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University of Nigeria Research Publications
ONWUDINJO, Benedict O. A
utho
r
PG/MA/03/34518
Title
Religion, Morality and the Emerging
Political Culture (Crisis) in Nigeria: A Case Study of Anambra State
Facu
lty
Social Sciences
Dep
artm
ent
Religion
Dat
e
September, 2005
Sign
atur
e
TITLE PAGE
RFLIGION, MORALITY AND TlIE EMERGING POLITICAI, ClJLTURE (CRISIS) IN NIGERIA:
A CASE STUDY OF ANAMBRA STATE
BY
ONWUDINJO, BENEDICT ONUORA (REV.FR.)
A PROJECT REPORT PRESENTED T O THE DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION.
SEPTEMBER, 2005
APPROVAL PAGE
This dissertation has been approved for the Department of Religion, University of
Nigeria, Nsukka.
Supervisor \ Agha, A.U. (Ph.D) Head of Department
Dean, Faculty Social Sciences pf
EX te&l Examiner
DECLARATION
I Onwudinjo, Benodict Onuora a Postgraduate student of the Department of I
Religion, with registration number PG/MA/03/345 18, has satisfactorily coi~ipleted
the requirements for the degree of Master's in Religion (Religion and Society).
The work embodied in this project report is original and has not been b
submitted in part or full for any other diploma or degree of this or any other
university.
Head of Deparhnent M.I. Okwu ze (PL.D)
Supe visor t
We. l w e l q certify that O~lwudirijo, Benedict Onuor-a with registration
nuinbet- lY;/h/lA/03/345 18, has satisfactorily carried out all the correctioils
on this prqjcct ~epol-! ;IS suggested by the ex tend examiner. /'-',
DEDICATION
I am dedicating this work to all Nigerian patriotic citizens and all good
people of Anambra State.
May God continue to bless us. Amen.
ACKNOWLDGEMENTS
According to Karl Marx , Religion is a super structure in the society. This
means that Religion provides means of cordial relationship among people living in
the society. It provides law and order for good interaction. In Nigeria today several
religious denominations exist. The main role of these denominations is to teach and
provide good morals. Hence morality is known as the product of religion. Judging
0. this notion with what has been happening in Nigerian society, any social sc~entist
will not hesitate to say that morality of the Nigerians is nothing to write home
about. In considering what has been happening in the Nigerian political terrain;
one will wonder whether Nigerians are really religious human beings. A case in
point is the on-going emerging political culture in Anambra state. Judging this ugly
situation, it will not be out of place to say that democracy and religion are called to
question. As a patriot the researcher of this project has critically studied this
emerging culture. Consequently, he has been able to come up with some relevant
recommendations for the rebuilding of a new society
Having seen a work of this nature, it will not be an overstatement to say that
the work is really an onerous task which cost much time, much labour and much
materials. In consideration of this fact, there are people in one way or the other,
who have rendered their assistance and that has resulted in the completion of this
work. Some individuals also gave their moral support towards the same success. It
is on this regard that I wish to acknowledge the contribution of these individuals.
However, I cannot go along to thank people without first thanking God for
his wisdom and good health bestowed on me especially during the course of this
work. I should then appreciate the concern of my fathers in Christ: Most Rev. Dr.
Val M. Okeke, the incumbent Archbishop of Onitsha and Most Rev. Dr. A.K.
4 Obiefuna, the retired Archbishop of Onitsha. The opportunity you gave me really
showed your concern for the growth of the church.
My great appreciation also goes to my honourable lecturer and the
supervisor of this project, Dr. Malachy I. Okwueze. You painstakingly lectured me
as a father with genuine love and you critically rendered thorough supervision of
this project as a friend indeed. I thank you immensely. In the same vein, I should
extend my big thanks to Prof. Fidelis Okafor. You are my mentor as far as
academic life in this great institution (UNN) is concerned.
The love and concern from my (brother) fellow priests will remain
evergreen. Worthy of mentioning are Very Rev. Msgr. Dr. J.B. Akam and Very
Rev. Fr. Theo Odukwe. What you are to me is highly appreciated. May you remain
blessed.
I should also call to mind the following Rev. Fathers for their respective
roles towards my studies: Rev. Fr. Dr. Dominic Okafor, Rev. Fr. Dr. Hilary
vii
Achilike, Rev. Fr. Ralph Odike, Rev. Fr. Hycinth Jemigbola, Rev. Fr. Mike
Mbonu. Your sincere regards for my studies are highly acknowledged.
I should have a cause to appreciate very highly the love from my colleagues
(my course mates): Rev. Canon Imo, Rev. Orji and Rev. David Ononogbu. Our
unity in the classroom contributed much to the success of this work.
My warmest gratitude should also be extended to the following gentlemen: b
Chief Donatus Ogbunufe and Chief P.O. Anaebelundu (Ezeamanie), Chief G.C.
Oranika (Ochendo), Engr. Nnadi Agha and Chief Goddy Ike (Nnabuenyi). May
God bless you for your love and concern during the course of my studies. Above
all, thousands of thanks should be reserved to my colleague Mr. Philip Ndubueze.
It was through your virtue of sacrifice that you could spare time to correct and type
this project. May God bless you abundantly.
Finally, I have millions of thanks to all in my mind who are the above
categories. I am very grateful.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page ....................................................................................... i . . Approval Page ................................................................................. 11
... Certification ................................................................................... 111
Dedication ..................................................................................... iv Acknowldgement ............................................................................... v Table of Content .............................................................................. ix Abstract ....................................................................................... .xi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ................................................ , .... I 1.1 Background of the study ...................................................... I 1.2 Statement of the Problem ..................................................... 4 1.3 Objective of The Study ....................................................... 7
..................................................... 1.4 Significance of the Study 8 ...... ...................................................... 1.5 Scope of the Study , 8
1.6 Methodology ................................................................... 9 ............................................. 1.7 Operational Definition of Tenns 9
1.8 Division of the Work ......................................................... 12
............................................ CHAPTER 'TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 14 .................................................................... 2.1 Introduction I3
2.2 Religion, Morality and Politics in Nigeria, 1960-1970 ................... 15 2.3 Religion. Morality and Politics in Nigeria. 1970- 199 1 .................. 28 2.4 Review of the Observed Political Climate in Anambra State .......... 36 2.4.1 Introduction ................................................................... 36 2.4.2 Past Government of Anarnbra State ....................................... 37 2.4.3 The Present Period - The Regime of Dr . Chris N . Ngige ............... 41 2.5.1 Politics and Godfatherism ................................................... 41 2.5.2 Origin of Godfatherism in Anambra State ................................ 44
............................................. Summary of Literature Review 47
CHAPTER THREE: TFIE PHENOMENOLOGY OF NIGERIAN POLITICAL CULTURE (CRISIS) WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ANAMBRA STATE ......................................................................................... 48
3.1 Dr . Chris Ngige (Onwa, OON) the Executive Governor of Anambra State Versus His God Father Chief Chris Ubah (Eselu Uga) ........... 48
3.2 Governor and the President ................................................. 55 3.2.1 The Privatizatiou of Nigerian Democracy ................................ 57
3.2.2 Obasanjo's Hatred for Dr . Chris Ngige ................................... 60 3.2.3 Obasanjo's Hatred for the Mjority of Igbo People ..................... -64 3.3 Governor and the Governed (the People) ................................. 65 3.4 Governor and the Party Members .......................................... 68
............................................. 3.5 Governor and his Governance 78
CHAPTER F0UR:THE CLIMAX OF THE EMERGING POLITICAL CULTURE IN AN AMBRA STATE: ANALYSIS AND lMPLICATIONS ......... 87
4.1 The Abduction Saga of the Anambra State Governor .................. 87 .................................................... 4.2 The November Mayhem 90
. 4.3 The Suspension and Expulsion ........................................ ., 102 .................... 4.4 Commentary and Implications for Nigerian Polity 104
CHAPTER FIVE: GOVERNANCE IN ANAMBRA: UNDER MBADINUJU ................................................................. AND NGIGE'S PERIOD 106
5.1 Mbadinuju vis-a-vis Ngige's Government .............................. 106 5.2 Anambra State: Calling for Mediation? ................................. 110
CHAPTER SIX: THE ROLE OF RELIGION AND MORALITY IN THE FACE .......................... OF THE EMERGING POLITICAL CULTURE (CRISIS) 113
CHAPTER 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5
............................ IEVEN: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 120 ............................................ Summary (Principal Findings) 120
.............................................. Contributions to Knowledge 122 .......................................................... Recommendations 123
.................................................................. Conclusions 124 ......................................... Suggestions for Further Research 126
................................................................. Bibliography 127
ABSTRACT
This topic: Religion, Morality and the Emerging Political Culture in Nigeria - A Case Study of Anarnbra State, carries detailed account of developing abuses and deplorable inisconceptioils in Nigeria politics. The topic unveils the effects of an emerging cancerous phenomenon in Nigerian political terrain called: "godfatherism". This evil which is being developed among the top political class, has eaten deep into the Nigerian system of democracy. Anambra State is now a case in point. Among other things the researcher of this project is much more concerned about tlie ugly effects from the said godfatherism which is now the main cause of political crisis in Anainbra State. These effects include: the yanton demolition of state's properties inherited for ages; the loss of private properties, disregard of major legacy of the Igbos (spirit of brotherliness), assassination of character; and finally the violation of human rights. All are pointing to failure of religion and democracy. The project also highlights the level of moral decadence of Nigerians which is the negative product of the emerging democratic rule especially in Anambra State. The researcher then concludes the project by offering solutions and recommendations. The very aim of the researcher is to alert the Nigerian citizenry especially the Anambarians that the sad condition is out of hand. The methodology for tlie research is the use of both published and unpublished works in conjunction with the personal experiences of the researcher who is also a social observer in that political game. As immediate observer, he has specific findings which include: selfishness, excess greed by the majority of Nigerians and invested absolute power on tlie political class corrupting absolutely. Such are the outstanding facts in this project.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Anambrarians were from the ancient period a business-oriented people.
The society is influenced by the spirit of wealth and materialism from the
people's productivity. For instance, the Awka people are known for the work b
of blacksmithing. The people of Nnewi, Onitsha and their environs are
industrialists and professional business tycoons. This business inclination is
coupled with the popular saying that "majority of Igbos are "lovers of
money". Taking cognizance of these tenets (love of money and inclination to
business) and judging them from the evidences abound, Anambrarians are
seen to be materialistic inclined, at least to a certain extent. In our time, this
materialistic tendency has grown to such an extent that investment could be
sought for from the public treasury. However, this attitude can be found in
other states but not without caution. The likely case ( looting of the state)
which is found in Anambra is ultimately irreligious and ungodly. It is now so
loudly heard and widely experienced. This situation has called for a lot of
questions.
In the same vein, an lgbo man could be a saboteur against his kits and
kin. Hence, he could sell out his fellow Igbos to "Abuja big h e a d by pleading
that there should be state of emergency rule in Anambra State. This was done
in order to curry tlie president's favour and affection. It was this attitude of
sabotaging tliat disorganized Igbos during the civil war. The major saboteur to
the Igbos during the war was from the same Anambra State. The cause is love
of money.
Another point worthy of mentioning is the evidence of the failure of b
religion. Anambra State has some treacherous religious leaders which one
may call "political religious leaders". These leaders cannot "call a spade a
spade". They would riot give pieces of advise as custodians of the gospel.
Rather, they insinuate politicians, engineer crisis under their altars and push
their ego drives through their men who are in corridors of power to act in their
favours. To be precise, tlie inter-denominational cold war is one of tlie
fundamental causes of the merging political culture in Anambra State. Though
this religious politics is latent, it is under fermentation.
On a more serious note, it is clear that religion failed in tlie personalities
of these two major actors - Chris Uba and Chris Ngige. It is a lack of
Christian spirit tliat tlie two "Chris's' should commit apostasy by taking fetish
oath in the Okija Shrine. Not only that, the reason for the oath-taking which
was for the looting of public treasury is ungodly. Consequent to that, the
breach of the agreement (contract) reached as the case may be, was also
wrong. Surely, that is the reason for the fast breaking of the bond which
resulted in political crisis. Therefore, the breach of contract (breach of
promise) could be one of the fundamental causes of the emerging political
culture.
Another pertinent point is to reveal that the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) and Obasanjo have among other things, a serious interest in the full #
possession of Anambra State as one of the states under their jurisdiction.
Perhaps, the state may be so attractive to the party owing to the viability of the
area or for the men of timber and calibre the state is blessed with. This notion
may be the reason for all the 'tele-guidings' from the center. Again, this could
be the reason for the insistency on the provision of a godfather to Anambra
who should have an anchor from Aso Rock.
Finally, it is an obvious fact that the emerging political crisis of
Ailambra has a living tap root from the presidency and Aso Rock. The
godfather of the present Anambra State has affinity with the president. Mr.
Andy Uba, the Special Assistant to the President on Domestic Affairs is an
elder brother to Chris Uba, the godfather of Dr. Chris Ngige. He (Andy Uba)
is married to Mrs. Stella Obasanjo7s sister who is Special Assistant in the First
Lady's Office. Taking copizance of this affinity nobody would wonder why
Anainbra crisis would still persist with strong vigour. Our task in this work
therefore is to study and examine both remote and proximate causes of the
emerging political crisis now existing in Anambra State. Although other states
like Oyo, Abia, Lagos, Enugu, Osun, Zamfara and Plateau states etc. have
their own political crises. Nevertheless, the Anarnbra crisis captivates the
interest of tlie researcher for its outstanding nature. We shall then get into the
main stream of the topic by a profound research on the causes. On finding
B these causes we make suggestions and recom~nendations on how to remedy
the situation. Consequently, there will be the regaining of right and real
political crisis worthy of Anambra State and Nigeria in general.
1.2 Statement Of Problem
Nigeria is a country replete with various religious denominations among
which, tlie major religions include: African Traditional Religion (A.T.R.),
Christianity and Islam. Anambra State, one of the states in the South Eastern
Zone of the Country, is populated by people whose religious belief is
dominated by two of the three major religions viz: Christianity and African
~raditional (Indigenous) Religions.
The major teaching of the two religions is thk deepening of faith and belief
in God. Also in various ways, the ethics and morals of the two dominant
religions are closely related. For instance Christianity and Afiican Traditional
Religion regard higlily the concept of the existence of God. They teach that
man was created by I lim and as such man should fear and respect God. Again,
the two religions teach the doctrine that man lives in the society as co-lords of
creation hence there should be cordial, and friendly relationship.
More importantly, the two religions have similar objective as protectors
of human rights of those living in the society. These human rights include:
right to life; riglit of freedom of speech, conscience and religion; right to
human person and dignity; right to freedom from discrimination; and right to
property. But quite surprising is tlie emerging political culture (crisis) now in
Nigeria. 7 % ~ worst of it all is the on-going political crisis leading to
deprivation of the human rights of many people. The stories are full of
absurdities. The 111ost pitiable thought in the matter is that these chaotic
conditions have been existing among people of the same Igbo cultural heritage
especially those from Anambra State.
The issue at stake is: Few years ago with the assumption of power by
tlie former Anambra state Governor, there had been a case of the so called
"God -- fatherism'' in tlie state. This is a situation where a particular
individual had the audacity to claim a "lion share" (at least one third) of the
fund belonging entirely to tlie state either from the Internally Generated
Revenue or from the Federal Allocation. The justification for this claim by its
perpetrator is said to be God fatherism. The reason is that the said godfather
spent his money for the election. This is a fallacious attitude. As such this
generated crisis.llle crises have called to question the Nigerian Constitution
and the way men live in Nigerian society, particularly how the Anambra state
people, live their religious life.
