On Tribalism – Understanding Peter Obi, The Man We Desire To Be President

By Tai Emeka Obasi.

One popular Igbo adage says, one does not learn how to be left-handed at old age. If there’s one man this adage suits like a glove, it’s HE Peter Gregory Obi, the former two-term governor of Anambra State. He is one who is ever consistent with his character. The same thing he does today, you can be guaranteed he will repeat tomorrow provided it gave him positive results the first time.

While governor of Anambra State, he never appointed a commissioner from his home town of Agulu throughout his eight years in office. It wasn’t because he hated his own people but rather because he’s ever a rational and practical person.

There are 177 towns in Anambra State. And there were 21 commissioners all through his time in office. There are also 21 Local Government Areas in Anambra State. So he made it during his eight years that each LGA produced a commissioner. In his LGA of 10 communities, he reasoned that since his own community had taken the lion share of producing the number one citizen of the state, that it would be unfair to add a commissioner as well. Also each commissioner was a member of the State Executive Council.

He couldn’t imagine where one community like Agulu would have two people in the SEC while one particular LGA had none. It didn’t comply with his idea of democracy. He believed that any one out of the 177 communities should be very happy providing the governor without adding any commissioner to it too. He considered it not only being greedy but also distorting the balance of equity and fair play.

When he began his tenure, some of his people from Agulu thought the Anambra State Government House was business as usual, where brothers, relatives and friends frolicked. They all had another think coming their way. Their son was not someone who managed public trust with any iota of sentiment.

Telling his wife there was not going to be anything like office of the first lady and meaning it should have warned his people this man was not your ordinary Nigeria. But when they tried to pressure on him to start development like roads and other infrastructure with Agulu, they realised they were up the wrong tree. The man we also call Okwute told them straight without blinking that he was not the governor of Agulu but rather that of Anambra State.

He made even developments, diligently prioritising based on each community needs. When it got to the turn of Agulu they benefited also like any other town. Every of the 177 communities benefitted from Okwute’s government presence in more ways than one. All schools in the 177 communities were visited by this workaholic at least three times each during his tenure and assistance in repairing/building new structures, providing generators, ICT and internet facilities as well as providing school buses went round to each of the schools. All Anambra State, including his own community of Agulu, sang his praises after eight years of unblemished performance.

The mother of all fairness was saying and insisting that Anambra North Senatorial Zone would provide his successor. This was because since creation of the state in 1991, only people from his Anambra Central and Anambra South had been governors. He insisted that equity demanded that the North should be allowed to provide someone to succeed him. Remarkably, Anambra North never agitated for it but Okwute  was convinced it was the way to go for every zone in the state not to develop any sense of being marginalised.

Many politcal big wigs from both Central and South tried to oppose that but he singlehandedly ensured that one from the North succeeded him. It was even more remarkable as the man who succeeded him never contributed a dime to his campaign until he was made governor. It endeared Okwute to all Anambrarians as one who firmly believed in equity and fairness. That was how zoning was born in Anambra State and his dear state became the better for it as all politicial parties adopted zoning in subsequent gubernatorial  elections since he left office.

He also prepared every ground for his successor to be a huge success, leaving behind N75 billion and diligently providing all necessary conditions for a seamless take over.

A man capable of this is a completely detribalised Nigerian. He would bring equity and fairness into appointments, projects siting and execution, gender balance in leadership and so on in his administration.

This is a man Nigeria needs right now like she never needed before. In a country noted for her very crippling TRIBAL AND RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES, there really can be no one more suited to bring us together at this very perilous time in our history.

#NigeriaNeedsPeterObi