Today’s Telephone Conversation with Mr. Peter Obi at 3:16 am By Valentine Obienyem

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I woke up at 3 am and saw that I missed my boss’ calls at 1:30am. I remember the story of how, many years ago, Chief Chuks Iloegbunam was jokingly telling us how Mr. Peter Obi called him at 2:11am and was only woken up by the sound of the phone.

Seeing it was His Excellency calling, he picked the phone only for him to ask him: “Oga Chuks, i rahu go?” (Have you slept?) and Chuks said he replied wryly: “amumu anya na eche callu gi.” Oga Chuks wondered amusingly how somebody should be asking such a question at that time.

Therefore, when I saw that he called me at 1:30am I was not surprised. It is a routine. Whatever he wants to achieve, he does not allow the barrier between pm and am to hold him down.

When I returned his call at 3:30am, he picked and told me what he would like me to do at dawn. It requires some money. But what is remarkable is that he ended the call as usual with: “Please Val, remember to negotiate very well and get a generous discount. When I see the bill, I will like to see both the actual bill and the discount they must have given us”.

Of course, I knew where he was going to.

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The foregoing is Mr. Peter Obi for you. The other day, he requested Prof. Chinyere Stella Okunna to do something for him. Prof. called me to inform me that she would call him back and tell him that the transaction was what he could pay effortlessly to request any discount. If you are interested on how the story ended, we talk about it later.

But why is our boss attracted to discount as gum powder is attracted to fire? In Dr. Alex Otti’s oft-quoted article on the back page of ThisDay Newspaper of 8th of June, 2020, where he examined the factors that made for Obi’s success in Government, he wrote: “All the extravagance of leadership had no place in his government. Some people would argue that he overdid it, but it worked. You would always find him in the economy cabin of planes. He would travel alone most of the time, carrying his bags. He would refuse to stay in high-brow and expensive hotels, preferring to stay in cheaper hotels where he would negotiate the rates to the bare bones. He would not be seen in a long convoy. He would refuse to do lavish entertainments at the Governor’s Lodge and elsewhere, and most importantly, he would refuse to give the proverbial ‘blood tonic’ a euphemism for sharing government money to people who are mere parasites that contribute nothing positive to the development of the state.”

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Discounts and cutting costs are his meat and drink. Even when we travelled with him, I often over heard “Oyibo” people complimenting him on his excellent negotiation skills.

But there is one thing remarkable about him which is the major inspiration for writing this piece: once he negotiates and receives the discount, he immediately uses the money for charity, helping the society in different ways. You may not know that the differentials he saves from travelling economy rather than business class are among the money he gives out to schools and other institutions that care for humanity.

It is through him that I learnt that State Governments pays certain percentage to institutions that help them recover taxes. Because he pays his own voluntarily, he always insists they should pay him that percentage for saving them the trouble of running after him and they usually obliged. At such a time, you would see him calculating how many schools such will assist him in visiting.

It was through his culture of savings and spending money only on necessities that he was able to save a lot of money for Anambra State. In the quoted piece, Dr. Alex Oti, the Managing Director of Diamond bank at that time, affirmed that the money was saved when he was the MD. He knew what he was saying, because Diamond bank was one of the banks in which foreign and local currencies were saved. Dr. Otti, being a reputed financial person, was even generous to tell the world that the dollar component of his savings, unencumbered, is about 100 Billion Naira today.

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One thing about Obi is that everything about him is a lesson in responsible living, which is a desiderata in our society wounded by hatred and foolish extravagance.

LAST LINE: following the didactic nature of Obi’s life is what our friend and brother, Barr. Chux Gilbert Okonkwo ftom Nimo missed. If his pre-occupation is not seeking fault in people and institutions, he would have been a success today rather than be battling with failed profession, failed marriage, and failed everything at almost 60 years. Though he has passed the June of his life, a proper adjustment and re-calibration could still help him re-direct his life.

By Valentine Obienyem

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