On a more serious note, in this present administration, those unhealthy
b attitudes to the society in the past administration are now aggravated into
fearless destruction of important properties belonging to the state and
individuals. For instance, the Anambra broadcasting Service (A.B.S), House
of Assembly, Government Hotels and some vehicles were burnt by hoodlums.
Even the lives of the chief executives and the law makers are being sought for
assassination by the hoodlums. The extent of the mayhem cannot be over
emphasized. It is the religious/moral standing of those involved in these
unwholesoine activities especially as many of them still claim to be Christians
that this project is concerned with.
In connection with the above instances the main worries include: Where
are our governing bodies leading the society to (who will again lead Nigeria to
the land of the living? Who else will bring Anambra people to the Promised
Land? Why is this obnoxious political culture more widely felt in Anambra
State and not in other states). On a more serious note the most worrying
question of the researcher is where is the that our democratic system of
governance?
1.3 The Research Objective
The objectives'of this study are as follows:
i .
. . 11.
... 111.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
... V l l l
To examine the meaning content of political crisis. b
To show the preference of godfatherisin in Nigerian Politics to
patriotism.
To detect the failures and dysfunctions of religion in Nigerian
society.
To depict the failures of democracy in Nigeria and then highlight the
craze for autocracy.
To present to the society the effects of the misplacement of values,
mismanagement of power and misappropriation of treasury.
To dig out the causes (remote and proximate) of some crises in
Nigeria with special interest in Anambra State.
To find out the effects of people's insatiable quest for materialism,
self-centred ends and level of illiteracy.
To remind the Igbos of the legacy of brotherliness and then alert the
sleeping lions to rise and retrace their footsteps.
1.4 The Significance of the Study
In this particular study, the main significant issues include:
i. To identify the imports of religion: failures and woes so as to make a
redress.
ii. The study will show young people that new age is deviating from the
right beliaviours. b ...
111. It will recommend the ideas that will serve as guide to both the
practitioners of politics, the academic scholars and the religious
groups.
iv. The project will be an eye opener to the masses (society) on how
states fund is being looted.
1.5 The Scope of the Study
The scope of our study in this project covers from 1960 to the year 2005. .
More importantly, the project shall throw light on the emerging political
culture now in Nigeria particularly the people of Anambra state. This
concerns their morality in connection with politics.
However, the findings, the research work and questions are within the
entire Nigeria. The country is located within the equator. Presently, Nigeria as
a country consists thirty-six (36) states and three major ethnic groups: Hausa,
Igbo and Yoruba. tlowever, our main deliberation will be within the events
going on, in Aria~nbra state, which is located at the South East of the country.
Anambra State land mass is situated on a generally low elevation on the
Eastern side of the River Niger. It shares boundary with Kogi, Enugu, Imo,
Abia, Delta and Edo States. This area is the focus of our study.
b
1.6 Methodology
The methodology of the researcher is a synthesis from two sources:
primary and secondary sources. The primary source includes: eye witness
account by the researcher, oral interview from the government executive, field
works and unpr~blislicd lectures. While secondary sources embrace: textbooks.
library works, archives, encyclopedia, journals, magazines and newspapers.
These data collected are well synthesized religiously and politically.
Consequently. the failures and successes of religion regarding morals are
highlighted. Finally, suggestions and recommendations are made to remedy
the situation and for some further researches.
1.7 The Operational Definition o f Terms
It is of great importance to define some key words arid concepts in a study
of this nature. '11iis will help one to be at home with the ideas being conveyed.
The topic being considered is "Religion, Morality and the Emerging Political
Culture in Nigeria: A Case Study of Anambra State." The relevant, terms are
defined as follows:
Religion: Religion according to Longman Dictionary edited by Ada~ns
(200 1 : 1 195), is "people's belief in the life of the spirit and usually in one or b
more gods.. . It is a particular system of this belief and all the ways of
expressing your love for your god, ceremonies and duties that are connected
with it. For Okwueze (2003:4). "Religion in its essence, therefore, is the
means by which the Supreme Being and man's essential self communicated. It
is something resulting from relationship, which the Supreme Being established
from the beginning of human life between himself and man".
Etymologically, Religion is defined from the two Latin words: re-
regare, "to bind" oneself. It is all tlie activities we perfonn which relate us to
God or gods as our superior reality. Religion at the same time binds us with
our neiglibour. Religion therefore, takes along both vertical and horizontal
ways of life. 'Il~e vertical aspect is our relationship with our God, while
horizontal dictates tlie "I - thou" rapport as members of one family in God.
The general concept of religion is that it is the worship of the Supreme Being
whch has its extension to human relations acknowledging God as creator.
Morality: According to Adams (200 1:924), "morality is defined as a system
of beliefs and values concerning how people should behave which is accepted
by a particular person or group". For Robinson (2003:888), morality "is a
behaviour in relation to accepted moral standard". This is an adjectival word
which is derived from the word 'moral' meaning principles relating to good
and evil, right and wrong. In the same vein Okwueze, (2003:2) declares: b
The reek word e~hos from which Ethics is derived and The latin word mores from whicn morais is aerivea P r mean habit and customs.The ethics or morality of persons or groups. however. consists not merely in what they habitually or customarily do but in what they think is fitting. right good or obligator,..
Morality, therefore, can mean a way of thinking or doing things by a
person or group of persons which may be good or evil, right or wrong and
which is generally accepted within a particular culture. Morality can be said to
be a product of religion and the grand child of culture. Adams (2001:30)
defines culture to be, "the ideas, beliefs and customs that are shared and
accepted by people in a society". For Tylor (1891:l ) culture is defined as
"that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law,
custom and many other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member
of society." The term 'political7, is an adjective derived from the word
"politics" meaning the Science of governance. It is the business through which
the ruling of City State is being, managed. On this note, as a concept,
"Emerging Political Culture" ill this project could mean the outburst of
healthy or unhealthy manner, behaviour or pattern of society. In this study, the
emerging political culture is negative. This is because it denotes crisis. It is an
unhealthy political behaviour of the Nigerian Society particularly in Anarnbra
State. Hence it can be otherwise termed "the political crisis in Nigeria" taking
leaf from An~i1b1-a case. #
1.8 Division of the Work
This research work has seven chapters. Chapter one introduces tlie
reader (s) to the terms, methods and ways which were used in the work.
Chapter two gives a concise introspection on the literature review of which
some findings were foundational to the current problems. It contains both
remote atid itnmediate: causes. Cliapter three the phenomenology of tlie crisis
breaks the back of the political culture sampling Anambra State. Chapter four
is the climax of the political culture. It highlights tlie by-ave occurrences
already experienced.. In chapter five, the researcher gives succinct comparison
and contrasts between the two governments (Mbadinuju and Ngige). This
very chapter makes it clear that Anambra State is still yearning for a
redemptor. 1%is statenmit calls to question Nigerian Religions. In chapter six,
the researcher tries to liighliglit tlie role of religion amidst these
political fracas. The findings of tlie researcher are that religion has made
some efforts to quell the crisis but those efforts were not enough. There is
need for more serioils roles fiom religious adherents to preserve tlie society
from decay
Finally, in chapter seven, the researcher gives the summary a d the
conclusion. In the summary, he brings out some crystallized problems; offers b
solutions to the pro1)lems and then gives his private reco~ntnendatio~is with
some innovative ideas. The' researcher then concludes the work by passionate
appeal to all arid sundry to work and pray for a better Nigeria.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
Nigeria in a bid to free herself from the colonial masters, formed three
major political parties. However, as a young and inexperienced country, these
parties were formed under the platfonn of the three major ethnic groups: b
Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. The Hausa people fonned in tlie Northern People's
Convention (NPC) led by .Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Igbo formed tlie
National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe,
while the Yorubas formed into the Action Group (AG) led by Chief Obafemi
Awolowo.
A critical observer of this political system will understand that the
country to be, must have been impregnated with seeds of discord and crisis.
These were sown by the colonialists, the British who did not take into account
the incompatibility of tlie three regions. The incompatible cultures and ethnic
goups having merged together, there existed a crack in tlie foundation wall of
unity and political stability. These had continued to affect the political leaders
even though Independence was achieved. The ill political motive was
interrupted by the reaction of Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogu which led to
civil war of 1966, few years after Independence.
This particular chapter two is an introspection of Religion, Morality and
Politics in Nigeria from 1960 to 1999. However, this period has four
segments: The introductory part, the events that took place from 1960 - 1970;
1970- 197 1 and 199 1 - 2003, the present period of Dr. Chris Ngige. The first
sebment was a decade after Independence (1 960 - 1970). In this particular
essay, this can be called the prime period of Nigerian political instability. The b
second period, ( 1970 - 1991) can also be the "medieval time", the period that
led into the wake of the political crisis. The third period, (199 1-2003) is the
wake time of the political crisis that ushers the present turbulent period,
otherwise known in this easy as the time of revolution. While the reader(s)
follows systematically we commence with the primary period.
2.2 Religion, Morality and Politics in Nigeria, 1960 - 1970
There was joy in the heart of every Nigeria on hearing that Nigeria has
got her Independence. This is because Independence is a political freedom
from the shackles of governance by another coiuitry. For Nigerians, it was
gaining of control for better society. This joyful condition is made manifest in
the words of some eminent Nigerians. Odey (1 997: 10 1 ) captures this joy from
the statements of Nigeria's first president, Dr. Nna~ndi Azikiwe:
As for me, my stiffest earthly assignment is ended and my major life's work is done. My country is now free. and I have been honoured to be its first indigenous Head of State. I thank God for sparing my life to witness the Independence of my native land.
This is the joyful statesman and a father, a statement of a patriot and an
elder, Dr. Nna~ndi of Azikiwe (Zik of Africa) who fought tirelessly to see that
Nigeria should obtain her Independence. That was achieved on tlie 1st Day of
8 October, 1960. He (Dr. Azikiwe) was happy because the journey of freedom
from the tutelage of Westerners (Colonial Masters) has commenced. At the
wake of Independence, the new Nigerian society was met by many changes.
The war and the crisis did not end as it was in the mind of Zik.
In fact, there were political instabilities froin this period 1960 to 1970.
Those instabilities were as a result of what the colonialists implanted before
Independence as well as religious inputs. The Coloiiialists contributed much to
ethno-political struggles. There wre deviations which were implanted by some
religious denominatims. Bedsides, there are evidences of materialism in tlie
nature of Nigerian people.
During the early years after Independence, a religious fanatic turned
political leader came to destabilise governance. He was Ahmadu Bello,
Sarduana of Sokoto. He was the President of NPC and the premier of Northern
region. As a follow up to the Jihad of the 19Ih century, lie wanted to use his
office as a political leader to politicize Islamic religion. Adibrwe (2003:171)
clearly stated: "A prominent figure during the prime days of Independence
was Ahmadu Hello. He was the President General of Northern People's
Congress and tlie I'ri~ner of Northern Region. Ile used his position to
campaibm for tlie total Islainisation of tlie North. His Northernisation policy
tuined out to be an Islamisation policy". This is the beginning of rape of b
democracy in Nigeria. How can a top political leader use the advantaged
position to achieve his religious ends thereby denying freedom to 11011-
Moslems in his domains. Not only that, he used Government resources in the
movement. I11 the same line, too, Ubaka (2000:34) rightly said of him:
"Government resources and machinery was employed in his religio-political
strategies to win the whole North, nay, the country to Islam". The worst of it
all, in a bid to sustaining Islam more solidly, Allinadu Be110 advocated the
sharia law against the will of non Moslems. Me instigated for the
establishment of sharia courts to be included in the constitution of tlie Federal
Republic of Nigeria. tiis ultimate aim for doing this was the claim that sharia
law is divine and the scope of its function is not limited to spiritual, moral or
religious matters but also to the entire facets of man's life. In that case, in
order to control the nlundane nature of man, the divine law (Sharia) has to
take charge. I lence the science of ruling, that is politics, will be modeled by
this divine order (Sliaria). The implications of this conception are many: The
holder of this view disregarded the authenticity of other religious laws. For
instance, tlie Catholic Church has the "Canon Law" as tliat which is both
divine and of man. Again, the compelling nature of 'Sharia' depicts clearly tlie
human right violations.
Another religious fanatic who provoked young Nigeria to political in
stability in the wake of Independence was Mohammed Marwa. Though liebwas
a fbreigner, he met Nigeria 'in peace and disturbed it. This was the first blow to
Nigeria as regards tlic religio-political crisis.
Odey (2000 : 1 9) noted:
Without digging too deep into the past, we can trace the genesis of the current religious imbrioglio, which has turned Nigeria into a state of blood, violence and anarchy,to 1962 when a little, funny human being called Muhammadu Mama (popularly) known as Maitasine) and a Camerounian by birth became a resident of Kano. In a word, Manva came, saw Nigeria and disrupted her peace. It was at this period that he started to nurture his religio-political crisis which erupted fully in the 1980s.
Odey traced the cause of Nigerian political crises from 1962 to Manva.
Though he was correct to certain extent, the Nigerian political crisis erupted as
far back as before the Independence. One may say tliat colonial masters must
have shared tlie major cause owing to the merging of various incompatible
cultures. However, this religious fanatic contributed his quota.
His own deeds were irreligious. One will not hesitate to believe that
imbroglio of such nature cannot be tlie products of religion. Turbulence and
disunity are deviations as far as religion is concerned. Mow can a religion
which claims to have peace as her target turn to be agent of crises? In this
case, Islamic religion cannot claim to be outside the fence in the genesis and
causes of frequent and political crisis tormenting Nigerian nation at least from
post independence til l today. b
In tlie same view of religious fanaticism, Christianity has its own
mistakes, too. 71ie Christian religion in a bid for political expansion disrupted
traditional cult~ires that helped in cultivating good morals. The said religion
with their western cultures belittled or disregarded ways of preserving good
morals.
For instance, tlie Christian missionaries like the Moslems tactfully
destroyed tlie traditional priesthood and introduced their western religious
priests. They advocated societies and fellowsliips displacing age grade. the
"Ndi ichie" groups (gathering of titled men) who were responsible for true
governance arid discipline within tlie traditional societies. A case in point is
their discouragement of tlie "Ozo title" replacing it with the Knighthood.
Okwueze ( 1 998) said:
Title taking was one of the ways by which traditional societies rewarded good conduct and achievement by individual members of society. Christianity did this by prohibiting the Christian converts from associating themselves with such things and thereby discredited this important aspect of African culture. Soon they sought to replace these titles with their Western equivalent like the Knighthood which is now rated in some societies beyond even the Ozo-titled man.
What one sliould understand fi-om this religio-political action of some
religious leaders is that the effects had negative impact in the political terrain b
of Nigeria. The "Ozo" titled men are the custodians of the traditional society.
They are the true speaking leaders (Nze sara ile) in the society. Such people
are generally good in political leadership in society. 'This is because, they
feared the gods and the religious constitutional laws unlike some men in the
Knighthood. lIowever, at latter period, these mistakes have been noticed.
Father Smith owned up the missionaries' mistakes. As Munonye (1966: 140)
reported:
We want on our side the vast number who in the Africa of the future will sustain the church with their numerical strength. Call it vote for the masses if you like. In the pursuit of that objective, I am afraid we have got to be impatient with the culture of the people. There just is'nt time to sort out and label their customs as acceptable or unacceptable.
