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Page 1 of 5 Inside Story of the Local Civilian Coup in Anambra State 7 Inside Story of the Local Civilian Coup in Anambra State Page 1 of 5 Inside Story of the "Local Civilian Coup" in Anambra State By Bolaji Aluko, PhD PRE-COMMENTARY Every time one thinks that no new thing can occur under the Sun in Nigerian politics, something else happens. Wonderful! Very wonderful! Read another simply fascinating script below about the Anambra saga! Arthur Eze (for Emordi under Abacha)....Emeka Offor (for Mbadinuju under Obasanjo).... Chris Uba (for Ngige under in-law Obasanjo)...all Anambra godfathers (for governors or governors to be under an Abacha/Obasanjo regime)! Na wa o! But the question now is: who will bell the cat? Section 308 of our sham 1999 Constitution protects Deputy-Governor Udeh (and 73 other Nigerian Untouchables) from criminal and civil prosecution, if not investigation - unless he is impeached like Omisore was! But who will impeach him, except a State Assembly whose Madame Speaker and virtually all Assembly members are complicit in this unique civilian coup? Who will even arrest them, except a police AIG Raphael Ige who is himself complicit? [Well, this one is easy: brother Tafa can send another "aburo" to do the dastardly deed! But it appears that Raphael omo Ige is beginning to say that he "arrested" Ngige for his own protective good? "Ogbon lo gba" - all it takes is street-smartness!] And who will be the judge of this case, except State Chief Judge Okoli Ejidiofor who seemed to be complicit, with his unusual hurry to swear in a new governor in the person of Udeh? Anambra State may be stuck! Before now, I had been shaking my head and scratching it too and wondering: how did all of these people think that they could get away with this apparently hare-brained scheme, without KILLING Ngige ahead of time? What impunity! I was wondering: If in fact the governor comes out and says that he did not write a letter of resignation - and if they had not assassinated him and probably pinned it on APGA or some "Unknown Murderer" - how did they expect to get away with it? But now I know better.....the pre-written letter of resignation, signed WILLINGLY by the governor BEFORE he became governor! Yes, technically, he did not write the letter AS GOVERNOR, but a contract is a contract, especially when one party has ALREADY fulfilled his own part of it by financing your campaign. Now if in fact Ngige had pre-written a letter of resignation to his godfather Christ Uba, then he would be following the strange example of President Obasanjo who did the same to all of his ministers (except reportedly for Bola Ige and Adamu Ciroma) in his first term 1999-2003, and who probably is doing the same for the present crop of ministers, although we have http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/iarticles/inside_story_of_the_local_civili.htm 7/18/2008 Inside Story of the Local Civilian Coup in Anambra State Page 2 of 5 not heard of that this time around. Granted that those ministers were not elected - but in my mind so was Ngige not really "elected", certainly not from the last "(s)elections" on 4-19! So what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Once again, unfortunately like the Omisore case, the imprints of Aso Rock are written ALL over this saga - if not directly, but very indirectly, via strongman Chris Uba/presidential adviser Andy Uba/in-law Obasanjo and the pre-written resignation letter with a precedence, not to talk of Ngige being saved by a strange cellphone call to VP Atiku Abubakar from an Awka "latrine." If in fact it can be proved POSITIVELY that Ngige signed that letter of resignation ahead of time, that his true signature is on it - and I am instinctively positive that he did, with all that I have been reading about this puppet of a guy gone strong lately - then he remains RESIGNED and he should go. That is the honorable thing to do. His life was not at stake at that point, but he was going to derive SUBSTANTIAL financial benefit from the move, with promises that amounted to graft. That move really technically DISQUALIFIED him from being a candidate in the first instance. So Anambra State is probably stuck with Deputy-Governor Udeh as governor! In fact, if Chris Uba and the Speaker and the Assembly and the State CJ are not to face treason trials, they had better stick with this totally conceivable story of pre-written resignation - if the signature and circumstances of a pre-written signature can be proved by them - otherwise they are stuck with trouble BIG TIME - and long jail sentences, if not death! At the worst, every last one of them should somehow be kicked out of there - from Ngige down to the last woman - all the political maggots in Anambra's political latrine. Stay tuned. Bolaji Aluko ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Vanguard Inside story of the coup in Anambra State By PAUL ODILI Sunday, July 13, 2003 TO understand what is happening in Anambra State, it is best to adopt the famous quip about Nigeria by Sully Abu, a distinguished political writer who noted: "Nigeria is like being on a plane that has just been taken over by hijackers." In the context of Anambra politics, it can be inferred that a hijack operation is in progress. For the second time since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1999, Anambra State is in throes of major political crisis. But on the scale of audacity and brazenness that offends basic decency, the latest bust-up has provoked unparallel outrage across the country. Nevertheless, the common view is unanimous about one thing— this fight was expected, but the question was when. The godfathers’ script... Just like in 1999, barely a month after the swearing-in of the new administration, fight broke out between Sir Emeka Offor and the then Anambra State Governor, Chinwoke Mbadinuju, over patronage. As the story went, Offor, as godfather had used his political connection and resources to install Mbadinuju, who it must be said, ran a close and pulsating race against Prof. ABC Nwosu, who lost due to the support the governor had from powerful backers like Offor. Having firmly settled in office as governor, Mbadinuju, was reluctant to accede to the demands of Offor, which he considered steep. Angry at the effrontery of the governor to show signs of independence, Offor mobilised the deputy governor and majority of the members of the state Assembly, many of whom he sponsored into office and were therefore loyal to him to begin impeachment proceedings. The deputy governor, Prince Chinedu Emeka, was being positioned to assume office as governor in the event of the successful removal from office of Mbadinuju. In fact, there were stories that Mbadinuju and Emeka had such heated argument and at one time came short of exchanging blows. Meanwhile, Offor, had moved members of the legislature to nearby Enugu State where they were quarantined in a secret location to prevent any defection to the governor’s side. It was from this location that the ‘renege’ members of the House attended sittings in Awka, and from where they initiated the impeachment proceedings against the governor, which never sailed through before outside intervention brokered amity. But the reconciliation was superficial as over the course of time, the truce broke down creating more opportunities for more exchange of fire between the two. Governance of the state suffered. http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/iarticles/inside_story_of_the_local_civili.htm 7/18/2008 Inside Story of the Local Civilian Coup in Anambra State Page 3 of 5 By the end of Mbadinuju’s tenure in April, Anambra was in stasis. It was the only state that had the embarrassing record of shutting down public schools for over a year; salaries of public servants were not paid for nearly 10 months; pensioners were owed; public service virtually collapsed. Onitsha, the commercial nerve centre of the state was overtaken by filth. For the most part the fight was on Mbadinuju. He claimed that Offor was fighting him for no just cause because he had met all the terms of agreement, which included allowing him (Offor) to nominate commissioners of works, finance and some other senior aides in government. He also said that he had given Offor enough contract to defray his electoral expenses. But Offor was to cast his disagreement on the loft agenda of bringing good governance to the state, which he said was not possible under Mbadinuju, because according to him, the governor was too corrupt. To show he had no intention to continue to associate with the state government, Offor, withdrew his nominees from serving in Mbadinuju’s government and floated a political pressure group, Anambra People’s Forum(APF). The group for the most time had the singular duty of causing the governor nightmares. Arthur syndrome ... How did the state come to this sorry pass is the question many Nigerians have been asking. The fact is that the godfatherism in Anambra had its roots in the military under Abacha, when a business mogul Chief Arthur Eze was the dominant political factor in the state. It must be understood that the first civilian governor of Anambra, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife had no such problems. He merely contended with the challenges of governing the state and his own place in history. But as soon as Abacha took over, Chief Eze became the satrap of the Abacha junta in the state and it is said he influenced who was posted as military administrator to the state, and could cause the posting out of such officer if he found reason to suspect lack of co-operation.
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