The former presidential candidate of the Labour Party and former governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi, has not hidden the fact that he still wishes to contest for the presidency and hopefully become the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria if possible, come 2027. No doubt, he has shown the desire and hunger to sustain his political relevance by constantly being in the news and playing the role of opposition. He consistently criticises government policies the very moment they are announced or implemented and gets the full backing of his teeming supporters popularly known as the Obidients who cheer him on at every turn.
A lot of times, many outside of the Obidients group have agreed with some of Peter Obi’s criticisms. They acknowledge he makes valid points sometimes. And at other times, many disagree with him, believing he is merely playing to the gallery and trying to incite the people against the President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who beat him, Atiku and others at the 2023 presidential elections. They say he is a bad loser who appears to be struggling to put behind him the agony of the defeat he suffered at the last presidential elections. And they say, same way he questions every move the government makes, they also have some pertinent questions for him to answer. After all, didn’t somebody say, ‘why do you look at the speck of dust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?’ The following are the ten BIG questions people still want Peter Obi to answer.
The first question, and one that has kept recurring in the Peter Obi conversation has been the issue of his relationship with people who worked with him in his government during his time as Governor of Anambra state. Many have wondered why we have not seen those who worked closely with Obi standing by him and speaking out for him. This was visibly noticeable last year during his campaigns before the presidential election, you could not find any of these people at any of his political rallies. Where are his former commissioners? Where are his Special Advisers? Where are members of the Anambra state House of Assembly at the time Obi was governor of the state? How come we have not seen one or two of them standing by him and coming out to speak for him and try to convince Nigerians why they think Obi is the best presidential material, come 2027? Why is he no longer close with his then deputy governor? None of these people have been seen anywhere near Peter Obi before the last presidential election and after he lost the election. And what this indicates, according to a political analyst who was speaking on national television, is that he is probably a bad manager of people. And that’s not a quality somebody who wants to rule and unite the country should have. If he ruled Anambra state for two years and cannot boast of members of his cabinet, members of the state House of Assembly, throwing their weights behind him, then how can he possibly hope to govern a massive entity like Nigeria successfully, they wonder.
There is also the question of where Peter Obi’s allegiance lies with IPOB. Is he with IPOB? Does he share and believe in the agitations and aspirations of IPOB? Does he subscribe to the demand for a Biafra nation? And more importantly, why hasn’t he come out to speak against the barbarism and recklessness of the IPOB group consistently engage in gruesome killings of innocent lives? This group has continued to kill Anambra indigenes, non indigenes and uniformed men of the Nigerian Army and the Police Force without restraint and Peter Obi has never publicly come out to condemn the madness. The sit-at-home- order imposed on the people in the state when they should be outside of their homes working and hustling to earn a living for themselves is also begs the question, what did Peter Obi do about the situation? Many have pointedly asked Peter Obi, on which side of the divide is he on? But he has remained quiet and elusive on the question. The position of many is that you cannot claim to have the capacity to lead and unite a country like Nigeria when your own state, Anambra, is under fire. It is on record that the issue of kidnapping and killings in the state began during his tenure and according to Police data, they have lost over 200 me of the Police Force in Anambra state from the time Obi was governor to now..
According to a former PDP chairman of Anambra state, Chief Dan Ulasi, he recalled ruefully that “while Peter Obi was governor of Anambra state, what was rife in Anambra was kidnapping, killing, armed robbery. None of our big shots came home. But all through the first four years of Willie Obiano, there was peace and tranquility.” He told Channels presenters that when he buried his father during Peter Obi’s tenure, each one of his prominent guests came down for the funeral with nothing less than 20 military officers as security escorts. The chief explained that prominent Anambra indigenes fled the state. They refused to come home even for the burial of their aged parents for fear of being kidnapped or killed. He asserted that Obiano took the security issues seriously and was able to deal with them “until IPOB monster of Nnamdi Kanu reared its ugly head afterwards.”
One controversy that has raged on for years even after Peter Obi finished his tenure as governor of Anambra state has been the issue of the exact amount former governor Peter Obi left in the coffers of the state at the time of his exit. According to Chief Dan Ulasi, he said, “the figure touted by Obi was N75 billion but the Willie Obiano government made it clear that it was actually a paltry N9 billion that Obi left. This revelation angered many Anambra indigenes who felt insulted by Peter Obi’s antics. Unknown to the public, the former governor, Obi, had given out postdated cheques to contractors the state was indebted to. Almost N70 billion was paid out in debts. Peter Obi could not convincingly explain to anyone how N75billion became N9billion,” Chief Ulasi remarked. And Willie Obiano himself corroborated this story during the governorship debate preceeding Obiano’s second term. The debate was anchored by Channels Television Seun Okinbaloye. Now, many have been asking the former Labour Party presidential candidate to debunk the claims made by his successor and former friend, Willie Obiano, that he left a paltry N7billion naoira in the coffers of the state and not N75 billion, that the rest of the money was paid to contractors Peter Obi was indebted to and to whom he had already issued postdated cheques. The former governor is yet to give a satisfactory answer to this question and this has raised serious question marks as regards the integrity of the man called Peter Obi.