Father Smith admitted that in their bid Eor missionary endeavour, they
lost sight of traditional valuable legacies. 'These mistakes have resulted in
decadence of morals and political life of the Nigerian society especially in the
Southern regions where this Traditional religion was strongly rooted as well as
where Christianity exerted her greater influence. How is the veracity of this
opinion? It is true in the sense that before the advent of the missionaries as
well as during decade of years before Independence, these traditional
iilstitutioris (traditional chief priests, age-grades and council of Ichies) had
power of governance. The political rule by then was democratically superb.
Men of questionable characters cannot go into governance. b
In our introduction, we understood that in early decolonial period, (early
years of independence) Nigeria had only three political parties formed in
accordance with the three respective major tribes in Nigeria. This is to say tliat
complete unity and oneness had not been achieved even though there was a
verbal profession of one Nigeria. In fact, there was evidence of ethnoceiitrism
especially in the political realm of the people. It was a disappointment to every
well meaning Nigerian tliat lived from the decade before independence to the
middle of the first repubIic, Nigerian society has been in this political disunity.
Any political observer is likely to forecast the political instability lingering.
Indeed it was etlmo-political rivalries. This disorderliness was rearing its ugly
head to divide Nigeria into three. The very regional (ethno) quarrels were
evident in the comment made by Abubakar Tafawa Belewa as noted by Eze
(2004: 193):
On October I , 1962, the Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, in a nation-wide broadcast told the nation
that there was a plan by a group of people to overthrow the Government by force. On November 2, 1962, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was charged with 26 other persons with conspiring to the Federal Government by force - treasonable felony.
This incidence sparked off inter-tribal political crisis between the West
and the North. Obviously the major effects of these intertribal wars include:
hatred, envy and violence etc. As the case may be, the situation thus afficted
tlie Southerners. Along the line, too, Ahinadu Bello, tlie Sarduana of Sokoto,
devised another religio-political policy by segregating the Northerners from
the Southerners in the prominent city of Kano. This policy would have
provoked the secession of the south had it not been that the Southerners
accepted it courageously. Imo ( 1995:33) writes:
The policy did not only disallow the Southerners from participating in certain economic activities in the North, but also declared them strangers. As strangers, southerners and non Muslims were zoned out of the Muslim places of residenceto the areas called "Sabon Gari", "the strangers town"
Judging this policy made by Ahmadu Bello, it is obvious that no good
citizen will rate him a patriotic leader. He carried along with him both
religious fanaticism, ethnocentricism and Nothernisation policy with politics.
The effects of these were disunity and rivaries. There had been some slanby
names each of the two major tribes (North and South) used to label one
another. For instance: the Hausas (Northerners) nicknamed Soutllerners
"lnyamili" while the Southerners called Northerners, "Onye Awusa". This
attitude has contributed in no small way to the disunity in Nigerian society.
Being so burdened by this fracas and disunity up to four years of
independence, Dr. Azikiwe bitterly exclaimed as written by Orjiakor
On October 1, 1964, in his independence anniversary broadcast. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe , the President, challenged
b the whole country. He asked: "Is Nigeria four years after independence and a year after becoming a republic, still a group of tribes or is it a nation?
Really, tribalism, which Dr. Azikiwe lamented for, grew and took root
in the bone marrows of many Nigerians. This is worse especially in the North
where people live in sectionalism. Amidst this latent political disunity, the
then father and president of Nigeria (Zik) strongly maintained both in words
and action that Nigeria should be a unified country. 'This is a view of a
statesman and a patriot. He tried to keep to his view which he had before
Nigerian Independence. Arinze ( l998:62) declared:
Zlk refused to accept Independence of Nigeria without the North. Sarduana of Sokoto claimed that the North was not ready.Chief Awolowo wanted the South to go it alone.
Reflecting the above comment from Arinze, a critical minded fellow
will observe that from the on-set Nigeria was not a unified country at least
quarrels, ethnoccntrisrn or politics. Following these inhcrcnt problems. some
people were of the opinion that in Nigeria, those who belong to the same
religious denoriiination should rally in the same state. For others, the
formation of state should be in accordance with the three major etlino-
geogaphical culture (llausa, Igbo and Yoruba). While some people were
insisting on "One Nigeria" this group may be motivated either by the patriotic b
spirit or any other political motive. This is to say that colonial masters, though
,they amalgamated different cultures together, still the perfect merging of
these different cultures was a dream yet to be realized. There was no proper
feasibility study before effecting the plan. Consequent to that, frequent
cracking continued to exist in goveniance.
Another political issue that flamed up serious crisis in the young
Nigeria, was the censuses of 1963, 1964 and 1965. It was the crisis and foul
play which were the outcome of the first census which necessitated the
subsequent ones. In fact, those National Censuses were marked by the
following: violence, quarrels, squabbles, imprisonment of opponents.
victimization, physical beating of political opponents, kidnappings and deaths
in all forms. With these, Nigeria had made mark for political instability. In this
view Orjiakor ( 1 98 1 : 190) said:
Referring directly on election struggle, the President asked why it was that the first year of Nigeria's existence as a republic, our leaders took delight in beating the tomtom of tribal hatredand fouling the air of God with vituperations against ourselves,all in the name of politics.
There were fiequent occurrence of violence which Nigeria experienced
in tlie twilight of her democracy. The President lamented on this because
Nigeria society has been blessed with both natural spiritual and economic
endowments. The country was enriched with natural resources (minerals and b
good environmental factors) for the existence of a very wealthy and healthy
nation. Spiritually, besides African Traditional Religion, the giant cowltry has
great number of the two major world religions - Christianity and Islam.
Economically, the country enjoys the name "the giant of Africa." This is to
say that tlie country has the largest population of human beings. Owing to this
special blessing, it will have a considerable degree of manpower for economic
boosting. Putting all these together, one will not mince words to utter that it
was a misfit for Nigeria to be in such a mess of moral decadence. These
political imbroglios continued to occur in leaps and bounds. On this regard,
Onwubiko ( 1973:389) noted:
Rigging of elections has become the rule rather than the exception in most of independent states. For instance, in Nigeria, the tension sparked off by the widespread irregularities of the Federal elections of 1964 and the shameless desecration of the ballot box by the Akintola regime during the 1965 Western Region elections resulted in a breakdown of law and order which made the army take- over on January, I966 inevitable.
Going through what Onwubiko wrote, one understands that corruption
in the Nigerian political terrain had been identified 'ah intio' but solution to
abate it at that early stage was not given. Hence, this abnormer in politics
continued to mature. In fact, the corruption drastically affected Nigerian
system of govei-nan~e.
The above occurrences were evidences that Nigeria had started to fail in 0
her democracy in the wake years of the republic. The situation was quite
alarming. One could not imagine hearing these shameful stories like stealing
of ballot boxes, thuggery and lootings during the periods of elections. Otlier
irregularities like kidnappings and imprisonment of political opponents were
the order of the day. The worst of it all was the missing and killing of Iiu~nan
beings. In fact tlie political leaders were involved in corruption of all sorts.
Coupled with tlie above frightening situation and the corruption in politics, the
leaders, too, i~idulpe tliemselves in excessive quest for materialism. This was
the major reason w11y Major Cliukwmna Kaduna Nzeogwu embarked on his
revolution which took lives of prominent Nigerian leaders. Eze (2004:80)
echoes Nzeogwu7s reasons tlius:
My dear countrymen, no citizen should have anything to fear as long as that citizen is law-abiding. Our enemies are politicalprofiteers, swindlers, the men in the high and low places that seek bribes and demand ten percent, those that seek to keep the country divided permanently so that they can remain in ofice as ministers and VIP of
waste, the triabalists, the nepotists, those that make the country big for nothing before international circles, those that have comipted our society and put the Nigerian political calendar back by their words and deeds.
Judging the action of Major Nzeogwu, a social analyst would co~nrnend
his bravado i11 trying to
sanitize the country. To
keep tlie young country in order. His intention was to 0
be sincere, there was corruption in various aspects of
our national life. 'Ilie country's leading cabinet members were tribalists. The
political leaders were killers and devil incarnates in different ways. That is
why Nzeopvu's revolution seemed to be in a way of achieving solution. At
the same time, taking action within tlie purview of morality, a moralist would
find him wrong regarding the steps taken and the extent of the revolution. That
is to say tliat in so far as the coup was bloody, it was beyond the common
good of tlie society. In morality, the means justifies the end. In this case,
Nzeogwu's actions tliat took away many lives were not morally justified.
Consequent to
vein the coup
that (coup) the aim being achieved was wrong. Still in tlie same
was misunderstood because it seemed to have excluded the
eastern part of the country. The Northern and Western people understood it as
the coup specifically planned against them because it affected only their men.
This provoked a counter coup that enthroned General Yakubu Gowon as tlie
Head of the Nigerian military government. In tlie course of the crisis, both the
chief coup plotter, Major Nzeogwu and the man who took over the mantle -
Major General J.T.U Aguiyi Ironsi were assassinated. Following this sit~~ation,
the Easterners seceded from Nigeria in the year 1967. The seceding part was
called Biafra with her leader as Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu. Thus tlie
(Nigerian-Biafrian) civil war commenced. The war which lasted from, 1976- b
1970 (30 months) really destabilized the country. It took many lives
(thousands) and property. Infrastructural development was set very backward.
It was a very big blow for the country. One will then ask, what are tlie roles of
tlie three major religions in the country? Why did this situation befall a
country like Nigeria being blessed with these three major religions (A.T.R:
Christianity and Islam)? For the moment, taking cognizance of the war, and in
spite of efforts by the religious leaders, we may say that religion is yet to
achieve its role in the Nigerian political culture. Great is the God being
worshipped by the religious adherents. As the case may be the war ended in
January, 1 970.
2.3 Religion, Morality and Politics in Nigeria, 1970 - 1991
The end of the war was met with Biafi-a coming back into the assumed
"One Nigeria". 'llle wish to reunite tlie country was manifested in the comlnon
slogan, "No victor no vanquish". However, the country was ruled by tlie
Nigerian Military Head of State, General Gowon. From the end of the war
(January, 1 WO), to the year 1975, there seemed to be mild political tranquility
in Nigerian society. Viis was as a result of rest from war which everybody had
so much desired. Again, tliere was need for a united effort for rehabilitating
the damages from war especially public infrastructure like roads. As tlie case
b may be, few years after the war, economically Nigeria was met with oil boom.
The money accrued from crude oil amounted to billions of dollars. It is on this
regard that Njoku (200 1 :247) writes:
In the 1 970s, a key figure in the Central bank, openly asserted that there was "no where to invest.. . properly". Nigeria's huge foreign exchange earnings. General Gowon, the military head of state, concurred. It was as if Nigeria's socio- economic development had saturated at a superlative level.
In this period (1970's) it was as if Nigeria was starting a new life. She
was blessed with wealth and monies. But the question is, were these wealth
and money used morally and judiciously? Gowon should have started well if
he had realized that the country needed such a "down-pour" of wealth to
rehabilitate tlie country. Rather he entered into corruption of squanda~nania
and extravagancy. The presidential jets were' increased. The government
awarded needless contracts with kickbacks. It was on this regard that Clark
(200 1: 1 17) writes:
Yak~ibu Gowon was accused of aiding and abetting conuption during his nine years (Aug 1, 1966 to July 29, 1975). During this regime there were important development projects and there began indiscriminate contract awards on an unprecendented scale. This was accomplished through international manipulation in coalition with Nigerians who aspired for individual wealth and fortunes. Inflated contracts and kickbacks became the order of the day.
What has Gowon taught Nigerians with this his action? Why should the
leader of society be the first to spark off corruption? Imagine a head of state
conniving with people in a bid to empty government's treasury. This i9 the
genesis of "4 19" syndrome arid the birth of this attitude of those who used to
have Federal or State treasury as their business investment. That is to say that
Gowon failed to establish good political culture for Nigerian society. This
attitude was intervened by forceful administration (coup de etat) of General
Murtala Moha~nmed. However, his tenure was short-lived because of the
counter coup by Dilnka (though not fully successful) through which Murtala
was assassinated Mrirtala was succeeded by General Obasnjo who more or
less joined in the same bandwagon of extravagancy and squandamnnia
established by Gowon. During the first tenure of Obasanjo ( 1976- 1979)'
corfuption by the presidential cabinet grew in leaps and bounds. There existed
extravagant lives among the ministers and looting of public funds.
Nevertheless, Obasanjo cleverly handed over the niantle of leadership to
civilian govemlnent. 'Iliis civilian government was started with Alhaji Sliehu
Sliagari. Alhaji S ld iu Shagari was the President of tlie Nigerian Second
Republic, wl~icli lasted from 1979 - 1983. During his regime, he gathered tlie
mediocre personnel around himself. His target was tlie indiscriminate award
of contracts to his party (NPN) members who amassed for themselves with
wealth and self-enricl~ment. It is in this regard that tlie renowned Soyinka
declared that our leaders are gangs of rnisfits. Odey (1 979: 14) noted: b
Soyinka described most of our political leaders as a gang of misfits whose areas of specialization areUfinancial mismanagement and rampart corruption". He contended that Shagari and his henchmen had complacently presided for four years over the most unscrupulous and insatiable robbery consortium that the nation has ever known.
Considering the person of Shagari, one will not blame him so much for
this kind beliaviour. '111e main cause of tlie misappropriation is tlie lack of
education and wisdom. That is why Socrates the political philosopher opined
while outlining the nature of ideal state. Popkin ( 1983: 178) stated: "Socrates is
asked, how this new and bet~er world might be achieved. lie answers, until
philosophers become kings or rulers or the kings and princes of this world
have tlie spirit and power of philosophy".
The most unfortunate situation is that Shagari has a 'laissez faire'
attitude when these tllings were taking place. According to him (Shagari)", tlie
corruption in Nigeria is a minor prot~lem which keeps coming in mind'. Could
one imagine this t~.pe of comment coming from a leader? I t could mean that
tlie decaying condition of the country he was governing did not border him.
This is tlie kind of political culture Nigerian leaders used to have. It did not
perturb them weather the people are dying or drowning. The society know
General Gowon and Sl~agari as Moslems. But where are their religious ~norals
since they (tlie two presidents) kept Nigerian society in such a ~ness'? Without
doubt it is a fact that the leaders contributed much to the negative b
developnlent of morality, politics and democracy in Nigeria.
On a more serious hote, President Sheliu Shagari erred in co~nbining
religious zeal and politics. Odey (2000:2 1) stated:
Ahoi~t 1000 members of the Maintatsine group wcre arrested di~ring the Kano riot. They remained in prison custody until October 1 , 1952 when President Shehu Shagari generally granted them statc pardon. Rarely four weeks after their releasc, on October 30, the fanatics again went on rampage and stnick at B~~li~nkutu on the outskirts of Maiduguri in Bomo State. About 400 people, among whom were 16 policemen, were killed in that riot.
Reflecting on the action above, one will then asks, why did rclipious
fanaticism rcach to such an extent of resulting in loss of lives of 400 people?
Why did the president release tlie murderers? (Culp1-its). From the above
statement, it is said that the fanatics again struck several times after being
released by the gove~nment. Why did government keep silent and still Ilarbotrr
them? Have we seen tlie Nigerian religious and political cultures? TIlie efiects
include: the ~nurdering of people without qualms and tlie president embarking
on a particular sect because he (president) belongs to that system.
