Open Letter to Chief Emeka Ojukwu

The Presidency — By Prince Emeka Obasi Business Hallmark Newspaper, February 1–7, 2010

Dear IKemba

Last week, while travelling to Unuahia, I saw a billboard where you were posing with Anambra State Governor, Mr. Obi. The message on the board read: “This is my beloved son, vote for him. This is my last wish.” The message was quite touching as perhaps it was intended to be, as you know sir, we all hold you in very high esteem.

So when you make a passionate plea, such as the one I read on that billboard at the head bridge Onitsha, we feel deeply touched.

But Your Excellency Sir, on the issue of Peter Obi, I am deeply distressed to tell you that we are too constrained to respond to your request promptly. The reason sir, has very little to do with you. In fact, it has nothing to do with you at all. Rather it has everything to do with Mr. Peter Obi, the Executive Governor of Anambra State. As the election season rolled by, it is time for stock taking. And the question we are asking is: “Should Peter Obi be re-elected?”

Early Enthusiasm

Over three years ago when he emerged as a candidate for the governorship of Anambra State on the platform of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Peter Obi excited a great deal of enthusiasm. His fresh face and smooth voice engendered hope in a people traumatised by four years of Mbadinuju’s maladministration and monumental ineptitude.

I must confess, Your Excellency, that I was one of those who was enthralled by Peter Obi. I interviewed him once in his Apapa office and was seduced by his innocence and fresh perspective to issues. As a rich and successful businessman, it was clear to me then that Peter was not seeking the Governorship in order to self-aggrandise. There was also something else appealing about him—his moral rectitude. I was tantalized by the prospects this tower of strength would bring to politics.

So I was effortlessly converted to his cause as I believe millions of other Anambrarians and Nigerians alike did. Of course sir, you know the story of his subsequent election and the consequent titanic battle to steal his mandate. He fought very bravely and was supported by millions of Nigerians as he battled the dark and nihilistic forces of Anambra politics. While those cases lasted, there was the hope that after his victory he would restore the glory of Anambra State and reposition it for sustained growth.

Disappointment

In the event sir, the reality has been shockingly different from the expectation. Indeed, I am deeply disappointed in Peter. In my estimation, he has tragically fallen short of the high hopes he raised and for no good reason.

Your Excellency sir, of all the Governors of the South East since the return of democracy in 1999, Peter held out greater hope of success than anyone else. He is young, well educated and widely travelled. The expectation of many, especially this reporter, was that he would leverage on his experiences to set a pace of development in Anambra. Clearly, Anambra is uniquely positioned to provide leadership for not only the South East, but for the country as a whole. Peopled by the famous and mighty, it boasts some of the biggest markets on the continent and one of the few manufacturing centres in Nnewi.

Indeed, Obi had his duties cut out for him. Dr. Chris Ngige, his infamous predecessor, had set a blazing trail. Ngige tackled the infrastructural challenges of the state and provided security. Indeed, all Obi needed to do was to borrow effectively from Ngige’s playbook. I don’t know how much he did. But the despatches from Anambra do not paint him in quite the same glowing pictures as Ngige.

Strategic Failure

But that is not even the core of my worry and misgivings with him. My worry is that Peter does not seem to appreciate fully the strategic importance of his governorship and the historic role history has placed on his shoulders. He has equally failed to appreciate the peculiar position of the Igbo in Nigeria and what his governorship could do to respond to those challenges.

What I am saying in effect sir, is that Peter Obi has failed to see the broader picture and locate the governorship in its proper historical context.

It is sad sir, even tragic, that over three decades after the war, the South East has remained at the margins of national socio-economic and political action. In fact, the South East was better off before the civil war than now. At least then, it was a bona fide part of the Nigerian tripod. Its leaders and elites still lived there, unlike today. Now the South East is merely the broken leg of the national tripod.

From No. 1 at the time of independence, it has regressed to No. 5 and still falling. In various states in the South East, homesteads are virtually empty. The cream of Igboland have deserted their homes and have found homes in the various nooks and crannies of the country. A recent estimate by a Central Bank economist stated that the South East contributes only about 7% of the national economy. The situation has been worsened by the recent wave of kidnapping and general insecurity that have swept the area. The South East is now rated as one of the most insecure places in Nigeria.

Unemployment and social violence are the rule rather than the exception. Indeed, the states of the South East have become almost a wasteland. In most parts of the region, life is almost like a battlefield. Indigenes who often return for one reason or the other, come with fully armed riot police officers. For many, going to the East now is only to attend burials of close family members or friends. And for many, once the last parent is buried that shuts the door to the South East. Even beyond the borders of the South East, in the cosmopolitan cities where they dwell, Igbos have become atomistic societies often at war with themselves. The national joke is that the Igbo hates himself.

The cumulative effect of all these sir, is that the Igbo has been systematically marginalized and shunted aside in the national scheme of things. A clear example is the PDP zoning formula in which the Igbo is scheduled to produce the president only in 2032!

Obi’s Role

You may wonder what any of these has to do with your anointed son, Peter Obi. Well then, let me tell you. As one of the younger generation of Igbos, Peter was supposed to represent a new face of the Igbo in Nigeria. He was supposed to transcend the characteristic Igbo pettiness and self-hatred and provide a bridge for his kinsmen to access empowerment.

He has performed rather woefully. He has not been the standard bearer of a new generation of Igbos whose avowed mission should be to reinvent Igboland. Rather, he has been a stingy and cynical reactionary, who ordered Federal troops to execute young Igbos simply because they allegedly belong to MASSOB.

Conclusion

So you can appreciate my constraints. In the circumstance, what I will do sir, is to humbly implore you to reconsider your request. Or don’t you think so?

Kindly accept, Your Excellency, assurances of my best regards.

Prince Emeka Obasi