Another big question Peter Obi has continued to evade is the question of whether it is indeed true that he demanded for money from his successor, Willie Obiano. This story had been making the rounds for a very long time even after Obi left office. But during the forementioned governorship election in which Willie Obiano was interviewed by Channels television Seun Okinbaloye, Obiano confirmed that indeed, he had such issue with Peter Obi. He explained that Obi had come to him after he (Obiano) had won the election and said there were some monies paid into the state’s account by his friends that were meant for his own second term campaign. Obiano admitted on national television that he actually paid some money to Peter Obi but had to stop when he could no longer meet up with his demands. Chief Dan Ulasi also confirmed this on Channels when he said: “the main reason why Peter Obi fought tooth and nail to bring down Willie Obiano’s government was because Peter Obi was claiming he had N7billion in the state’s account which was money donated to him by people for his second term. Reluctantly, the former governor Obiano was paying that money but when Peter Obi became over bearing, he stopped paying and that was where the conflict between the two gentlemen started. Not a few Anambra indigenes still hold this against Peter Obi to this day. They felt that for a man who was preaching integrity all over the place, stifling his successor and demanding refund of state funds from him was to say the least unthinkable.” To this day, Peter Obi is yet to respond if it is indeed true or not that he demanded state funds from his successor.
Many have also asked, why is it that the Igbo elites are not coming out to throw their weight behind Peter Obi? Where are the rich and prominent sons of Anambra, how come they are not supporting Peter Obi? Instead, what we have seen is that some of them have openly pitched tents against him and made it clear that he is not their choice. Ordinarily, many expected that being the frontline Igbo presidential candidate who did very well at the last presidential election, he would naturally enjoy maximum support across his state and other south eastern parts, but this has not been the case. He appears to have only the youths who know little or nothing about him rooting for him. According to investigations by The Citizen, one of the reasons why the elites are not excited about his presidential aspirations is because of his dismal performance while he was governor of Anambra state. The general notion is that he did not meet the expectations of the people. Another reason the elites are not so excited about a Peter Obi presidency is that, according to Dan Ulasi, “Peter Obi split Anambra state religiously. We used to be a homogenous Christian state, now you hear people talk about whether you’re a Catholic, or Anglican or a Pentecostal. That is where we have degenerated to now and it’s unfortunate. And he, Peter Obi, started that politics.” Indeed, according to Ulasi, Peter Obi had disliked a governorship candidate from the party at the time he was concluding his tenure based on his religious inclination.
Again, apart from Dan Ulasi’s revelations on Channels television, many Anambra elites who were based in the state at the time the Labour Party presidential candidate was governor will not forget in a hurry the 13 months doctors strike in Anambra that reportedly led to the death of many patients in the state. Why did he allow the strike to go on for so long? What did he achieve at the end of the day with the strike? There was also the 6 months of Anambra state University strike. Many of the elites in the state have still not forgiven Obi for making their children stay home for over 6 months over a strike that could’ve been averted. The issue of seven years unpaid salaries of State Water Board workers was a most painful one. Over 260 of the workers were reported to have died during that period as a result of the trauma, hunger and poor health they had to endure. Did he offer the late civil servants families any form of compensation? What sort of support did he give them? Questions, questions and more questions.
One very big question mark still hanging over Peter Obi’s head is that of the Pandora papers. Peter Obi is yet to respond to the Pandora papers allegation made against him by UK authorities. The Pandora papers is put together by a foreign organisation with the objective to expose corrupt public officials who have stolen public funds and moved them to the UK to set up businesses. Peter Obi was said to have opened secret businesses abroad in his kids’ names while he was governor of Anambra state. He has never quite been able to explain why or how his name popped up in the Pandora papers in the first place. And this was even before he became a presidential aspirant.
Peter Obi should please answer this question: why did he not conduct a local government election in eight years that he was governor of Anambra state? What did he do with the local government allocation paid by the federal government that was meant for the local government councils in all the eight years he was in charge? Where did the money go to? Many still find it incredibly shocking that during Obi’s tenure as governor, for 7 years there was no local government election in the state and there was no substantial IGR growth as well. He also recorded very little in terms of infrastructure. All of these are criticisms and allegations leveled against him by many of his kinsmen, especially the elites who insist he has questions to answer as regards his conduct and poor performance in office while he was governor of Anambra state.
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