Photo: Sun News Publishing

Peter Obi

Date: Wed, 06/06/2012 - 18:39

Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, spoke to a select group of journalists during which he unraveled the challenges he has had to contend with in his efforts to develop the state. He equally expressed his position on succession, the simmering crisis in All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and some issues of national importance. IJEOMA ONUORAH, was there. Excerpts:
My performance in six years?
For me, I’ve actually been four years as the governor of the state, not six years. It’s a very simple thing. I came in here in 2006 and I was impeached after about seven months. That means that a year just went by. In 2007, I came back from impeachment only to be distracted again by a contrived election which threw up an illegitimate government. I had to cite the constitutional provision that says the governor’s tenure is four years. So 2006, 2007 were lost. I started in 2008.

We have just finished a meeting with the Governors’ Forum Committee on Peer Review. We are the first state in Nigeria to allow people to come and assess us. We’ve heard people say, how do you rate your government and I say to them, go and see what we are doing because its people that would rate us. For me as a person, I do what I believe is the right thing; I’m not all perfect. I’m not a saint. But I know that within the confines of my job, I think I’m doing what is right. How people assess, I don’t know, but I’ll continue just being myself and doing what I believe in.

What would you say is your major achievement so far? That is what I’m saying. I don’t have the greatest. I don’t have the rating. I’ll just continue to do what I’m elected to do, and I believe the people and posterity would judge my acts.

Do you have a succession plan? People have asked me and I said no. The succession plan is that the people of Anambra state should be bold enough to elect somebody who does not see politics as a job. Politics is a vocation. They should only allow those who have proven track records in their endeavours to serve. I say this because, painfully, most of those that parade themselves as leaders are more transactional than transformational.

Life after office Oh no. I’ll go back to what I used to do. That is why I said that politics is not a job, it is a vocation. So, you must be able to go back to where you are coming from. I look forward to it. Everybody knows where I’m going back to. I’m not just going back into business but I will be contributing in building a better Anambra state, a better South-East and a better Nigeria. I’m not just going to be on the streets searching for food or constituting a nuisance to those who would come after me.

Presidential ambition I don’t romance with President Jonathan. I believe he is sincere, and doing the right thing. And for me, as a Nigerian, I have to support somebody who is sincere and doing the right thing. Politics is about helping and contributing to building a better place. Opposition is not about you seeing everything as bad. It is for you to contribute meaningfully, constructively into building a better place. You should be ready to support what is good for the society. Jonathan as a President means well, and I can understand him because I know what I go through because I’m trying to bring a change.

If i do not work closely with him, is it with the President of Niger or Chad that I should work with? Stepping into Ojukwu’s shoes? Whose leadership did he step into? He did not step into anybody’s leadership. He did not take over from anybody. He did so well. He did the right things and people followed him. Even when he was there, many people didn’t even follow him, I can tell you.

APGA crisis There is no crisis in APGA. Whenever there is an issue, they call it crisis.

What is the crisis? Can you tell me the crisis? Rumours of defection to PDP No, I tell you, that is not crisis. Somebody said that I had the intention of leaving APGA and I said I won’t, is it crisis? That’s not crisis. Chekwas Okorie is not my Chairman. He used to be, but he is no longer the Chairman. He wasn’t talking about me. If you are referring to Chekwas Okorie, he is not the Chairman of APGA where I belong to. He used to be, and I’m not saying his comments are right or wrong but I’ve said mine. Victor Umeh’s outbursts I cannot dwell in outbursts or whatever you call it once it is not in the interest of the State. LG polls?

In 2009, six months to my re-election, we wanted to conduct the local government elections (You can go and check), but people took us to court. They said they were doing so because I wanted to consolidate, for me to win the second term. So they went to court and we could not conduct the election.

After I had won the election, the state electoral commission wanted to do it again but people went to court and claimed that the electoral register was faulty. And in 2011, INEC updated the voters’ register. As I speak to you, we are the only state in this country where members of the state electoral body are a Monsignor, a Cannon and a Pastor, drawn from the Catholic, Anglican and Pentecostal Churches, because I wanted them to conduct free and fair election. I am committed to it. I wish if they are here to tell you they are still in court and have not conducted the local government election. It really has nothing to do with me.

