Anenih disclaims travails, berates Igbinedion
From Mike Osunde, Benin
FORMER Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, yesterday spoke on his purported political travails, declaring that "there is no pot big enough in Nigeria to contain and cook" him.

He also spoke about the eight-year administration of former Edo State governor, Chief Lucky Igbinedion, describing it as most tragic.

At a three-day retreat for the new men and women in Governor Oserhiemen Osunbor's team in his hometown, Uromi, Anenih alluded to a newspaper report alleging he was in soup.

He said: "At Okene in Kogi State this morning, I stopped to buy fuel on my way from Abuja. I bought some newspapers. One of them amused me. The headline was "Anenih in soup." I was wondering which pot can be big enough to cook me before I can become soup, at least not in Nigeria."

In his keynote address titled "Leadership, commitment and service," Anenih identified the bane of leadership in Nigeria as failure by those in power to remove themselves from the benefits of the offices they hold in trust for the people.

"Not only do we see ourselves as beneficiaries, we take more of the privileges and give less of the obligations," he said, noting that the consequence had been that the nation's leaders had been lacking in vision, focus, commitment, accountability and productive worth ethics," he said.

Anenih stated that at the federal level, reforms were being carried out to cope with the challenges of governance in the modern world in order to conform with the culture of transparency and accountability in matters relating to service delivery. He added that states needed to adjust to the new thrust in governance.

The PDP chieftain, often regarded as Mr. Fix It," descended heavily on the administration of Igbinedion, saying that the people had suffered most tragically from poor governance in the past eight years.

He bemoaned the effects of the past administration, which he said had affected all sectors, including security, adding "one is tempted to ask if, indeed there has been a government in Edo State these past eight years!"

Anenih remarked that the immediate past government must have totally ignored Section 14 (2) of the 1999 Constitution, which states that "the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government".

He, however, said that political leaders in the state shared in the blame of Igbinedion's mis-governance. "We, the political leaders must share from the blame for allowing the abysmal display of greed and avarice for eight years without hue and cry. But one thing I am sure of is that few of us leaders, did not share in the looting of the treasury," he asserted.

The PDP leader revealed that "some of the so-called factories built by the last administration were scraps, some of which were 15 years old before they were imported into the country as new".

He, therefore, warned the new political appointees that public service required selfless service, which demanded that they subjugated their personal or parochial interests to the overriding imperatives of broader goals and national interest.

Anenih said leadership must be seen as a trust, such that the leader, who is the trustee, has no privileges, no special rights and no benefits, but only the obligation to carry out the mandate of the people. He stressed that a good leader must possess an unusual vision of society, whilst displaying modesty at all times.

While emphasising the role of teamwork among the political appointees, Anenih harped on the need for government to obey court decisions, saying that the rule of law was the bedrock of democracy.

"It is important to emphasise that there can be no democracy without the rule of law - the habit is all too familiar in Nigeria that government and officials have high tendency of behaving as if they are above the laws of the land, thereby disregarding or disobeying court rulings. Such tendencies must be curbed in the interest of our society. There should not be dual application of the law," he said.

Anenih said Edo people deserve a better deal than they have had, and expressed confidence in the ability of the Osunbor administration to perform, saying that never again would the people of the state entertain excuses for failure.

Osunbor promised that the dividends of his administration would be people-oriented and visible so that the government could enjoy the confidence of the people. He pledged to establish a due process office to ensure competitive bidding for contracts.

The theme of the retreat is "Leading Excellence in Democratic Governance."
www.ngrguardiannews.com

Anenih remarked that the immediate past government must have totally ignored Section 14 (2) of the 1999 Constitution, which states that "the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government".

Its good Tony is all this~he should tell us what happened to our highways during his watch as Minister for Works,despite the huge budgetary allocation.
Also the thousands of innocent Nigerians who met their untimely death on those death traps called roads are on his head

Why does everyone keep referring to Anenih as mr fix it, wen he did the exact opposite during his tenure? He'll find out there are pots big enough to turn him into soup in Nigeria. Wicked bureaucrat.
@ lewa
Seconded. our roads are in a totally deplorable situation, makes me wanna tear my hair out. That lagos-Benin road is one i'm not gonna forget in a long, long time, the potholes are more like craters, fuel tankers and trailers keep falling and most painful of all, you have motorists facing oncoming traffic on an interstate, express, highway(whicheva u call it)! scared me shitless and is mind boggling i tell you.

tollu:

Why does everyone keep referring to Anenih as mr fix it, when he did the exact opposite during his tenure? He'll find out there are pots big enough to turn him into soup in Nigeria. Wicked bureaucrat.
@ lewa
Seconded. our roads are in a totally deplorable situation, makes me want to tear my hair out. That lagos-Benin road is one i'm not going to forget in a long, long time, the potholes are more like craters, fuel tankers and trailers keep falling and most painful of all, you have motorists facing oncoming traffic on an interstate, express, highway(whicheva u call it)! scared me shitless and is mind boggling i tell you.

Because he was OBJ's Mr. Fix-It! He fixed OBJ's messes and was OBJ"s #1 henchman.  He was not employed to fix Nigeria's problems but OBJ and PDP mess!  Such as the outright mismanagement of Transportation allocations in the Ministry of Works while he was the Minister!  Now that Mr Fix It could not "fix" the 3rd term agenda, OBJ has no use for him after replacing him as PDP Board of Trustees chairman or whatever.  So for Anenih not to make too much wahala, Anenih has to receive the "Atiku" treatment!  It is going to be interesting to see what Anenih is going to do now!

That is OBJ for you oh! Friends today, enemies tomorrow!

Oh, i see. Well, he's finally gotten the boot and funniest thing, i don't think he saw it coming. That obj man is cunning as can be.

our prayers to God will turn them against each other and when they will expose each other, only then shall we have our freedom.
obj has decided to die in power and we pray that that happens soonest.
for annenih, he will surely reap the fruits of his labour

The old fool talking through his ass! Oh so now he realises that Lucky mis governed the state for 8 years? I guess he was in a trance when he went to Benin in 2004 to declare that the state house was not vacant and that it will be Lucky or no one else. Bullshit!

Don't mind the 'fixed' man. They are indeed in soup. All of them, They went to a farm in ota and beg Baba Iyabo to come and chop. They probably thought they can use Baba for mopping up the CBN. Baba must have helped you know. The man keep going after small thieves and political foes. Anenih was alive when Baba was tampering with constitution. To Anenih, Baba was the best man for naija. The third term agenda actually open more shit. We now know that our leaders may need to undergo character test.
As for Mr fix, I read through his trick. He suddenly become apostle of Good leadership and governance I wonder where he is when Baba was in dire need of that lecture.
Frankly speaking, he know Nigerian are unique when it come to forgiveness. Ask chukwumerije, IBB etc. He need our help. The new man in power may turn out to be what they never bargain for. I pray God should keep exposing them. I think that man is finished politically. He should keep his wits and wait for judgement day.

I just hope he gets prosecuted! If only for the deplorable conditions of the roads. Not to mention his evil politricking.

For Anenih, payback time is now. OBJ's payback time may be delayed but it'll surely come.

A resounding Amen to that.

Lets all cast a vote~who gets cooked?Tony?OBJ?
I vote for Tony~Obj so far has gotten rid of his detractors and Tony pales in comparison to many

Thats like choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea 

Well someone must be cooked by force,my bet Anenih again.Obj is the proverbial cat with how many lives again?