Chinwoke Mbadinuju
A former Governor of Anambra State, Chinwoke Mbadinuju, tells JOHN ALECHENU how ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo plotted to impeach him
If I recall correctly, the problem of your administration started quite early. What happened?
It is true. The inauguration of the Anambra State House of Assembly incidentally marked the beginning of the crisis that shook the political foundation of the state. It was also the earliest manifestation of the viciousness of godfathers in the politics of the state. The interest of these godfathers clashed with the interest of the state government and it nearly marred the take-off of my administration. Dr. ABC Orjaiko, who could be said to be the power behind my emergence as governor of the state was fully involved and sought for reconciliation. Sir Emeka Offor, up to this time was still my ally, K.C Enemuo was to emerge as the Speaker of the House of Assembly, supported by only 11 out of 30 members of the House.
How true were allegations that you virtually opened the state treasury for your political godfathers to have a field day?
Talking of the state treasury and those who were supposed to have looted the treasury that contained nothing in the first place some think of Chris Uba. But Chris Uba emptied no treasury during my tenure. The military administrator before me awarded contracts to Uba and both sides agreed for payment of an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order of N10million every month to execute the contract of building the new Government House and Lodge. While this was going on, the government added to him the roads crisscrossing the new layout. But his opponents cooked up rumours against him, and unfortunately, the jobs that were more than halfway completed were not touched by successive administrations.
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Assuming you knew little or nothing about the actions of the 11 lawmakers, why do you think they did what they did considering the fact that 11 is not greater than 19?
The main reason for the action of the group of 11 was the resolve of the 19 members not only to swear in one of their members, but also to impeach the governor as directed by Abuja with the active support of godfathers. Abuja had planned my impeachment long before that time.
Where was the then President Olusegun Obasanjo in all these?
The first ground for probable impeachment was one incident which took place during the presidential campaign. Former President Obasanjo was in Anambra for the presidential campaign in 1999 and donated N500, 000 to the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party. Perhaps, he wanted to assist in the electioneering campaign.
The then presidential aspirant Obasanjo, made his donation through his bosom friend, J.S P.C Nwokolo. As leader of the party in the state, I handed the Ghana Must Go bag containing the said amount to campaign leaders with the instruction to share the money equally between the state, local government and ward executives. I was shocked when Nwokolo later alleged that I only released part of the money to the party. My explanation detailing the ratio of sharing to him and considering the fact that my Odera Campaign Organisation spent over N800 million for the party and my campaign with a sizeable amount still left in the kitty. I knew better soon afterwards, because Nwokolo went behind and misrepresented facts before Obasanjo.
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How did you know he reported the matter to Obasanjo?
I knew. I don’t know how Obasanjo reacted to the information given to him but for the next six months, after our inauguration as governor; I was denied access to the Presidential Villa and could not for that number of months see Mr. President even for routine consultations on matters affecting Anambra state. This was the situation on ground which was added to the crisis in the House of Assembly. This probably explained the uncommon interest the Presidency had in the case of the Anambra State House of Assembly. In the heat of the commotion, the Presidency dispatched a presidential plane with the then Speaker, Salisu Buhari, to explore the possibility of facilitating my impeachment and the declaration of a state of emergency. With faith in God none of the plans they hatched against me succeeded because the Speaker from Abuja reported what he saw objectively.
Apart from the campaign incident, was there any other issue which you think made Obasanjo hostile towards you?
I think so. At the inception of my administration, I received a request from the wife of the President, Stella, concerning a family friend of hers, who retired from the state civil service. The request was that I should help pay the man his pension and entitlements. I was quite amenable to do so. Unfortunately, this was delayed because the payment was being awaited from Abuja. In the process of waiting, the man was involved in a fatal road accident and he died. The Nigerian first family was infuriated and this unfortunate coincidence further separated me from the Presidency.
Their reasoning was that if I had paid the man earlier he would not have died without his pension. I had no comment on that as I am not God to determine the time and season of life and death.
As if this was not trouble enough, after the renovation of the Government House, which was mysteriously gutted by fire on my assumption of office, I invited dignitaries from within and outside the state to commission it as part of the projects commemorating my first 100 days in office. I also invited Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu to cut the tape and commission the structure.
This move was misunderstood by Abuja as some people thought I did not sufficiently carry along the party leaders. Some complained that bringing the Ikemba Nnewi into a PDP programme was trying to revive the Biafran connection. But my primary purpose was to draw him closer to the PDP. Sadly, my plan didn’t work out as the Ikemba Nnewi afterwards joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance.
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Why did you make a public show of prayer sessions which became part of your administration’s trademarks?
My study of the political culture of Anambra state convinced me that I needed God more than anything else, both in the administration of the state and in surviving the many fiery darts constantly being thrown at me. I knew that governing the state was not going to be a bed of roses. That was why I initiated the Monday morning prayers, because the state needed divine intervention in every facet of life. Rather than turning to Okija shrine and similar ungodly places, I turned to God and my decision paid off. As if God touched the heart of former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, he contacted me and said he heard what God was doing in my state with those prayers, we invited him and his Nigeria Prays and God began to bless Anambra the more because no prayer has ever been in vain.
Who killed the Onitsha branch chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Barnabas Igwe and his wife Amaka?
Much as I would have left the answer to come from the police, I also know that the police alone cannot solve all the problems of crime in any society. Police act on information and leads, but it is often disheartening that most of the time our police people do not take seriously good information and leads, that are so clear and compelling that such would lead to understanding the hidden details of who committed the crime, and who are the accomplices. This was sadly so in the case of the Igwes. I am pained by what happened and for reasons best known to the police and law enforcement agencies, the searchlight on who killed the Igwes was concentrated on one person because of Onitsha NBA from the start declared me, the then governor of the state as the killer of the couple. Other interests cashed in on this position and tried but failed to vilify me. But God who is the defender of the oppressed exonerated me of any complicity after several investigations by various security agencies.
Why did you defect from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress?
It is necessary to join the APC now because it is the right thing to do. The APC has proven itself as a promising party of the present and future, we can see glaringly that everything good about the PDP has since vanished. The public tearing of the PDP membership card by former President Obasanjo is a symbolic attestation to this truth. Despite all of my sacrifices and commitment to the PDP as a governor, I was the only sitting governor to be denied a second term ticket. I won the party primaries on all three occasions it was conducted in 2003 but I was denied the ticket.
I recall Mrs. Josephine Anenih, a revered PDP woman leader, wept openly at the lunch of my book: ‘How I Governed Anambra State: Stewardship and Accountability’ as she remembered how unfairly I was maltreated. The then national chairman of the party, Chief Audu Ogbeh, confessed that the committee sent to the state acted based on information available to it, revealing that it was later observed that Mbadinuju was innocent of all the allegations and campaign of calumny against him. However, the PDP and the government it formed, especially at the national level, behaved as if it never wronged me or the vast population of Anambrarians whose lives I have touched while superintending the state as governor.
To make matters worse, the PDP government wittingly or unwittingly, heaped serious problems on the ordinary people of Nigeria as looting, greed and avarice became the order of the day, and injustice perverted the entire facets of our national life. As to why I actually defected from the PDP to the APC, my simple answer is that I did not defect, it was the PDP that defected and it erred from the way like lost sheep. Change has come.
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