Another Nigerian president that paraded religious fanaticism with
politics was I brahim Badamasi Babangida ( 1 985- 1993). He was a Moslem
activist and fundarnentalist. He politicized Islamic religion instead of giving
true governance, thereby making himself a pillar of religious dissension. b
Consequent to tliis, he became a pointer whenever religious riots or even
religio-political crisis is mentioned. First of all, Babangida was a dictator and
a triablist. These vices were made manifest when lie vented his venom on
Abiola on tlie declaration of his (Abiola's ) presidency of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria by the National Electoral Commission on June 12,1993. Ali (2002)
writes:
The result of the election was being collated and announced Seriatim when the National Electoral Commission (NEC) got a 'Presidential Order' to stop further announcement of the election.. . What then emerged on the 23rd June, 1993 was the annulment of the election which was universally acclaimed as free and fair.. .
Why did the President (Babangida) behave in such a ma~iiier? What
were his ulterior motives that made him annul the election which almost every
body regarded as free and fair? Among other things, President Babangida is an
ethnic champion and a religious bigot. The emerged president (Abiola) was
not his choice. 'Ilie choice might be as a result of which religion or ctlwic
group Abiola belonged. Whichever tlie case, tlie moral ilnplicatiolis are lret-y
negative. I t showed the type of political culture Nigeria used to have. Not only
tliat, the worst attitude was tlie death of the poor winner of tlie election
(Abiola) who died iri prison for tliat violation. What a robbery of democracy
was that to the people. To what extent was such Iiurnan right violation?
As a serious religious fanatic, Babangida dragged Nigeria into Islamic b
family. I t was drlritig his reign tliat Nigeria was admitted into 0rganiz:itioti of
Islamic Countries (OIC). It was tlie most inhuman act that many officers
(people) who intcl-vened against this (inclusion of Nigeria into OIC) wcre
dismissed from tlicir offices. What a deprivation of human rights? This means
that during the political reign of Babangida all Nigerians were forcefdly made
members of Islanlic Comlnunity. Obvioitsly this sparked off crisis.
In a bid to remedy some of the crisis being provoked during
Babangida's adininistration, General Sani Abacha sized power. He really
came and exhibited his military political junta which any critical analyst ~nigl~t
rate as the height of inhumm act, Kalu (1998:2) in his unpublislied llarsli
Flutes revealed: " In Abaclia's Nigeria, corruption tunied into looting the
public treasruy. I t is estimated that tlie General left an estimate worth over ten
billion dollars with a vast business empire controlled by his son and l,ehmcse
brother-in-laws rlrldcr the company logo". An adage goes "if a set of Jwtice is
corrupt what will happen to the jury? If the president was responsible for the
looting of the state treasury what will the subjects do? That is why Abacha's
Nigeria was known for corruption. Not only that, Abacha encouraged
thuggery, muslirooming and cultic practices. That was the height of Nigerian
corruption in the 1990's. This condition affected states within Nigeria, hence
it comes from the center. b
2.4 Review of the Observed Political Climate in Anambra State
2.4.1 Introduction
In chapter one of this project, we have given tlie operational definition of
the above topic and tlie words it is comprised of. In this chapter two, sub-
division four we are going to give down-to-earth explanations of what the
emerging political culture (crisis) is in Nigeria with particular reference to b
Anambra Sate and in connection with the Federal Government of Nigeria. We
may start with Ezeka (2002:2 1) who asserts that:
The most immediate experience of Nigerians today is the awareness that our country is littered with thc debris of odds and woes ranging from internal strife, evident in the impoverished and dehumanizing Nigerian people, to the suicidal "absence of hope in the horizon". Our society has been swallowed up by Thomas Hobbe's leviathan jungle in which a Nigerian is a wolf unto another.
Ezeka's view is that corruption in Nigeria is a proven fact. Eve~-y\mdy
knows that. Fie trics to make the situation clear by quoting a fiiimous
pliilosoplier, Thomas Ilobbes thus : "man being a wolf unto another," that is
the situation i l l Nigerian politics. Eze (2004:l 17), thus confirms this: "ill
Nigeria today, rigging of elections, political thuggery, political killings or
assassinations, falsification of election resuIts, bribing electorate, tlie electoral
officers and perso~iriel of law enforcement agencies, kidnapping of political
opponents and otlicr related political barbarism are gradually being intl-oduced
into the country's political culture". Eze with his political view states that
Nigerian's present way of life is a total deviation from what politics could
mean. How can politics wliicli is the science of ruling the society becomes tlie
way of kidnapping. killings, bribing and other malpractices? These ways of
life could also become long tenn habit and culture which is learnt, nurtured,
shared and passed from generation to generation. In this case, it becomes a #
culture the particular society is known with ("Ejiri lnara ndi"). It is in this
instance that Eyo (200 1 :9 1 ), writes:
. . . Instability has become the political culture of the nation and yet we wonder why the economy is growing steadily worse in the midst of abundant resources.
Instability is the political culture of Nigeria. Not only that, i t yields
violence of various natures in the entire nation. Such terri@ing political
imbroglios are to be studied in the case of Anainbra State crisis as major
offslioots of Nigerian crises. The retrospection into tlie early period of
Anambra State will be of utmost help.
2.4.2 Past Governments of Anambra State
Since tlie creation of the present Anambra State, in the year 1991, the
state had both military and civilian governors. But permit us to take off from
- past governors whose tenures experienced political crisis of godfatherism of
which this project is concerned with. These include: Governors Chukwuemeka
Ezeife, the first executive governor and Chinwoke Mbadinuju - the second
executive governor.
We may not have much to say as regards the reign of Ezeife. This is
because the period was met with tlie most tyrannical years in the annals of
Nigerian governance. It was the period of General Babangida. Amidst the 8
difficult period, Ezeife managed to carry Anambra State along. He could not
do much in terms of infrastrutural development of the state because tlie period
was short. However, he excelled much in justice and fair play in human rights.
That is why his outspokenness was noticed and evergreen. Chief James Ibori,
in his lecture titled "The challenges of governance" (2004:NP) had this to say
about Ezeife's personality:
Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife was the governor of Anambra State in the aborted Third Republic of 199 1-93. His radical views and academic credentials from Harvard stood him out of the motley crowd of the time. Bruised though he was by the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential elections and aftermath, Dr. Ezeife has not shed his plumage of a tireless
progressive federalist and crusader for justice and democratic decorum..
Rating Governor Ezeife with Ibori, he is the true political leader who
cannot be associated with corrupt leadership acumen unlike, Dr. Chinwoke
Odera Mbadiniju, the second Executive Governor of Anambra State (1999-
2003) under the presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, tlie second executive governor of Anmnbra
State, was a figure whose governance the Ana~nbrarians will ever regret. IIe
tried to relieve Anambrarians from insecurity of tlie bandits and robbers
through welcoming a kind of forceful body of young Inen called the "Bakassi
Boys" (Killers and butchers). But instead of solving tlie problem of security,
there was more of insecurity of lives of the innocent people. Also, the way tlie b
Bassaki boys used to operate was immoral and with great exhibition of
violence. Mbadinuju started early in a slightly good step. It was not up to four
months within his tenure of office, he was crippled by the outburst problem of
God-fatherism. The case started with his god-father, Sir Etneka Offor. Nnanna
(2005:NP) revealed:
What qualified Mbadini~ju for the office was the pre-dinner prayer he offered in the house of Offor and his wife that such "a man of God" was the one needed to take Anambra to the pro~nised land: The problem, however, began shortly after the swearingin when the "man of God" wanted to outsmart his own man to be speaker as against the candidate of the god-father And that began the endless crisis in Anambra State which lasted the four years Mbadinuju was in office.
The problem of God-fatehrism did not start with Mbadiniiju's tenure of
office. Rather it is an obvious fact that such a political jargon (godfatherism)
was widely understood and its effects were practically experienced during his
time. The effects of these affected all facets of societal life. First in milid is the
aspect of education. Because of the tussle for power between the governor, Dr.
Mbadinuju and his godfather, (Sir E~neka Offor), tliere was confusion in the
state. Nobody knew who was governing the state. The worst of it all is that the
state treasury was looted and was rendered bankrupt. Projects like roads
rehabilitations were awarded but works were either one-tenth done or totally
left undone. The next is that money will be shared among tlie governor's
sycophants and the contractors holding the projects. Then the projects were b
only done over tlie 'Television screen and Radio news. In fact, tlie Anambra
state treasury suffel-ed so m~rcli. The Federal allocation was mearby-ely
receiving because of the kickbacks to the Abuja top executive. So sad, too. the
InternalIy Generated Revenues (IGR) were shared and pumped into the private
pockets. The remaining money might be used for settling cases and for the
state executives. No wonder, the civil servants; teachers, pensioners, and other
workers were not paid for tlie work done for several ~nontlis. As a result of tliis
(non payment of workers) there were frequent strikes. Schools were closecl
down for montlis. Civil servants went on indefinite strike. Life in the state
was paralyzed. There was a big question of who would redeem Anambra State
from tliis doom. [verybody was crying. Was Ananibra on a curse or
somebody callsing this situation? That was the situation before the present
regime of Dr. C'llr-is Ngige.
3.4.3 The Present Period - The Regime of Dr. Chris N. Ngeige
Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige was the medical doctor turned politician. He
was an official member of the PDP. Consequently, he became tlie third
executive governor of Anambra State. Now he is at the helm of governance.
Also, he is at tlie center of Anatnbra crisis. Again, he is the protagonist in the
drama of Anambra etnerging political culture (crisis). He exposed Nigerians to 4
the reality of politics, democracy and godfatherism. Perhaps, a brief reflection
of Nigerian politics and godfatherism will bring us to light.
2.5.1 Politics and Godfathersim
In Chapter One of this project, we have been able to define 'politics'
as the science of ruling the city-state. Similarly, godfatliersim according to
Adam (200 1 :6 1 I ) , "is a man who promises to help a child and to teach him or
her Christian values". On another note, godfather is the head of a criniinal
organization or mafia. On further elaboration, Robinson (2003:822) explains
that "Mafia" - a secret international criminal organization ... that controls
numerous illegal activities worldwide, ... it is any group that exerts a secret
and powerful influence, especially one that uses unscrupulous or ruthless
criminal methods". Really this word, "godfather" is a religious term borrowed
into politics which assumes a negative meaning. In politics, it has negative
develop~nent such as "godfatlierism". According to the explanation,
godfatherism could be an institution that uses ruthless criminal methods in
controlling power secretly. In essence, godfatherism in politics is the science
or act of employing criminal methods to influence and change the right and
true governance of the state. If tliat is the case, why should Nigeria and
Anambra State in particular allow this phenomenon to thrive within b
governance? Okogie as a Christian leader warns tliat people should desist
from godfatherism. Akhigbe (2004: 14) writes:
Flow many Nigerians.. . have godfathers in the corridors of power.. . ? What about the rest who is going to be their godfather? 1 think this is the reason why a lot of things are happening in the countty. The earlier the country or those in corridors of power stop that, the better it will be for the nation. The love of money is the root of a11 evil as the scriptures say.
Cardinal Okogie has given his advice as an elder. He appealed to tlie
nation to consider dropping this political syndrome. The former PDP National
Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeli did not find it easy with the outcome of this
political deviation. Ojeifo (2004:ll) said: "Perhaps what has been Ogbe's
gieatest headache is tlie godfather phenomenon. From Abia to Zamfara, the
situation is the same. The godfathers t$ng to control the puppets".
Wonderful! Chief Ogbe, with all his political acumen, would not compromise
with godfatherism. Why? It has rocked so badly the political terrain. Nigeria
has registered so sad sagas of godfatherism of which some were bloody while
others bloodless. Notable is the bloody incident in Oyo State. Ojeifo (2004: 1 1 )
remarks:
Recall that the management of the crisis in Oyo State between Governor Rasheed Ladoja and his political godfather, Alhaji Laniadi Adedibu resulted in the clashes that led the aide of the former in the pool of his own blood
With tile above information, it is evident that Oyo State had shud l h d b
in the year 2004 for this political jargon. According to the passage. the
confidential assistant to governor Rasheed lost his life for godfatherism. In tlie
same vein, Enugu State had experienced her own between Clii~naroke
Nnamani and Nwobodo. Though, bloodless, the tussle raised dust. J70r- the
state, it was a nightmare scenario. What of Abia State society? Frankly
speaking, godfatlieristn did shake Abia State society 'in situ'. It is certain that
there is war between Governor Orji Uzor Kalu and some forces in Abr!jrt
owing to ill-feelings 1)etween Kalu and Chief Anini (the godfather 01' kalrl's
deputy). Oiejifo (2004: 1 10) has the following testitnonies:
The fice-off'bctween Kalu and the godfather of Dr. Nwafor (Kalu's deputy), Chief Anini had presented the party leadersh~p with perhaps, the most difficult nut ever to crack.1n this particular Abia ~ncident, the forces at Abuja were revealed. The problem is still cooking and hatching to some extent. The most recent problem arising from godfhther is that of Own State. Azubike (2005:28) declares Political rivalry in Osun State lask week assumed a worrisome dimension with murder of Suleinian Alabi Hnssein Olajokum, a chieftain of Alliance fur Democracy (AD) was assassinated. Olajokun, was assassinated
by unknown gun men . . . on Sunday May 1 5, at Gbongan, Osun State.
Following this, one could imagine why Nigeria has already registered
bloodshed for political struggle of tlie year 2007. What could a reasonable
human being call this? Is it that most Nigeria politicians are ignorant. illitcrate.
or ungodly? I could definitely term it all of the above including lack of scnse
of democracy. 'I'l~is ~niscoticeptio~i and misperception of democracy in Nigeria
abounds in many states in Nigerian federation, only that some are latent while
others are blown. 'Ilie most violently and the most widely felt case of
godfatherism in Nigeria today is that of Anambra State. I t is the godfatherism
between Dr. Chris Ngige (Onwa, OON) from Alor Town, lde~nili South L,ocaI
Government, tlie executive governor of Anambra State and his godfaher,
Chief Chris Uba, (Eselu Uga). Both are from Anamhra State. A look at the
origin of godfatliersiln in Anambra State will expose the rcader(s) ofthis work
to reality.
2.5.2 Origin of Godfatherism in Anambra State
We dectn i t fit to commence tliis passage with the ge~~csis of
godfatehristn in Anambra State. The birth of godfatherism in Nigeria is not
known. Hut we recollect the root and the outbreak of the podfatherism in
Anambara State. Odili (2003:NP) revealed:
The fact is that godfatherism in Anambra State had its roots in the military under Abacha.. .As soon as Abacha took over. Chief Ezeh 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 cooperationAnd Chief Ezeh's pay off was getting juicy contracts, many of which are said to have been left uncornpletcd for one reason or the other.. . Chief Ezeh moved around in long corivoy of cars of mobile policemen. He also had a complemcrit of c~v~lian hirelings that he attracted to his convoy of one of whom was Chief Chr~s lJba who was said to be the head of Chief Ezeh's Brown shirt storm tmppers.
b
The above passage unfolds for us how Chief Chris Ubah learnt his
mastery of political godfatherism. From the same source, Ubah was in charge
of assignments like if Chief Ezeh needed to shake down a fellow, or squeeze
an understanding. lJbah was the right man and lie carried out his duties
admirably. From that time he began to be a 'derni-god' in politics. Couplt.d
with Uhah's family affiliation with the present Federal govcrn~nent
(Obasanjo) he is able to gather much influence from his mentors Chief Eze
and Obasarljo - Aso Rock and power with all. Odili (2003: 16) again declal-cs:
Meanwhile, Ubah had remarkable entrke to the Presidency on account of the appointment of his elder brother, Dr. Andy Ubah as the Special Assistant to the president on domestic matters.This access to the president was used to maximum effect in the state.. . Andy (Ubah's senior br~ther) is married to Mrs Stella Obasanjo's sister, who is a special assistant in the first lady's Office.
