Obi and His Fear of Two Umpires
By Ipole Amajama
Indeed we live in interesting times as the Chinese would say. We live in a time when men of little convictions, lovers of idle talk, and revelers in the absurd hold sway. So, it was not surprising when in the Daily Sun of Friday, March 27, 2009, at page 9, the wispy-sounding Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi fouled the political atmosphere with his sterile argument of why he has failed to hold local council elections despite nearing the end of his controversial court-inspired rule.
Obi spoke when he played host to the Civil Liberties Organisation in Awka, Anambra State. In his typical manner, the governor in responding to a question as to why he has not held local government poll in his near four year tenure canvassed a rather ridiculous and untenable excuse that because the chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission, Chief Cornel Umeh is related to former Governor Chris Ngige that is why he choose to deny millions of Anambra people the opportunity to consolidate on democracy at the local government level.
There is little doubt that the Mrs. Halima Ibrahim-led delegation would have been scandalized by the governor’s poorly articulated reason. For those of us who have watched Obi for the almost four years now, we could easily discern his little mind and his many misstatements on important policy issues. First it was that Ghanaians should conduct our elections; second was that the Umunna system in Igbo land is better than local government elections; now it is one Cornel Umeh who must go before he conducts the elections.
The squeaky-sounding governor described the composition of the state electoral commission as “family business.” Obi queried “Who is the chairman of Anambra State Electoral Commission? Chief Cornel Umeh, he is Ngige’s uncle. Who is his deputy? Ngige’s cousin. So you see it has become family business. “No, I will not conduct election; we will conduct election when their tenure expires. I will call Anambra people; they will make a choice on who will be the chairman of the electoral body. Peter Obi will not be part of it, the people of Anambra will do that, then we will fix the election and the people will elect those they want.” One may ask: Is Obi going to ‘conduct election’ to choose who becomes Chair of his LGA electoral Commission? Confusion and smoking mirrors - vintage Peter Obi.
Governor Obi who would want Nigerians to believe that he is a democrat and the perpetual victim in electoral contest has shown after all that he is at best a man of little, if any, conviction. Does his rationale hold in the face of empirical evidence that because one single individual is related to a former governor of the state, then the system should suffer for thousands perhaps millions of others? Has he not failed to deepen the democratic process not only in Anambra State but also in the country by refusing to give the people the opportunity to exercise their franchise by deciding on who should preside over their affairs at the local government level? Or more significantly, did he withhold the elections so as to have total control of local government funds, steal as much as he can in the bid to shore up his war-chest for his governorship bid the second time? Further, is he planning to install his own brother or lackey so as to guarantee his waning chance in next year’s election?
A few months back, Obi was all over the place crying wolf when there was not on the unsuitability of the INEC chairman, Prof. Maurice Iwu to conduct next year’s election in the state. He based his warped and jaundiced argument that the 2007 election, which he (Obi) was no participant as “seriously flawed” because it was Iwu that conducted it. Obi expressed the fear that the INEC chairman would work against his interest. For this reason, Obi was all over the place calling for Iwu’s sack in the hope that Iwu will be succeeded by an umpire of Obi’s own choosing. So, what we now have in Peter Obi is a situation where he prefers that elections not be conducted until he gets his pet umpires to do it. Talk of umpire-shopping or fear of two umpires (Iwu and Umeh) and I will show you a Peter Obi that personifies one. It is sheer poppycock!
Here is Obi who has failed to guarantee grassroots participation at the base of democracy. Here is Obi who has shown how infantile and childish his mind works. Simply because Umeh is related to Ngige, he is not qualified to conduct local council poll owing to the whim and caprices of the governor. Perhaps, since Obi seems to be so much in love with the Ghanaians since he had suggested not too long ago that we should invite them to hold our elections for us; he would go and bring them when Umeh and his deputy’s tenure end in June to conduct local government election for Anambra.
It is expedient that the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili who incidentally is from the same state with Obi should enroll the governor as her pupil numero uno in the rebranding campaign. Obi has demonstrated a penchant for the treasonable by suggesting that we are incapable of governing ourselves as he has typified by failing to hold such a small thing as local council election. Anambra deserves better, not pseudo-intellectuals and democrats; not individuals with primitive thoughts and little minds, not persons that have no sense of global happenings except when it has to do with buying and selling. Anambra is in need of persons that can transcend the bounds of pettiness, individuals that are truly democrat, tolerant and not rabid and struts and jesters.
Amajama writes from Abuja.
amajamaip@gmail.com
