GOVERNOR OBI'S MODESTY

Ifeanyi Ubabukoh



In an interview, published in Daily Sun of April 7, 2010, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Eze Igbo Gburugburu, highlighted the sparkling qualities of Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State.  The leader of Ndigbo, Ojukwu, says: “He (Obi) is very modest.  Whenever we have to talk, he comes as Peter.  He does not bring half a brigade as entourage as the others would do.  You notice also that whenever he talks he keeps to the point and does not elongate matters unnecessarily ……”



Dim Ojukwu’s appreciation of Obi’s character reminds me of the Governor’s visit to a traditional ruler in Anambra State.  When the Governor paid a courtesy visit to offer him some gifts, the ruler was surprised and displeased that the Governor was unaccompanied by entourage and his visit unheralded by blaring siren.  The traditional ruler therefore pleaded with the Governor to reschedule the visit to enable the ruler adequately assemble his subjects in his palace to welcome the Governor.  The ruler bitterly complained that without the necessary pomp and ceremony, his subjects, and indeed nobody, would believe his tale that the Governor ever visited His Royal Highness.



But in his service to Ndi Anambra and the rest of the Nigerians, Governor Obi has remained consistently modest in speech, dress and behaviour.  He shows a not too high opinion of his merits and abilities, but his solid and extensive achievements in all sectors of Anambra’s economy speak volumes of his competence and success as the Governor.  He takes and shows care not to do or say anything impure or improper.



Governor Obi is humble.  He shows a modest opinion of himself and of his position.  He is one Governor who does not like to be addressed a “His Excellency”, but simply “Mr”.  He honours almost all invitations from Anambra people.  He visits them as individuals and groups but he does not do so in a noisy way.  He quietly meets his people, individually or in groups, and discusses, strictly, the purpose of his visit or the people’s welfare.



During the discussions, he analyses rather than synthesizes matters.  And his analysis consists in reducing things to their principles; and not in endless details and subdivisions.  He clears away the rubbish of school-boy technicalities and strikes at the root of his subject.



Alhaji Lam Adesina, when he was governor of Oyo State, banned “courtesy calls” by his people to the governor.  He complained that such visits squeezed his official time and resources.  Instead, he proposed to visit communities, local councils and individuals whenever he felt the need to meet the people of Oyo State.  In an article, I condemned the ban, since the courtesy visit should be a way the people could make their feelings known to the governor.



Governor Obi has not outlawed courtesy calls.  But he has not allowed such visits to degenerate into revelries and frivolities.  What he has banned are all-night gatherings of wayward male and female politicians who soak themselves in drinks and idle away in immoral and purposeless talks.  Underlining this is Governor Obi’s strong Catholic family background and his prudence in management of Anambra State’s money.  His brother is a Reverend Father and his sister a Reverend Sister of the Catholic Church.  Obi was the Chairman of a successful bank, and on becoming the Governor he spends public money only after careful thought and planning.  Is it a wonder that Anambra is one of the few states of the federation that pays its workers’ salaries and allowances as when due?



When our revered leader Ojukwu humorously advises Obi “should try to be more of a politician than a businessman,” I begin to wonder if business is separable from politics.  Socrates warns that politics is a serious business.  If so, a successful politician must be businesslike.  In Nigeria, politics has become a game, and not a serious business, and many of our politicians play it for the fun of it or for what they can get from it.  Not so for Governor Obi.



A typical Nigerian politician lies so routinely that he cannot be trusted to tell a blind man if the sun was shinning.  During the campaigns for the Anambra February 6 Governorship election, most of the candidates went about promising the people all heaven on earth and assassinating characters of their rivals and distributing bags of rice to voters.  Governor Obi warned his aides to focus on issues and not persons.  It worked marvelously for him.



Most surprisingly, not fearing that the election could go either way, since it is not a pure or exact science, Governor Obi confidently, all through the electioneering, continued to work on his development projects – building roads, installing transformers in all the communities and distributing computers to schools and disbursing funds for building 400 classrooms in each local council.  A typical, self-centered Nigerian political leader would have seen the Obi style as a gamble, and would instead hide the money for personal use if he happened to lose the election.



Governor Obi will remain on record as a person who pointed the way to progress in our budding democracy.  He showed the life-saving role the judiciary could play in our presidential system.  He has also showed that a Nigerian politician could become successful without being dishonest, spendthrift, pompous and flamboyant.



In the end, Governor Obi has shown clearly that the way to move great masses of men is to show that you yourself are moved.  And, in appealing to the public no one triumphs but in the triumph of some public cause, or by showing a sympathy with the general and predominant feelings of mankind.



It is evident in Obi's style of governance in Anambra State.