This is the closest coritiectio~i of Chief Chris Uba with Aso Rock. In
ordinary circritnstance, who will not be proud to parade himself as a power
monger? This is why when the case of godfatherism between Chief Emeka
Offor, the erstwhile godfather of Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, the governor of
Anambra State (1999 - 2003) and the inmediate predecessor of govenior
Ngige, came to foci~s, this power broker and tussler flexed his ~nuscle to
utilize the opportunity. Odili once again noted (2003:NP) "The first tliing he
did, was to break with Offor, on whose side he was all along and tearncd lip
4
with the governor assuring him that he would use his contact with the
presidency to secure him relief from the Offor assault. His payoff contracts
were one of the uncompleted governor's lodge". From that moment Ubah was
solidly behind Mbadinuju. I t is said that on two occasions congress was held
to select the governorship candidate, Mbadinuju emerged victorious. We can
see how Chief Chris Ubah becomes 'sovereibm' in Anambra State political
network. Following this situation, it did imply that Chief Ubah has a well-
fertilized ground for being a political King and the hijacker of Anarnbara
State. That is the genesis of Chief Chris Uba's godfatherism of the present
Anambra State.
Notwitlistar~ding, the first and the father of godfatherism known to
Ana~nbara was, Chief Authur Eze, whose boy was Chris Ubah. The second
godfather was E~neka Offor, the erstwhile godfather to Cliinwoke Mbadin~!iu.
Lastly, Chief Chris Ubah, the godfather of Chris Ngige under the presidency
47
of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. At this juncture, we have come to the focus and
the centre of our project. That is "Anambra Political crisis in focus".
Summary of Literature Review
On the whole, about literature review, the researcher sub~nits the
following points: without doubt, the colonial masters contributed much to the B
political crisis now besetting Nigeria. This was as a result of their policy of
merging different (incompatible) cultures thereby creating artificial unity.
Si~nilarly, religion liad and continues to have negative impact towards that
already created Nigeria artificial unity. This was caused by some religious
fanatics in their bid to make their religion superior to others. Also, the &Teat
crisis (civil war) wliich Nigeria liad, was as a result of over greed to
~ilaterialis~n, corruption of the political class and the abuse of political power.
I t is on the note that, that greed and corruption which had existed in Nigeria,
in that early period have today been developed and matured in the line with
I lobbes' philosophy- man becoming a wolf unto his neigbour. This grced was
mother of godfatherism which broke out like a wild fire in Nigerian political
terrain especially in Anambra State. It is at this point in time that Dr. Cliris
Ngige and Chief Cliris Ubah opened the stage for the dangling dance of
political quagmire.
CHAPTER THREE
The Phenomenology of Nigerian Political Crisis With Special Reference
To Anambra State
3.1 Dr. Chris Ngige (Onwa, OON) the Executive Governor of Anambra
State Versus Ilis Godfather Chief Chris Ubah (Eselu Uga).
Chief Chris IJbah, having been groomed by his &wand godfather (Artliilr b
Eze) coupled with serious connection to tlie Aso Rock, he could plan and
execute. He gatliered much experience both from inside and outside tlie state.
Within the state, he was at lionie with the rift between the godfather. Chief
Eineka and Governor Mbadinuju. Outside the state, however, very close to his
residence in Enugu (Enugu State) he was very acquainted with the political
fi-acas (goodfatlierism) between Chief Jim Nwobodo and governor Nnatnatii.
Illat is why lie devised a "watertiglit" plan of dealing with Governor Ngige.
I le decided to clioose by himself some selective posts. For example, lie made
one of his elder sislers, Mrs. Eucharia Azodo the speaker of the house of
Assembly. Nnannn (2005:NP) said:
Just to make assurance doubly sure, he arranged to have one of his elder sisters, Mrs. Eucharia Azodo, to emerge as the speaker of the Anambara State house of Assembly. This would make the impeachment of Ngige easy if he became recalcitrant Ubah also appointed another close loyalist, Dr. Okey Udeh, as the deputy Governor who would take over from Ngige if the occaslon arose.
The above ~iotwitlistanding, another source niade it known that he
(Chris Uball) wislied to appoint the commissioners of Finance and Works
including accountant-general and officers, other commissioners and other
official posts. Ile had already forwarded Ugochukwu Ilbah, his brother for
senate and this surprised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members. The
most unfortunate thing in that type of politics is what Nnanna (2005:NP) b
writes: "I le reportedly took Ngige and other beneficiaries of his overnight
political power base to tlie fearsome Okija shrine and made them swear an
oath of allegiance to him. He made Ngige s i p a resignation letter in advance
and to voice it into a recorder.. . He drew an organogarn which he was placed
at the top of tlie Iieap, with Ngige and a handful of others, including liis deputy
occupying the second layer of authority. In other words, Ngige was just one of
the boys at tlie second level. Since Ubah, had a free license from Abuja to rise
the Nigeria Police Force as he saw fit, he retained their services and placed
tliein at liis beck and call".
Can one imagine how an ordinary young man came to be in full control
of the party? 'lliat is to say that the young man held people to ransom. Ilc
made his beneficiaries swore before the Okija shrine all in the name of
politics. Again, how can the godfather become both the judge and the Nigerian
Constitution that could only force government officials (Like the governor) to
resign Also one sliould ask, what are the criteria for that future resignation?
Probably, it may be non-cooperation to the demands from the godfather.
These are the emel-ging political culture. Taking these to the platform of
democracy, any honest man will definitely say that detnocracy is caricatured".
The action was an indication that politicians in question have made Ariainbra
State their property. 'The said godfather willed to have Anambra as Iiis sliop b
and a super~narkct for his family investment. This is why tlic idea of
Nwanganga who opined "Ndigbo need deliverance" is very relevant. 'Tlie
godfather really knows that the disturbance to the ruling governor is retarding
the progress in tlie state. Consequently, what is done to the head affects the
body. Why should o m contribute to the problem that affects his kindred?
0 1 1 another note, it was not morally sound for a Christian to takc o:~tIi
before the traditional shrine in a bid to achieve political post whatevcr thc
case. I t was irreligious and apostasy. That incident too, showed tlie nature of'
political culture of Nigerians. The worst of it all in reckoni~ig the morality of
Nigerian politicians was tlie serious urge to loot state's treasury. The starting
point of this financial venture was the serious controversial issue both the
governor and the godfather had few weeks before the swearing in ceremony.
Really, it was a basket of demands. Madu (2003:4) wrote:
They canic the next time demanding that I pay them N 3 billion. And I said whcre do I get N3b to give you? They said. that was the only way to secure my loyalty or to make me conform to certain things I said no, that is not the way. But they continued. They said, you won't leave this room, you must get your cheque book Gives us N3b, you must sign this agreement.. . Just before inauguration I %ah came with Okechukwu Odunze to my hotel room and said they were informing me that if 1 don't bring the money, which were election cxpenses, that 1 might not be sworn in.
We have seen the demand of the godfather and his colleague. 'I7ic sum
of N3 billion from the governor is just for a start. l i e otlier demands. h i c l i
arc yet to come, are implicit in the phrase "conforni to ccrtaiti things". The
statement, 'You won't lcave this room until you give us N3 billion in your
cheque book, is it riot the language of 'anned robbers' arid 'brigands'? I'olitics
is not for tliosc tliat are greedy for money; rather it is for the wise and the
prudent. 'The worst rind most friglrtening comrnent is "a threat to life". 'l'liis is
horrible. 'rile ernl~ezzlcment of government treasury can never be among the
ob-jective in pursuance of politics. Rather, it is a misconception and a negation
of politics. For Nigerians, it is politics and godfatherism.
Indecd, in spite of all Ngige's flaws, every true Nigerian citil.cn will
have cause to tliank God for using him to reveal to all what has been
happening in Nigerian politics.
No worider tlic money in Nigeria is mostly in the hands of the few.
Also, i t gives the rcxon why some governors do not rerider the dc~iiocracy
dividends. The living example is that of Mbadinuju who had yielded to this
selfish service to liis godfather Emeka Offor. With the same mistake,
Mbadinuju entercd such agreement with the very person Chief Chris IJbali.
'Illat is Nigerian politics and godfatherism. However, with Ngige, it became a
different case. I t is noteworthy to say that this godfatherism syndrome has
been cooking until on July 10, 2003, when it was tlie will of God that this b
political game will burst and came to light. Madu (2003:4) commented:
The inherent danger in the godfatherism saga blew open in Anambara State recently when Dr. Chris Ngige, the Governor, was abducted, at instance of his godfather, Chief Chris Ubah by a contingent of 200 mobile policemen led by an Assistant Inspector of Police (AIG) Mr. Raphael Ige. Subsequently, Ngige was purported to have resigned his post for family reasons while his political foes who were behind it hurriedly set in motion the mercenary to replace him with the deputy governor.
This is the fir11 bloo~n of the problem of godfatherism in Anambra State.
I t is the wake of the Anambra political crisis. A touching question comes up,
how can an ordi~ia~y businessman like Chris Ubah have tlie capacity in the
state to command 200 mobile policemen, which could only be done by the
Federal Government? Who gave the power to come and abduct the state
governor, the number one, of whom he (the godfather) is subject to? Tlie
action did shake the state.The Governor himself did escape with skin of a
tooth. Wonders shall never end in Nigeria. What kind of humiliation is this for
ordinary person to freely use federal force against the governor? The
implication is either tliat the person is the Federal Government or that the
Federal governrnerit permitted the action. This may be the reason that up till
today, nothing seriously was said by the Federal Government for such a
calculated treason. After tlie conspiracy of abductian had failed, the clique
through one Mr. Nelson Acliukwu sued the governor to E I IU~U Court presided
over by Justice Nnaji. Nnanna (2004:NP) again reports:
B . . .The roles that the presidency played in the entire saga,began to unfold in the public arena. On January 2,2004, one Mr. Nelson Achukwu, one of the suspended members of the Anambara State Iiouse of Assembly and under the sponsorship of the deposed Ubah
political structure when the abduction failed, had sued Governor Ngige at the Enugu.. . for what he described as the abuse of his rights.
According to N~ianna, the office of the presidency was involved in tlie
Anambra political saga. The implication was that since Ubah's group was
sponsored by tlie presidency, obviously, there ~riust be its (goveniment's)
involvement in one way or the other. As this was a conspiracy, the request to
remove Npige was granted by Justice N11a.i. Being a good and seasoned
player in politics, I lis Excellency, Governor Chris Ngige quickly ran to Awka
High Court presided over by Nwiwi obtaining a counter order to nullify the
execution of the verdict of Justice Nnaji. In this case, Ngige won this political
battle. This infnriated tlie caucus so much that both the remote (hidden) forces
and proximate forces came out for more fierce and deadly war. This will be
seen latter. As a sumnary to this section it is necessary to posit tliat tlie fate
yielded from godfatherism - "martyrdom of godfatllerism" (political
martyrdom in Anambra State).
First. the godfatller was deceived. He was disappointed by the go\8crnor.
Second point was that tlie beneficiary (the governor) suffered series of
liiimiliation because of non-compliance to the ageenlent reached upoll.
According to the research, he did not conform to tlie oath taken. One will also b
say that this is wrong too for a Christian to yield to such a faith. On tlie part of
the Anambra people. it is just like the saying: "where two elephants fight, the
grass suffer.' ' T I C public property bears the brunt. The mayhem days were
cases for examples. On the whole, the worst martyrdom of godfatherism is the
crippling of tlie state's economy. Reflecting on this godf'atlieris~ii
pllenornenon, any social critic will opine that the fiindaniental problern is that
of morality. Tn an interview granted by Agbakoba (SAN) (2000:20) lie says:
The only way to effect a political cleansing, a political change is first by dramatic revolution and it must be by people who have tlie vision to lead the process
Agbakoba Ins said i t all. The current godfhtllel-islrl saga in Anatnbra
State is really a dr:tlnntic revolution. And it was spat-kcd off by a man of
vision, tliougll lie is used to grant his people relief in spite of' his little
knowledge of God. Ncvertl~elcss, we have seen tlie problcln of godf?itIlerisrn
in politics. It destroys democracy. I t robs the nation of qualitative politics.
Even the top political cabinets are not free from this political madness.
Ojeifor (2004: I I ) writes:
Even at the level of the presidency, the Ogbeh - led NEC is being teleguided by some godfathers: Olusegun Obasanjo Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Chief Tony Anenlh, Ogbe said recently, perhaps, after what has so far observed in the party from his vintage position, that godfatherism in politics is a fallacy of political surrogation.
In the above saying of Chief Ogbeh, Obasanjo, the president of the 0
Federal Republic of Nigeria is mentioned first among the list. He is the grand
godfather. There are clear evidences that this Anambra godfatherism is rooted
and nurtured by him. Fle is both the teleguider and engineer of the problem in
Anambra State. That is why he has many ill dealings with Dr. Chris Ngige, the
Executive Governor of Anambra State.
3.2. Governor and the President
I n an interview published by Tell Magazine,. . . Gani Fawehinrni, pointed out that in 1978, President Obasanjo, who was then Nigeria's military head of state, confiscated Philip Asiodu's property for corruption and wondered how
the same Obasanjo could turn round in 1999 to make the same person his Chief Economic Adviser(0dey; 2002:77).
In the above passage before this quotation, one of the conclucfi~ig
statements was that godfatherism in politics is a fallacy of political
surrogation. This implies that it is a national moral problem. Simply put, it is
the evidence of national corruption. Seeing the above quotation, President
Obasat!io seems to be against corruption. But at the same time, he boldly
welcomes it. Godfatl~erism is no doubt a comption on the part of the top
political class. I t is the corruption of those robbing the national and state
treasury. To be precise, godfathersim is a kind of professionalis~n in
corruption among the presidential cabinet. This godfaherism cannot stand
without being connected to the president. The president is the substratum of
b all Nigerian's godfatl~erisms. That is one of the reasons Nigeria is known as
tlie most corrupt nation in the world. President Obasanjo is at the helm of the
current political mess.
Odey (200 1 :77) again writes:
h4my of those in the presidential class are those who worked with I3ahangida and Abacha. Both . . . regimes are the most co~.r.i~pt so far in the embattled history of Nigerian politics. Is there anybody who worked in glove with those regimes and never at a stage parted company with them who can claim he is not corrupt? Nigeria is still the most com~pt country on earth ilndcr Olmsanjo.. .
We have registered that godfatherism is the fallacious and corrupt
game. I t is a decadent gamble in politics. If it is so why sl~ould the president of
a coimtry (tlie nunlber one citizen) become the substratum of such socictal
tumor? Why sl~oi~ld he be the teleguider and tlie protector of the godfatllers?
Why is Obasarjo, a ~nentor and a referee to the godfather of Ana111l)ar-a
politics? No wor~tler Dr. Chris Ngige had series of squa\~l)les with hiin. '111c
root of the sqr~al~ldes are embedded on a tripod:
1 . The Privati~atiou of Nigeria democsacy.