Muslims and other non-christians All those people constitute less than five per cent and in any system where you have more than 75 per cent of a particular group, they become the dominant group, and it is not question of if you don’t believe in anything. Anambra state, you can say, is a Christian state because 97 per cent of the people that live here are Christians.

Security challenges and reprisal attacks The security situation in this country is worrisome and demands of us to know that we have no other country, except this one, and all of us have to work to ensure that this country does not degenerate into a civil war, or where the rest of the world would refer to us as insecure. I know that the Federal Government is taking some bold steps to solve the security problems.

FG security measures Nobody can. It’s a security issue. Americans don’t say what they do with security; they don’t say it, and they don’t. They just tell you we put everything into operation. I can follow you through the bombings of 9/11, they say they put something into incubation, they do this, and they do that. Even when they go to other persons’ country for operations as in Afghanistan, they do not tell you until it happens; so how can I tell you the one of Nigeria?

Business acumen Well, you see you can’t give what you don’t have. Nobody can manage wealth if you’ve not created wealth itself, if you’ve not worked hard. And wealth-creation is not just about making money because people see it as just making money. No, if you’ve not worked in a system and contributed to the success of the system, you would simply have nothing to give.

This is why i say that our leaders should see leadership as a vocation. We have to elect those with rich experiential pedigree. If you come from a background of service, you will, in spite of yourself, recreate your success in life in governance and this is what I struggle every day, against all odds to do in Anambra State.

Anambra Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS)…… (Cuts in) No, not in 2006 but in 2008. In 2006 ANIDS was not there, and I was still telling people that the state was a failed one and could not make progress because there was no plan. We had to bring in the Ministry of Planning and made it an engine of what we were doing. We were still doing this when I was impeached, and when I came back in 2007. This particular plan which you are talking about now commenced in January 2008. That was when I did my first budget.

The budget of 2006 was not my budget; it was a budget that my predecessor had approved. In 2007 it was the same thing because when I was impeached somebody prepared the budget again. The first budget I presented in this state was the budget of 2008 which was the first budget that was based on the vision of the state to achieve the MGD goals by the year 2015. It was when we adopted that as our vision, that we needed a vehicle, a strategy for delivery of this, hence the initiation and commencement of Anambra Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS).

What we are doing is very simple. If you look at all the MDG goals you will see that we are following them religiously, trying to achieve them within the prescribed time frame. ANIDS is just a vehicle or strategy or a process that allows us to plan within all the MDG goals, budget properly, execute our plans/ projects and wait for the feedback from the people. As a result of this, we have moved our budget from being supply-driven to being demand-driven. We now go to the people and ask them what they need, and we do what they want.

[b]2nd Niger bridge Yes, I have to. I have personally seen the Minister of Works on that severally. It is going on very well. The reason why I’m saying it is going on well is because the Federal Government is committed to it. The Ministry of Works is committed to it. The Ministry of Finance is committed to it. According to the promises from the Ministries, in the next few months the evidence of the promises would manifest. So far, I believe it’s on track. If at any point a suspect foul play, I will shout. I cannot compromise the welfare of our people for any reason.

Industrialization plans It is already functioning. The Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing plant in Nnewi is functioning very well. It’s the place that I laid the foundation and people are already buying cars and buses from them. If you go out there, you will see vehicles we bought from them. We are interested in foreign and local investments. If you invest here, we will support you as a government. Ask people like Cutix and Innoson, we have built roads leading to their factories as our own way of encouraging them. Go to Onitsha Harbour Industrial area, we are doing a lot of roads and providing other necessary infrastructure for it to function. Innoson is functioning and we have orders for goods worth over One Billion Naira with them.

Criticisms Yes, because when you bring a change, like every other person or even journalists, trying to drastically change the place, when you bring change you will have enemies among all those who live off the old order and those who are not sure whether you will succeed. Because all these saying that things are bad, things are bad, its people that made them bad and when you have come to change it, like it is in the Bible: When Jesus asked the evil spirits to leave the man who was possessed, he asked how many they were and they said they were legion and he said ‘okay go’ and as they were going, they damaged, destroyed everything on their way and the town started crying…wao! This man has destroyed everything.[/b]

Anambra is a Christian state, other religion doesn't have relevance.
Peter Obi 2012
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