In what is a first in Nigerian politics, Anambra State governor, Peter Obi has announced that he will be retiring from politics at the end of his tenure next year.
Obi, who is also the Chairman, South-East Governors’ Forum, made this announcement at the thanksgiving service and award ceremony to mark the end of the 2nd Session of the 15th Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Enugu which took place at the St Bartholomew’s Church, Asata, Enugu.
He said: “A very prominent person called me today and asked me, ‘what is your plan concerning politics after your current tenure?’ I’m telling you now what I told him.
“For me, I have come to the end of it; I want to quit and rest. However, I have been praying to God that for the sake of the good people of Anambra State, please give them somebody like Peter Obi.
“The level of greed in Nigeria is overwhelming, where people can’t see the suffering of other people, they are just accumulating wealth, for me, it is time to go.
“I wonder why one person should own a house in Ikoyi, Asokoro, Dubai and he is not using them for anything, people accumulate what they don’t need; it is madness. The level of greed in Nigeria is intolerable.
“I want all of us to be praying for Nigeria, so that God will touch the heart of our leaders to use public money for the people. In Anambra State we never borrowed money despite all the works we are doing.”
He expressed regrets over the cost of running a governor’s office in Nigeria.
“When I came in as Governor, I discovered that the state had 70 workers in Abuja office, apart from their salary we spend close to 15 million maintaining that office. They have nothing doing there than to come to the airport and welcome me, constituting nuisance, so we re-deployed the workers and closed down the place. Till date, we have not missed them, which means they were really doing nothing there”.
“I urge all of us to pray for greedy people in this country; they are accumulating what they don’t need, stop accumulating things for your children” he stated.
Earlier in a sermon, the Anglican Bishop of Ijebu South West, Rt Rev Dr Babatunde Ogunbanwo charged Christians to have a right view of Jesus Christ in order to overcome the challenges of life.
Speaking on the theme “overcoming the challenges of the time”, at the service presided over by the Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Emmanuel Chukwuma, Ogunbanwo observed that the society was no longer conscious of good virtues, and stressed that lesbianism, homosexuality, nudity, terrorism, suicide bombing, and greed had all become part of life.
“Therefore, you must make deliberate effort to remain focused as a Christian, you must have a right view of the world and your position”, he advised.
Peter Obi’s political career reads like a battle history as he consistently fought obstacles and scaled hurdles in his path. He became governor of Anambra State in March, 2006 on the platform of the All Progressives’ Grand Alliance (APGA), after a three-year litigation battle over the 2003 governorship election which was initially declared to have been won by Chris Ngige, then of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
Six months after he was sworn in, his state house of assembly impeached him, making his deputy, Dame Virginia Etiaba Nigeria’s first female governor. Again, he challenged the impeachment and was reinstated in February, 2007.
He once again left office on 29 May 2007 following the general elections, which Andy Uba of the PDP won. Obi returned to the courts once more, this time contending that the four-year tenure he had won in the 2003 elections only started to run when he took office in March 2006. On 14 June 2007 the Supreme Court of Nigeria upheld Obi’s contention and returned Obi to office. This brought to an abrupt end the tenure of Obi’s successor, Andy Uba whose April 14, 2007 election the Supreme Court nullified on the grounds that Obi’s four-year tenure should have remained undisturbed until March 2010.
On 7 February 2010, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Peter Obi the winner of the 6 February 2010 gubernatorial elections, where he defeated Professor Charles Soludo, former Governor, CBN. This election victory gives Governor Obi an additional four years as the governor of Anambra State.
Prior to his joining politics, Obi was a businessman and was chairman of Next International Nigeria Ltd, then Chairman and Director of Guardian Express Mortgage Bank Ltd, Guardian Express Bank Plc, Future View Securities Ltd, Paymaster Nigeria Ltd, Chams Nigeria Ltd, Data Corp Ltd and Card Centre Ltd. He was the youngest Chairman of Fidelity Bank PLC.
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