2. Obasanjo's hatred o n Dr. Chris Ngige
3. Obasanjo's hatred on the majority of lgbo people.
B 3.2.1 The Privatization of Nigerian Democracy
We have already noted that Chief Chris Uba11 has affinity with the
presidency. lIis elder brother, Andy IJba, who is a Special Assistant to t l~c
president on Prcsidel~tial Matters is married to the junior sister of Mrs. Stella
Obasa~!jo. the wife of the president. In misunderstanding what dc~nocratic
governance sliould be, Nigeria's delnocratic rule is turned out to I x thc
propesty of 0basa11-lo's family and friends. The ruling power is an exclusi~.c
property of Obasmi~jo. This is the reason for his preparation for a thisd t c m as
Executive President of the Federal republic of Nigeria. Vlis is the reason ~ 1 1 y
he opted for oligarchy instead of true democracy. Ilerne (2005:26) says:
. a society becomes oligarchic when wealth bccornes the cr-itcrion of merit and the wealthy are in control where there is ail appearance of a "done" class of ci-iminds and n~nlcorltcnts.
The above deriotes some characteristics of oligal-cliy. I t is a sy~tcni o f
governance wl~cre moncy and power are being controlled only by a fk\v atid a
done class.'llie eSfict of this oligarchy is manifested in dictatorship. And !his
is the reason f i ~ all Obasanjo's manners of dictatorsllip in tliis country
Nigeria. An i~istnnce of this dictatorship is that his brotl~er-in-law, Cllitbf C'llr-is
LJbali should be a godfather to Anambara State politics. IIe
(Obasarijo's) iiisistcncy in advising Dr. Chris Ngige to negotiate wil
Adeyemo (2004: i 3). iiotcd: 0
But sciis~ng a tolie of uncertainty in that response, the ['resident emphatically told Ngige: "You must negotiate! You ~iiust negotintc 'Tlie issue n t stake is the resolution of the face-off between Ngige and Chris Ubah That admonition is an indication that President Obasanjo, despite public criticism, has not modified his conviction t l ~ a t the problem ~n Anambara borders on moral~ty, rather than legality or cotistit~ltion;llity. This attitude reinforces the suspicion that the Federal governtnent is the force behind Ubah, in the conflict wit11 Ng~gc
?'his is Obasatljo hi~nself boldly telling Ngige to coiifonn to thc c o r ~ ~ r p t
inanner of lootitig the state treasury. No one will d m y that this i q \\ell
calculated plan f i x Obasarijo for destabilizing the Arialnbl-a State. I t i s ;I SIII-c
way of looting tlic State and receiving kickbacks thrwgli his (Otms;~l!io's)
f'rmily in go\rcr-nat~cc. It is a wicked act for Obasarljo --- tile presidctlt 1 0 act in
such a nlriri~icr.N\va~igar~ga (3005:NP) said:
Then, a new godfather. greedy, arrogant and wc4 connected to t l~c presidency, emerged from nowhere to replace Emekn Offor- llc was commissioned by the p&ty as well as the Prcs~tlc~lcy to deliver Anambra State at all costs Poor pcoplc of'/\i~an)lwa State.
The imposition of godfather of Anambra politics is an imposition and
the creation of the president. It is an extension of the Nigeria's privatization of
democracy. Obasanjo believes in the system for his selfish greed. He wants to
use his brother - in - law. This is an evidence of dictatorship. Tahir warns
Obasanjo about this imposition. Mamah et a1 (2004:13) noted:
I tell you that if you believe in a person, you must also know that the country does not also believe in such a person (Chris Ubah). That is leadership, not to insist on an issue, not to insist on a particular solution and impose it. That is not leadership that is dictatorship. b
This is a non Igbo clamouring for justice and openly appealing to
Obasanjo to stop the injustice played against Anambra State. The insistency
and imposition of Obasanjo is that Anambra State will be an i~lvestmerit
project for his family and loyalists. He is the brain behind the political
problems in Anambra State. l-le is the headache of Ngige. Alhaji Rimi also
speaks against this. amah' et a1 again (2004: 13) declared:
The presidency has always interfered with Anambra. The entire problems of Anambra is created by the presidency and i f ' the presidency had not shown partnership, if he had not shown a level of selfish interest in the affairs of Anambra instead of being an unbiased arbitrator theirwouldn't be all the problems that are happenings in Anambra.. . My suggestion is that the presidency should witlidraw from interfering in the affairs of Anambra State.
When we talk of Anambra State problem Ngige must surely first come
to mind. Riini was implicitly saying, President Obasanjo is playing
partisanship in the case between Ngige and Chief Chris Ubah. He therefol-e
suggested that as a president he should not take side. Obasanjo chose to
protect and use the family of Ubah to destroy Anambra because of the affinity
between them. This appeal being made by Rimi is in line with what Ogbeh the
fonner PDP National Chainnan, said. Ajaero (2005:27) stated:
. . . it was tragic that Ubah who is academically deficient should have access to government. He noted that Ubah had once said in public rally in the United States that he controls the federal government. Asked why the party could not descend heavily to, enforce discipline in Anambra State. Ogbeh said. "The individuals involved are highly protected and therefore one has to be careful.
Ogbeh has just reiterated what Rimi and Taliir said that Obasanjo was
solidly behind Ubah against Ngige. The cause of the serious fracas is that
Ngige did not allow Ubah and Obasanjo to privatize Anambra Sate. So Ngige
is not only directly worried by Ubah and his group, but it is a fact with some
evidences that Obasanjo is against him. This has led us to the second root of
the squabbles - Obasanjo's hatred on Dr. Chris Ngige.
3.2.2 Obasanjo's Ilatred for Dr. Chris Ngige
Apart from any possible hidden agenda for the reason why Obasanjo
hates Dr. Chris Ngige, it is evidently clear that some facts can be translatecl
from Obasnajo's action. First, Obasanjo's insistency - "You must negotiate
with your godfather". This statement is laden with meanings: It could be, you
must go and confonn with what Chief Chris Ubah is demanding from you.
These include: the payment of N 3 billion, the payment of N 187 million, the
freedom of Ubah to appoint commissioners and some appointees. But Ngige
attracted the hatred of Obasanjo owing to his non-conformity to his
(Obasanjo) will arid his family in governance (Ubah's family). This led to tlie
first blow to Ngige - tlie abduction saga which is tantamount to treason.
Adeyemo (2004: 14) noted: 8
Tlie first public move against Ngige was an attempt to forcefully remove him fiom office on July 10,2003. the presidency and the PDP treated tlie matter with levity.. .the presidency ignored popular outcry tliat tlie actions of those who made that move was treasonable 'T'he presidency was fingered as providing the cover Tor those behind the crisis in the state.
What we u~iderstand from the above quotation is that the alxluction.
which is mi act of treason, was ignored by the president in spite of its clarity
before the people's view. They said, tlie chief planner, Cliief Chris Uba is still
plying around the country and within the state in convoy with mobile police.
the security of thc Federal Goveniment. Not only tliat, the chief culprit mid liis
men are still hr-catliing threats as the case may be. Some people are even afi-aid
to talk or to mentimi his name. However, Adeyeino (2004: 150 wrote:
IJbah, a source says, is capable of using force to realise his objective. According to the source, "that is why people are afraid to even talk about him" l3i1t Ezeife disagreed. He said, Nobody is afraid of Chris Uhnh Eveq~body is afraid of Obasan-jo". But apart froin his soft sport for the IJbas, the president is said to have been irritated by the character of the Governor
What wc arc saying is that, Chris Ubah, is seriously being telcgi~idcd by
a force. l k is beil~g used to torture Ngige by president Obasanjo. Tliere is no
doubt to say that Obasanjo is so fi~rious because of Ngige7s c l~ara~tcr and
personality. I t may be that lie is tlie dealer who exposed the band\vagoli:
Obasanjo, his family in governance (Uba's family) and his cohorts, atid h c
rotten PDI' rnetri1)crs (the loyalists to Obasanjo). Obasanjo hated Ngige 8
because tlie governor finnly wanted to assert his own personality - (i.e.
enterprise in his governance). That is why he has problem with tlieni. For
Obasan-lo, Ngige is a stubborn man. But some critical observers - see Ngige as
a patriot. Collins (2005:2) says:
The A-G described Governor Chris Ngige as a thoroughbrcd patriot not a bandit, adding that was why Iiis adversaries ulcrc Iiounding him.
We can see h e Attorney General making his stand as a natiot1:tlist. I lc
indeed sold oil[ the virtue of the governor. All these contributed to tlie cairscs
of hatred of 0l)asali:i-jo to Ngige. This hatred made 11inr (Obasanjo) to ignore
court's order to returr~ to the governor his security d~tiiils. What an cxtont of
hatred and animosity to tlie executive governor of the state who was il l poncr
to be bereft of his security details for about one year. Adeyeino (2003: 13)
reiterated h c statcrnent:
. . . a development that left the governor without police protection for about one year. Those sympathetic to Ngige say Obasanjo is using the apparatus of state against the governor because of his affinity with the family of Chris Ubah.
From the above, Chris Ubah is both the apparatus and instrument being
used by Obasanjo to fight his (Obasanjo) enemy (Chris Ngige). The fight and
attitude of hatred is not hidden. It is clear to every well meaning Nigerian that
Obasatijo and liis family hate Ngig and they are pursuing him. 0,kafbr
(2004:3 1 ) in his magazine declares:
He was several times slapped and locked up in hotel toilets by Ubah's chief thug, Chuma Nzeribe, who is currently at the National Assembly. Two unconstitutional attempts had also been made by the presidency and Ubah to unseat him since he was sworn in as the state governor on May, 2003.
This is to say that even the president is not making use of the
constitution. When we say that Obasanjo hates, he hates with all liis passion
and with all liis might. Obasanjo's relationship with Nyige can be conipared to
his relationsliip with that of late Okadigbo, the Oyi of Oyi. Uwugiarem
(2003:19) said: "Obasanjo is the opposite of Okadigbo when it comes to
human relationship. Obasanjo is unforgiving. But the Oyi of Oyi belived that
forgiveness in itself is not just a question of moral purity or religious tenacity,
forgiveness in itself is a virtue.. . ". Uwugairen dearly said that Obasanjo lacks
the spirit of forgiveness. That is a big problem regarding liis relationship with
64
his fellow human beings. The attitude of habouring offences cannot and will
never make one a good leader.
3.2.3 Obasanjo Ilatred For The Majority of lgbo People
The third cause for serious squabble between Ngige and Obasan-io is
Obasanjo's hatred for Ndi Igbo. The notion which Obasanjo has on Ndigho
# affects Ngige in one way or the other. Ngige's personal attitudes coupled witli
liis boldness as an lgbo man angered the president. Consequent upon these,
there is war witlioitt minding that it affects the people. The Olianeze Yorrth
Council has also known about this war and hatred from Obasanjo. Ujurnadu
(2004:9) stated:
The act of war leveled on the government and people of Anambra State is to say the least most barbaric and traumatic. I t is a clear indication that anti-democratic forces in collaboration with enemies of Ndigbo are bent on destroying Anambra State and hence set off a chain reaction geared towards emasculating the entire lgbo nation
In sincerity, any critical socialist should know that IJjurnadu may be
correct in liis obscr\ration. The type of war Obasanjo waged witli Ndigbo is
clearly noticed. Otl~erwise how can a president of a country keep silent in the
facade of wanton destruction of property of the people lie is governing? 111
fact, one has to shudder seeing the perpetrators of both abduction and
November mayllem still patrolling the streets. It is an issue which nobody
with the spirit of God will not understand. This can only happen in Nigeria.
And of course it is a liumiliation on the Igbo people. Nwanganga (2005:NP)
lamented:
Many prominent Igbo sons and daughters in Nigeria and in diaspora are more concerned with what they consider as an attempt by Obasanjo's Federal government to humiliate Ndigbo.. . The clamour has been to end the humiliation of Ndigbo by a Yoruba led federal Government.
Nwariganga calls this a kind of humiliation. That is what it is. Why is it
humiliation? I n answering this question, the action (lion response) of tlie
police during the mayhem days comes to mind. The police did not iiitervene
when tlie Iioodlu~ns were bombing and destroying both government and
private property. The action went on for three days. Nobody was caught by the
police. And not a couple or commissioner of police was questioned by the
authority (i.e. Federal Government) who was the chief security. The action by
the federal government (Obasanjo) is a clear evidence of what is in his mind.
Interpreting further this action is tantamount to "You Ndigbo" cannot do
anything. You have nobody to speak for your behalf.
3.3 Governor and the Governed (the People) .
We are not saying Ngige is an angel. For whatever he is today even in the next generation, he is the Governor of Anambra State.. . And from now, he must be allowed to govern (Arninu; 2004:38).
Tlic ab(wc quotation was made by the lgbo forum lcader Mr. Ol<otik\\.o
as written by Anli~iu. I cited tlie quotation because the statement represents the
position of the ninjority of Anarnbra people on the issue of Ngigc's
governorship. -TIic word of the leader implies many things. Many good
Nigerians were of tlic opinion that the PDP in general has skeletoris in Iler
cupboard. And Ngigc as a political member of tlie PDP might not be outriglit 0
free fiom some tit-bits of misconduct, besides, as a man. For Okonk\tv. tlic
leader of lgbo fbruiii and many Nigerians (especially the true Anambrnrinrir)
at present. Ngigc has the mandate of governorship. I le acquired this ~ilandate
through good go\fcrnance in spite of the fact that people bcar in mint1 t l ~ t 1'111'
rigged the lection. Okeke (2005:NP) says:
'I'he rigging was not about Cliris Ngigc, rather it was done with the hope of continuation of looting the state fi~r~tfs and destroying the land.
Judging fio~ii the statement made by Okeke, tlie i~llplication is that. the
people were not happy for what PDP did - rigging tlie election. Iletice, the
intention is to 1)lccd and suck Anambra State treasury. Iliese stsltcrnetils arc
facts. It is to 1iigli.ixk tlie entire Anambra State. Men of moral integrity also
condemned apostasy of Ngige by entering into undue agreement. This was
however, sound to he overlooked because of his effort to render good services.
God througl~ him (('hris Ngige) did liberate the state fronl these factions. That
is why many people support Ngige. Notable men of Anambra stand behind
him (Ngige). Top in the list is Chief Ezeife who made this emphasis as
Anyagaf~r (2005 : 1 0) stated:
If PDP is really serious, it should know that confession made by my friend, Chris Ubah affected the president too It was the same election, same day, and my friend boasted in his confession that
he dclivcrcd all the members of the House of Assembly and the senate to the PDP. That is saying, they rigged all the elections including the presidential election. The presidential election
was held the same day as the governorship election. So if PDP wants to get to the root of the matter, it will affect all the seats won by the party in the state.
This is a statesman backing governor Ngige. Chief Ezeife was the first
executive governor of the present Anambra State. He knows the people
(Anambrarians) being governed by Dr. Chris Ngige. He is an experienccd
politician too. He is now clamouring for real justice. Clearly, he warned
against jungle justice being done to Ngige. In his words, he velie~nently
mourned and warned that the Federal Government and the PDP sl~oultl hc
serious and be liot~est wit11 themselves. He said this selective justice \vonqt
work and the people of the states are watching. Any social observer will
understand that the colnrnent of Chief Ezeife conveys the opinion of the
majority. The entire people of Anambra watch Obasanjo in his dictatorship,
autocracy and political junta.
