Anambra: Obi In The Web Of Political Intrigues

AWKA, June 20, (THEWILL) – There are no doubts that there is currently a drop in the political rating of Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, following the abysmal performance of his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the April 2011 general election in the state. This can be deduced from the failure of the party to capture any senatorial seat in the National Assembly.

Governor Obi’s popularity was actually put to test in the Anambra Central senatorial election where his arch-rival, Dr. Chris Ngige of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) defeated Obi’s highly rated candidate, Professor Dora Akunyili. In fact, many political watchers actually saw the contest as one between Obi and Ngige. So, when Akunyili lost, it became clear that the Governor needed to do something to pep up his political acceptance.

Besides that, APGA managed to win five out of the eleven House of Representatives seats, just as it struggled to get a slim majority in the State Assembly by winning sixteen out of the thirty seats.

In an apparent admission of the situation on ground, the Governor has since after the election withdrawn into his shell to reflect on what has gone wrong with his popularity and what ought to have been done in the first place.

Rather than engage in political shenanigan, the Governor had gone back on those things that endeared him to the people. He has since embarked on an endless inspection and supervision tours of projects embarked upon by his administration. Also, Obi has been taking stakeholders, including journalists, teacher, community and religious leaders on guided tours of those projects.

On the political scene, the Governor has shifted ground in one area that is perceived to be sore point of administration by beginning the democratization of the local government system in the state. Last week, the Governor inaugurated transitional committees to replace the existing Heads of Local Government Administrations, which hitherto had held sway at the third tier, and were generally perceived as the administrative rubber stamp of the state government. Then also, the Governor himself announced November 9, 2011 as new date for the much elusive local government election in the state.

Yet, even at that, most of Obi’s critics and supporters have expressed the view the there is need for the Governor to infuse more life into his government by dissolving his five-year old cabinet on the grounds that it has became moribund and ineffective.

Apparently reflecting on these, some members of the cabinet on their own decided to throw in the towel and part ways with the Governor. These include three commissioners, including Mr. Emeka Ojukwu Jnr., Dr. Ifedi Okwenna and Mr. Chima Okafor, who reportedly claimed they acted based on personal reasons. But obviously to the discerning mind, there seems to be more to their actions than the “personal reason” claim.

It is however unclear how Obi intends to remain the key players in Anambra politics as his APGA continues to battle to be the dominant political party in the state in the absence of founder and patron, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.