Ex-Governor Obi’s Slip

When, a few weeks ago, Chief Peter Obi, the immediate past governor of Anambra State and one of the stoutest supporters of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, called the bluff of his once beloved party and announced his defection to the Peoples Democratic Party, the frailty of man resonated and the slippery components in the making of legends became apparent.

If the ex-Governor had strayed into the range of an unsullied political sect to further propagate his persuasions, I would have been surprised at the abandonment of his professed love for APGA.

Had he withdrawn from partisan politics and opted to review persons and organisations whose whims peg the limits of the deprivations that governments offer the rest of us, I would have been pained for losing a patron in the APGA fold to whom I felt beholden. Had Obi turned a recluse, lost to both fans and adversaries of his political practices, he would have served himself and them better; for while in his solitary and their bewilderment he would have gradually diminished and be gone.

He would have saved those who patronised his warmth for the APGA vision, the pangs of a sudden betrayal and the distraught in their Rock’s (the ex-Governor’s adopted name) hurried weathering into quicksand. But why the brazen display of infidelity, and why the passion for the PDP? Obi rarely saw any good in PDP.

The echoes of Obi’s dog-eat-dog relationship with the PDP which he did bitter battles with for three unending years in the courts before reclaiming the APGA mandate in 2006 point at some weird PDP baits for which Obi lost composure. What becomes of Obi’s regular oaths of allegiance to APGA during his eight years reign as an APGA-governor and even beyond?

Many times Obi vowed, swearing with everything dear to him, if anything really is, that he would either swim or sink with APGA. He told whoever cared to listen that he would rather die or at best quit politics than mingle with the PDP. He never ceased deriding PDP as a horde of vampires and never-do-wells whom he swore to retire from politics.  Testimonies of such statements liberally abound.

Wiles, however, have limited span for serving their patrons, and Obi caved in with his public admission of an intimate relationship he nocturnally indulged in with PDP for selfish profits.

The moody ambience among admirers of Obi’s contributions towards the growth of Anambra State indicates that though by defecting to PDP Obi might have simply exercised his right to freely associate with whoever he wishes, to the extent that this particular expression exponentially diminishes his integrity, it is ineffective and condemnable. My reluctance to lend my voice to the crowd of reactions following the ill defection was richly borne out of my respect for the institutions, persons and the noble vision which furthering the imports of Obi’s slip will do no less than undermine. No parochial gain is worth the deracination of a nation’s pride, as none is spared the embarrassment and danger of a hemorrhage that spots unchecked.

When, however,  Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the widow of Dim Chukwemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the abiding spirit of APGA, put the defection in its critical perspective in an interview published in The Sun newspaper of Monday, October 20, 2014, I felt that probably the only germane reaction to Obi’s bungle had been served and no more ought to be added.

Nothing else, with the bold, frank, comprehensive and engaging discourse of the diplomat. Indeed, the ex-Governor had nothing to plead to justify sabotaging the collective will of the APGA faithful. Obi cannot fault the rejection he now suffers from the same people he successfully led in battle a few months back in the victory of Chief Willie Obiano as his APGA successor.

Obi equally lacks the persuasive prowess to convince anybody that President Jonathan’s second term interest propelled his drift to the minefields where the fate of a braggart who freely succumbs to conquest surely awaits him.

I had wished that the puerile defence in The Sun of October 22 ascribed to Obi, which indeed was an acceptance of ‘guilty as charged sentence’ by Bianca, never made the publication.

Everything Doris Obinna presented from Obi’s purported interview in Obi’s defence was hollow and resounded the validity of the people’s loss of faith in him. I advise that nothing more should come in Obi’s condemnation beyond Bianca’s compendious piece, neither should any more flow from the hands or mouths of Obi’s apologists who might still be sulking over Bianca’s defiant apocalypse.

Mr Peter Obi’s lost glory should serve as an alert to those to whom leadership is entrusted and who hanker after the allurements of leadership but will not seek wise counsel before taking decisions that might be far reaching in the propagation of what they profess.

Mr Obi’s quick loss of the awesome political patronages bestowed on him by the passionate APGA faithful will continue to serve as caution for those who might be quick in concluding that the gods have beaten their paths to greatness and so disregard the implications of falling for their pedestrian whims.

Ms Joy Okoye, a social commentator, wrote from Awka.