Anotlier political giant and professional spokesman of the society in the
person of Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke made his point too. Anyagafu (2005:lO)
again noted:
Ngige appears'to be popular amongst the people particularly with the job he is doing right now. That is constructing and reconstnicting various roads and necessary infrastruture. So he is quite popular now. Anyway whatever happened will not affect his office as governor.. . And 1 can tell you,the people love their governor. That is one big truth and that is why I think PDP should be careful. b
The love and strong backing of the people OF Anambra State to their
governor, Dr. C'hris Ngige, is well analyzed here. Chief Ume-Ezoke stressed
that Ngige is well loved by his people. Though there might be some mishaps
either with PDP or with anyone else, these things will not make people loose
sight of the good works he is presently undertaking in the state. In fact
according to UmeEzeoke, the relationship is that of the good leader, father and
shepherd among his people. Moreover, he is sharing the democracy divide~ids.
Illis has to be elaborated later in the chapter on his acliieve~nents.
3.4 ' Governor and the Party Members
In this particular passage, the researcher finds the relationship that
exists between the governor and the party members. There seems to be
divisions and factiotis within the PDP. Some poups are solidly behind
Another political giant and professional spokesman of the society in the
person of Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke made his point too. Anyagafu (2005:lO)
again noted:
Ngige appears to be popular amongst the people particularly w~th the job he is doing right now. That is constructing and reconstructing various roads and necessary infiastruture. So he is quite pop~ilar now. Anyway whatever happened will not affect his office as governor.. .And 1 can tell you,the people love their governor. That is one big truth and that is why I think PDP should be careful. 0
The love and strong backing of the people of Anambra State to their
governor, Dr. Chris Ngige, is well analyzed here. Chief IJme-Ezoke stressed
that Ngige is well loved by his people. Though there might be some mishaps
either with PDP or with anyone else, these things will not make people loose
sight of the good works he is presently undertaking in the state. Tn fact
according to U~neEzeoke, the relationship is that of the good leader, father and
shepherd alllorig his people. Moreover, he is sharing the democracy dividends.
This has to be elaborated later in the chapter on his achieveme~its.
3.4 ' Governor and the Party Members
Tn this particular passage, the researcher finds the relationsliip that
exists between the governor and the party members. There seems to be
divisions and factions within the PDP. Some groups are solidly behind
Governor Ngige. while others were against him. 11is is very clear i l l tlie
answer given by Ngige himself through the interview he granted the editor of
Tell Magazine. Adeycmo, et a1 (2004: 10) gave this indication:
You mean I am orphan now! (Laughs) well, the party people 'in Anambra State are with me, the bonafide party members are all with me. And that is 75 - 80 per cent of tlle membership. The other 15 percent is a samll group of people \\ho for one reason or the other are those skeptical of the government
Following the above assertion by governor Ngigc. his statement hicalls
that he was not alone in the party. Even though it is a proven fact that tlie flag
bearer of tlie party - President Obasanjo was liis arch enemy. Nevertlieless, lie
has some people on liis side. May we first get to those on the national l a z l . At
the national level, the Vice President, Atiku Abubakar is a back bone behind
governor Ngige. Atiku has been the saviour of Ngige7s life. 71ie Vice
President lias been the cause and source of joy of the entire good pcople of
Anambra State. God used Atiku to save Ngige on the day of his abdil~tinli.
Ukali the journalist (Ukah:2005: 1 i ) noted:
At this point, a traditional ruler in the State saw an oppoitunity ' to sneak in a GSM handset to Ngige with which he called the
Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who was said to have asked the Inspector General of Police (IGP),.Mr. Tofa Balogun to effect withdrawal of the policemen and cause Ngige to be led back to his office from the hotel the next morning.
Seeing tliis. we can believe that Atiku was not only a father to Ngige
but also "a god" and "a grace" to him. I think Govenior Ngige will ever live to
remember his blessings from God through the instrumcntality of' the Vice
Presdient -- Atiku Abubakar. In the same vein, the justice and fair play of
Chief Audu Ogbeh. the former Chairman of the PDP to Governor Ngige will
remain everbpen. not only to Ngige but also to the good people of Anambra
State. First, during tlie reign of Audu Ogbeh, the god father of Anambra State
and leader of opposition party to Ngige was expelled from the p:irty. Ogbch b
did not hesitate in ad~ninistering justice. I-le stood firm against the veil action
irrespective of his awareness that the big terrorist - Obasanjo was solidly
behind him (Ubah). 0-ieifo (2004: 1 I) once wrote:
Ogheh's leadership moved in to expel Ubah, the deputy Governor, Dr. Okey Udeli among others. Today, Ubah is back in PDP even when the conflict remains largely unrcsol ved.
We have nlit~iessed the candid nature of Chief Audu Ogbe. His
personality is for justice. Illat was why lie condemned the actions of L%ah the
godfather, and Dr. Okey Udeh, the self made governor as a misnomer of
politics. Also i l l (lie list of those for justice and fair play to Ngige, is t l x great
fridnd and brother Chief Achike Udenwa. Udenwa, tlie Inlo State governor is a
gea t consoler to t11c embattled governor, Ngige. For him is the saying, "a
friend in need is a friend indeed. I k is an experienced consultant to Ngige's
administratio~r. Some consolers may not like to be public in the relationship
with Ngige because of Obasa~i-lo's terrorism but lie (Governor lldenwa) is or~t
to keep close to Ngige without counting the cost. There are other PDP officials
especially south governors and other PDP members who are with Ngigc 1 ~ 1 t
they would not publicly identi6 theniselves in fear of Obasanjo. Even the
PDP National Working Committee (NWC) is pro-Ngige but with evely
precaution for their lord and master (Obasanjo). And bccause of the fear of
b Obasanjo, they codd not make any headway to come out opcnly. Ojcili)
(2004: I I) again cornlnents:
. . But the intervention forces in Abuja turned the NWC rnto a toothless bulldog ..but there is hardly anything Ogbeh can do, as indications are that forces higher than him have moved in brazenly to protect their own, thus leading to a sharp polarization ol'the party in the state and the NWC along the two divides.
Froni these assertions we can detect the dormancy of the NWC. Also it
is clear that Ogbcll as a Nigerian statesman wholelieartcdly opted for jristice
but the big head-Obasanjo was the obstacle. He (Ogbeh) has almost sacrifice
himself for that but all to no avail. For tliis, one will not imagine why Ogbe
stayed clear of the way in the name of unwilling resibmation from
cllinipioning the affairs of PDP rather than losing his life while cliallengi~~g
Obasanjo the dictator. Soyinka once said that, in the PDP there exists ii rcst o f
killers. As tliis co~nnlent from Soyinka surely, was necessitated his ciilc so t l~e
action of Chief Ogl~Ai (option for justice) probably must have necessitated his
resignation fi-on1 b e i ~ ~ g the PDP's chairman. This is in line with the assertion
made by Ileme (2005:25):
Okad~gho paid the ultimate price, while Anyjm Pius Anyim was tlireatencd in many occasions due to some decisions made in the house, not "favourable "to the kingpins. Many honourable members have had their lives threatened, with one or two losing theirs mysterio~~sly because of their roles in some policies made, which never ai~gured well with the political "grandmasters" in Nigeria
At this juncture, let us come to the great Nigerian political grand1)rastcr
we have in our ti~ne. Ile is Mr. Obasanjo, the great grand~nastcr of tlic
Aiiaiiibl-a State. the god-father Chief Chris Ubali, tlie great grand c~lcniy of
Governor Ngige. Facts and evidences abound why he (Obasanjo) cleservcs
these ill titles. 71ie first reason for this is his strong alliance and support to t l~e
Anambra godfatlicr who wanted to empty the state's treasury by deniantli~~g
N3 b, N 870111 and other unwarranted and undue remunerations.
This is Mr. President's advice to Ngige. Adeyo~no writes (2004: 13)
6 6 you must negotiate! You must negotiate!". This order is an explicit st;itc~ncnt
that conveys the president's wishes that Ngige should and must succrllr~b to
the' demands of the godfather. Tllis means that tlie said godfather has An;mbrn
State treasury as his area of business investment. Secondly, how call hlr.
President deny a state govenior (Ngige) his security details even to tllc extent
of refusing to accept the ultimatum giving to him by the jdiciary to ret~~t-n the
security to Ngige.
The Tliird reason is the president's political silence on Iwtli the
abduction saga and the Anarnbra mayhem culprits. Nobody has ever lmw
prosecuted for thesc two serious deadly offences ('1-I-easonable and crilninal
offences respectively) but the chief culprits are still plying around in con\.oys @
with every brevity and perhaps still nurturing and planning another deadly and
dubious acts to exercise. Okafor (2004:30) writes:
. . . the Senior Special Assistant to the President on presidential matters, has paid one Chief Joseph Okonkwo N 2 0 m. to kill him (Ngige) Chief Okonkwo has been telling those recruited for the job that they have the backing of the presidency, and that they will be fully protected" 'Two unco~istitutiotic?l attempts had also been made by the prestdency and l!hih to unseat him since lie was sworn in. His official Security details were removed from him on January 2,2004 following an Enugu Iligh Court order.
What Ohasanio is to Ngige could also be applied to what Uhali sliould
be to Ngige, too. 71ic only difference is that Ubah is a brother and kins~na~i
sabotaging the Igbo race. Obasanjo is masquering through him (C'111-is l Jlmli).
Why sliould Olma~l jo connive with Chris Ubah to foolishly go
unconstitutionally to unseat Ngige? This is a kind of political culture in
Nigeria. More importantly, the panel of enquiry on the crisis was of thc
opinion that : I!brtll ~ ~ o u p had consistently embarked on 1ncas111-es tlircctcd at
dislodging Ngige from office but attributed it to bottled-up emotions. I t f~rrtller
established that the self-styled godfather of Anambra Politics regarded his
involve~nent in tlie 2003 election in Anambra State as an investment. Ajaero
(2005:29) noted:
He is most unhappy that he has not been able to recoup his investments by way of patronage of Anambra State government. Further, Chief Ubah feels terribly upset that having staked a considerable amount of money in Anarnbra project, his ego should be massaged and not deflated by the Governor of Anambra State.
This is the e~nerbring political culture in Nigeria. The culture bybw1iich
treasury of tlie state is regarded as a warehouse for private business im~estrnent
and at the same time solidly backed by the president. In the same vein
Obasanjo and Chris Ubah fonning a cIique with the Deputy Governor Okey
Udeh and others; decided to oust Governor Ngige to replace the later (Okey
Udeh) as tlie governor. Ukah (2005: 12) emphatically said:
Later that evening at the executive Chambers of the government house, the Deputy Governor, Dr. Okey (Jdeh in his address to people of the state announces: " 1, Dr Okey Udeh, am now holding the off~ce of the governor of Anambra State.. . He had accepted the position of the governor in obedience to section 19 1 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution".
This is the type of political culture in Nigerian. It is special for Anambra
State. Is this action the effect of healthy relationship among co-workers? Is it
not the height of greediness and ignorance of what politics is? Having gone
tlu-ough the Nigerian Constitution, among other points, the researcher finds
out in this section: 188 (6).
The holder of an office whose conduct is being investigated Under this section shall have the right to defend himsclf in
Person or be represented before the pancl by a legal Practitioner of his own choice.
We have seen the nature of tlie Anambra State political culture. ?lie
clique did riot have patience to allow the governor to defend himself if llc is
going to be impcached as stipulated in the section. Rather, he was under
abduction (may be locked inside the toilet). When the self-proclairricd #
governor Dr. Okey Udeh assumed office. The next is the part played by Mrs.
Eucharia Azodo, the dismissed Speaker of the House. She was tlie tlicn
Speaker of the IIor~se of Assembly and a relation of Ubah whom Chief Chris
Ubah installed as Speaker to enable him (Ubah) feel free when dealing a dead
blow to Ngige. Of course, she did her job as an accomplice in the abduction
saga. Another terrorist to Ngige is Hon. Cliuma Nzeribe. IIe was narncd in the
in\.olvement of tlie abduction saga. Alia (2005: 10) indicated:
111 the heat of the July 10,2003 abduction of Ngige, the PDP slammed an indcfinite suspension on Ubah and some of his fcl l ow collaborators including former Deputy governor, Dr. Okcy IJdeh, former Speaker, Mrs. Eucharia Azodo, Hon. Chum Nzeribe among others.
From the above, we find out that Nzeebe was among Ngige's arch
enemies. After Clir~nia, we come to Arthur Nzeribe, the lIon.Scnator of the
Federal House of State. It could be said that he was the Senator that rrppcalcd
to Obasanjo to apply emergency Rule in Anambra State as the panacea for
peace. But another Senator Uche C-lwkwumerije intervened. As a statesman,
he said that it was unconstitutional as to extend emergency rule to Anambra,
hence, Anambra political disorder still lacks the 'materia legens" (prescription
of the law) for emergency rule. Daniel (2005:3) writes:
Almost two weeks after Senator Nzeribe wrote to the President Olusegun Obasanjo pushing for a State of Emergency as a way
b out of the Anarnbra imbroglio, Uche Chukwumeriji has written another letter imploring his colleagues in the Upper House not to back any such move by the Executive.
Could we definitely say that Arthur Nzeribe is not only unfriendly to
Ngige but also a co-enemy of his kits and kin? In fact he was sabotaging the
Igbo race of which he belongs. To sum it up, he is rather a conspirator. Among
others on the party against the governor include: Dan Ulasi, Okey Odunze,
Chief Obinna I!zoli. It is also noteworthy to emphasize the part played by
Cliimaroke Nnrlmani, the governor of Enugu State. Anyagafu (2005: 10)
reveals:
At the end, 84 NEC members voted in favour of the eight point motion moved by Governor Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu State for the suspension of Ngige and Ubah while four Governors, James Ibori of Delta State, Boni FIaruna of Adamawa State, Lucky Igbenedion of Edo state; and Obong Victor Attach of Akwa Ibom State voted against.
Reflecting on the above action being played by Governor Cliimaroke
coupled with his political silence all along, any political analyst may not be
wrong to say that lie (Clirnaroke) contributed to tlie trouble and Iieatlriclic
experienced by Ngige to a certain extent. Interpreting this further, most of the
trouble and I~eadaclic experiericed by Ngige were being hatched, nrirtrrretl,
sealed and executed as bomb shells from Enugu where he (Chimaroke) resides
and governs. To make the point clearly, Ene (2004:NP) writes:
I a t Sunday, Okonkwo weighed in with simple statement that "the current crop of characters" causing confusion in Anambra were 'molded' by upper-middle class streets of b
En ugu. Chris Ubah, Okey Odunze, and.. . Ubah . . lives comfortable in Enugu, but he thrives recklessly in Anambra.
All and the abet-e, this is to substantiate tlie fact that Cliimaroke
Nnarnani cannot deny that he has a likely hand of Esau in the sordid game of
Anarnbra politics. We began with Ubali junior to end with Ubdi senior --
IJgochukwu Ubrlh. the senior AID to Obasanjo. He is the original and big link
to the presidency. Probably, the ground is being cleared fhr hiin fbr the 2007
gubernatorial race. As such, being one of the itincr ca~~cus , would hc not deal
seriously wit11 Ngige before 2007? There are other outstanding cric~nies of'
N g i ~ c in the P I P . blost of time people were against tlic governor just to sidc
with Obasanjo for self-aggrandizement. More importantly, is that the se\,eral
decisions of thc party must be in alliance with the milid of the excctrtive
(Chief Ol)asa~iio). hlklrnal~ ct a1 (2004: 13) have it thus:
No matter how highly placed you are in the party, whatever the executive wants, that is what the party does, not what is right,but what the executive wants. And this is happening at all levels no matter the party in Power in the states, what the executive wants is what happens.
