster Emergency Fund.” I feel the pains and suffering of those affected by the flood and encourage all that can help to do so. However, it is worth noting that the LGAs recently affected by flooding in Anambra State officially gets about 400 million Naira monthly federal allocation. Where is this money? For the governor’s media assistant, Valentine Obienyem (a big beneficiary of the corrupt practices of the governor) to be telling Ndi Anambra not to politicize the devastating flood is absurd. The question for Obienyem is: how much of this money that rightfully belong to these LGAs is being deployed to help the homeless and the stranded?
Mr. Governor, I commend you for leading the rescue effort, but having yourself pictured on a lonely boat is like “killing a snake and carrying it in our hands when we have a bag for putting things in." I believe that those affected will love it more if their money from the federal government is deployed for their resettlement and rehabilitation. Mr. Governor you sinned by appointing commissioners and LG caretaker chairpersons that do not even have the resources to hire a boat and tour the areas affected by the flood not to talk of resources needed to relocate and resettle the affected population. It is OK for Peter Obi (an acclaimed miser) to be selfish enough to deny his butts faeces. But is a sin to refuse to use the fund allocated to these LGs in this current rescue and rehabilitation operation.
Finally, I leave Governor Peter Obi with the words of Chinua Achebe from ‘Things Fall Apart’: "Travellers with closed minds can tell us little except about themselves." We have seen you Governor and we have also seen the deceit, corruption, the lies and worst still the arrogance. Your story in the past six years has been that of clouded and distorted vision. My Anambra State can and should be doing better.
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