Who is the Cllief Executive? He is Chief Obasanjo. I Ie is the "be all and
end all". Bi~t in spite of all odds, Ngige forges on. That is the cause of the
irritation he has towards Governor Ngige. Despite this, Governor Ngige could b
sustain his governance even with great acllieve~nents amidst the political
disturbance and fearful distractions. It is interesting to access this governor
and his governance to be able to make a stance.
3.5 Governor and llis Governance (Achievements and Failures)
As a veteran politician, Dr. Chris Ngige is able to organize his
governance well in spite of all the concurrent serious distractions fi-orii his
opposition party. 1 le was able to lay the foundation of good governance by
careful selectiorl of executives and other appointees and the fornintioti oS
various boards. First among the list is the choice of deputy. Altho~gh this
deputy was clioscn later when tlie former deputy, Dr. Okcy Udcli, who poscd
hirnself as tlie governor was impeached. The then Cormlissioner for- financc,
Chief Ugochukwu Nwankwo, was elevated to the status of the Deputy
Governor. I k is now a good helper to the office of the governor.
The next in csecutives are the Co~nmissioncrs. ' 1 1 ~ Finance Rli~listl-y
pays out salaries. pcnsio~ls and supervises these paynients so a to be sure t t ~ t
the requircd workers reccive the money as isstled. ?TIC most interestiiig issue
on his achieve~nents is the accum~~lated debt governor hdbadhji i owed to
workers a~noimtirip to N30m which has been paid by Npige administration.
Okafor (2004:24) I-cvcaled: b
We have also embarked on the other developmental project most of which are already merely completed Staff salarres and ai-rears remain one aspect that we have rcsolved to deal
with immediately. As 1 am talking to you now, we have cleared all arrears and salaries inherited from the previous governmetit We have also paid salaries of workers in the state as at when due such that by the 25Ih of every month workers get their Salaries
If all these statements are realities, why workers woirld not be li:~ppy?
What of the pensioners who were called dead woods by previous govcrnme~it?
Are they not living trees now? Should the teachers have any cause to dodge
classes or be eng:qxd with somc othcr business venture in the expcnsc or tllcir
teaching prokssio~i'? Iieally, the present adnlinistration holds edilcation in
high esteem. 0 1 1 tlic appointment of the Commissioticr for Education. tlic
governor carefi~lly chose eminent and erudite gentleman in the person of
Professor Ixonar-d Muogllalu. The ministry scored various achievements
within few ~nonths of assumption. Namely: prompt payment of salaries to
teachers. more qr~alitative education, efficient lluril;~n resources and
~nanagc~nent, series of school competitions, school rehabilitation and pli!,sic:~l
rcconstri~ctioti, sports etc. Above all, there are normal academic life scssions
(i.e. the students enjoy strike-free periods).
With tlic same view, health ministration is a special area of the go\xmor
and as such. it lias the pride of place in his agenda. ?lie ministration is u11dc1-
the management of Professor Brian Adinma. In this ministry, there were some
b government liospitals that have almost closed down but were lnatfe ali\*e by
this administration. An instance of these include general hospital Onistlla and
Nnewi Teaching liospital. Thirdly is the embarking on the training of mcdicnl
doctors by the ministry. Another area this government scored so hip11 in its
achievements is i n tlie ministry of works, housing and transport. 'Tlle
commissioner for works is a stalwart and very responsil~le gent1ern;ln i n the
person of Ar-cliitcct Emeka Ejikeme. Througli his rni~iistty, Ngige's
government has beeti able to make many achievements.
On tlie rozd reconstruction and reliabilita~ion tliere are a l ~ o ~ ~ t I8
completed roads 'as at the time of writing this work. The already nwnrclcd ow-
going ones m q bc about 15 in number. Concerning water projects. mm1y
water bore-holc are drilled and a good numb'er of water tanks 1m.e Ixcn
installed in Onistlla, Awka and Nnewi.
In the area of transport, there is serious effort fiw road dcco11ge4oll.
New motor parks are being provided for motorists. Cllicf Chris Att~cgwu,
headed special ministry. Illis is another area that boosts economy for states
treasury. Among other things, the ministry collects I~lternally Gc~ler-:~tcd
Revenue (IGR) which are prudently used by the government. Agric~rltr~~-;~l
sector is not left out. The government approved and released funds Tor the
b purchase of ten ncw tractors for farming activities in the state. Fertilizcw were
bought and supplied. Coming to Infbnnation, there has bcen the repositioninp
and rellabilitatio~l o r the state owned Anambra Broadcasting Services ( R : ~ d i o
and 'T.V.) as well as t l ~ e National Light Newspapers. Translnittcrs are rcpail-etl
and put more fimctional. The Commissioner for Sports and Women Al'fairs is
Mrs. Nwangwu. T l ~ c blinistry encourages sports competitions among scl~ools.
The construction work on state stadium is on progress. 'l'l~e gove1-11rnc11t clot^
not leave any stone imt~~rned.
0 1 1 the security. the government has been able to spend abor~t N 20111
on security gadgcts to the police. Motor ('jeeps) and other information padgels
were donatcd to the police. With these efforts made on scctlrity, Annrnl)ritria~~c
were able to e~!ioy crime-free Clwistrnas (2004)'. On the wllole, the cxeci~li\xx
were able to record these acllievenmlts because tllc legislatrlre a id t11c
judiciary are solidly behind them. Perhaps a brief reflectiorl 0 1 1 tllc
contribution of 1)otll lcgislativc and judiciary will give 11s Inore liplit on t l~c
acllievemcn t.
ii Governor and the Legislature
I,cgislat~lre is an institution with the power to make laws. I t is an
asse~iibly of elected personnel and trustees from minor- zones (constit~~c~icics) b
cornprise tlie state. 'llie trustees fuse together to ~nakc one body (liousc). 'Tlic
body acts as g ~ ~ i d c and custodian within the society. I t checks both the
excesses of tlic executives and the people in society. The body lias a Ic;~dcr
(prinms inter parres) known as the "Speaker of tlie Iiol~sc". Like otlier s~:i~cs.
in Nigeria. Ana~nl~r-a State has its own House of Assenildy with its spc;~kcr
(Icader) in tlie person of of Iron. Mike Balonwu (IfcClil~kwu Kwulu).
Anambra Ilouse of Assembly acts like a family. Ilowever, tlicre was
little mistake tllc Ilousc corrected before achieving unity wllicli li~cili~:ltcs
grcatcr propr-cs. .lust about one ~noritli after tlic ina~~guration of the 11o11sc. i t
was deceived illto accepting a forged paper of the pt~rpot-tcd resignntirw ol'tllc
governor. As ( h t l nished it, the house was able to wrip$c out of this \sic.F;ld
plot and discovc~-ctf the truth. In a bid to redress, tlic then Speaku-. b l ~ c .
I~t~cliaria ,Izodo \v:ls fbund to bc in conspiracy with tlie godfather of A ~ w ~ n l m
State politics ('liief Chis Uba who has been agai~~st the Go\fernor of
Anambra State. Alicnvards, hI1-s. Azodo and other coliorts of the godhlher
were expellcd fi-om the house
was an eye opericr to the house
to restore sanity for unification. Illis incident
. i t has helped to boost up strong unification of
the house wliicll yiclds several achievements.
711e house has been to makc about thit-ly bills and above as at the h c
of writing this research work. Some were new bills while others were
b supplements. In showing cordial relationship with the government, wlien
security details wcrc withdrawn from governor, the housc did their duties to
write against this witlldrawal.The House also wrote to hlr. President against
long delay to rcti~rri security details to the governor arid for not hearkcnilip to
the verdict of the jwy. Abovc all, thc house met with various crises ild~tding
the Noveniber ~nayhcm during which their offices and other private pr+opcrtics
were destroyed hy the hoodlulns. Amidst these problems. she forged alle:ld
and retained cot-di;d relationship with tlic governor.
... 111. Governor and the Judicinry:
The judiciary as the third arm of government has also some fonliitlable
contributions to tllc achicvernent of the Governor .It is a group whose 7 c c t ' 1011s
can n e w - bc over-emphasized. The body checks both tllc Executive and tllc
legislature and ihe masses ranging from the State to the Fcdcral levcl. 111 tllicr
passage, tllercforc, the target is to verify the judiciary's rapport nit11 tlic
h a i n b r a State (;ovcrni?ient. Matnah et a1 (2004: 13) stated:
'l'hc lurl~ciary is thc actual arm that chccks the otlicr arms in dr.mocr:~cy It checks the excesses of both the lcgislat~~re and tlie executive. This is what Appeal co11r-t has done in my case and 1 commend them, Ngige said.
TIE alwve assertion is the stand point of the judical-gc~\~crrlc~r
relationship despi~c the supportive or betrayal part bci~ig played 1w smle - b
judicial perso~iilcl. 711is is to say that though some are really devil's ntl\.ocate,
majority are friends to the governor. Among those actctl, as his cnc~iiics 31-c
justice Nn?ji 3t1d Fglm Egbo. Nanna (2005:NP) writes:
I n fact. tlw Federal government, in March 2004, actually sought Supreme C'oui-t tnjunctions for Ngige's removal, which was not granted R~ltnors made the media round to the effect that a certain candidate for governor during the 2003 polls in Anamhra Statc, was being co~isidered to replace Ngige that same month, precisely
on Rlnrcli 33, the National Judiciary Council suspetided Justice Nn:!ji for- his olmouious vcrdict It was only a matter of time Ixfore hc was tlisrnisscd from the Bench by the same autlwr-rty.
'I'lic alwvc saying tells us that even the president of tlic I:ctlc~:~l
Repuhlic of Nipc~ ia, Chief Obasnnjo tried to use and to connive with 11ic co111-t
in executing tllc ui~constitutiotlal laws as to unseat tlic governor. A l t l ~ ~ ~ g I i ,
that decision 1~1s Ixcn taken severally but not without sonlc failures nc ncll :IS
SCI-~OLIS reper~ '~~ss ions especially on the judges (jiidicial perso~incl). NII : I I I I I :~
of two l Iigh ('or~r-t J ~ ~ d g c s Stanly Nnaji's and Wlison Iigbo-Egbo fbr gi i i ig
verdicts that were widely described as "black ~narket" juclpments". 'Jllc acticw
of these two judges tells ~nucli about the stand point of Nigerian politics and
morality. If tllese citadels of justice could act uncorlstitAonally becar~sc: 01'
money what will be the faith of common people? That is one of tllc aspects 01'
the erner-ging political culture in Nigeria. On the case of Egbo-I?glw Igc:
indicated: (2003.3). b
. . Mr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN); Director of 1,agos Business Sclwol. Prof' Pat IJtomi and a member of House of Representatives. I ism;lii budget, yesterday, described as shameful, the role played 131 t l~c judiclniy in the unfolding political crisis rocking Anamhra Stntc I ' lwy all agrccd that the controversial exparte order recently grantcci hv just~cc W~lson Eybo-Egbo of a Federal Iligli court, A b ~ ~ j a snckiii~; Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra State has turned the n:ltion's judic~aq, Into a "board ofjoke in the media.
?llc emerging political culture in Nigeria is well noticed in the actiori of'
Egbo-Eph. 'The prokssional law interpreter engineering the federal judici;l~y
was caricntur-ctl. condclnned and expclled for tunling thc jl~diciat-y into a \wnl.tl
of jokes jwt for motley and loyalty to the president. Such is the enw-ging
political culti~re in Nigeria. Going filrther, Agbokoba wondered, wliy C'l~ris
IJba. the allcged ~llastcrniind of the political crisis in A~ianibra State s110111d I K
walking the strect of Anambra State a freeman. He was of the opinion that :tll
those that participated in the arrest and abduction of the servins governor o r
the state, irlcludirlp the Uba, ought to have been rounded up with enp,inc of
their prosecutiori set i l l motion.
The stance of Agbakoba shows that in spite of the corrupt nature of
Nigeria society, there are some people who can stand by the truth. A d of
course, at present, Ngige is not alone inspite of the fact that both the 1)residcnt
of the Federation of Nigeria and the PDP political caucus are against hiill,
majority of law personnel are solidly behind him, while others are against him.
CllAPTER FOIIR
TIIE CLlhlAS O F TtlF, EMERGING POLITICAI, C1lil,TlIRE IN
ANAMRRA STAI'E: ANALYSIS AND IMP1,ICATIONS
Introduction:
Tliis section focuses attention on the most distasteful area of tlic
Atiairibra Political c i k s . It exposes the reader to the reality arid the celitrnl b
issues expcr-icticed in the emerging political culture in Atlambra State, \chic11
is our case study. 71ie researclier has this in three stages:
1. I l ic Abduct ion saga
. . 11. The Novclnber mayliem
... 111. The S~~spcnsion and Expulsion of Gavel-nor C'liris Ngigc ; i l d his
godfr~tlier. Chief Chris lJba from the PDP.
4.1 The Al)clnction Saga of the Anambra State Governor
TT1m-e is tiotlii~ig that can never be heard in tliis co~lntry, N i p - i n . J'hc
word abdrtctiorr is tlcrived from the two Latin words: at)-duco-crc, t o le;r(l
fiotn. 111 a litclxl sense it means, to be "taken by force.' or "to kidriiip". '111iq
cliques. It is popularly held that Uba is being sponsored and supported by tlie
president. Uka (2005:9) revealed:
It looked like there was not going to be serious matters until we saw lorry loads of polict.nien unusually packing in front of the gate leading to the governor's office. Furthcr inquiry revealed that thc visiting armed policemen in the company of Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Zone 9, Mr. Ralph Ige. So, it did not look very ~lnusual till it was learnt that tlie AIG lcd contingent had disarmed governor's security aides and forctfidly gninecl entrance rnto Ngige's office.
b
Froin the quotation, i t was the Assistant In spector General of I'olice
Zone 9. who lcd t l ~ e policemen into the go\lernor's office. ?lie said AlCi
consequently disarmed tlie security aides of the governor. 1Ie the11
successfully kidnal)ped him (governor) in spite of his iinliiunity. The qucstiotl
arises, who sent lllc f c x e to kidnap the governor? The governor under arrest
asked why? "ILlr.. Raph Ige answered ..." he was under instruction lo keep me
(Ngige) under l l o ~ ~ s c arrest". Another question conies, who grve the
instniction? Pcr-haps Ngige has guessed that the problcm must l m ~ e comc
from his godLit1ler tv11o had some squabbles with him. At this instance I r k i ~ l ~
(2005: 10) said:
From the office, the governor was ordcred to stand up to be cscorted to his village Alor, in ldemili I,ocal Government Area o f the State He took some of his documents and moved to cntcr 111s official car but Ige said "Sony Sir" use this othcr one
i3y 9 33111 the governor was taken away in an ~mmarked Pe~lgcot 504 saloon car guarded by the contingent.
' I l~ere is no need going into details. However, the surnrnary is that tlic
governor espcric~lccd a lot of caricature in his personality. IIe was not allo\vcd
to cornmimicate to anybody or to use his phone. He did escape death tllrortpll
the instrumcntality 'of a native ruler who sneaked into tlie toilet the pllo~ie (to
governor) wit11 wl~icli he (Ngige) called the Vice-President - Atiku ,41)1rh;1k:u-
and the PDP ch ich in who was in a meeting of the National Worki~ig b
Committee (NWC). It was by the grace of God that Ngigc got the two (r2tiL.u
and tlie c1iief't:nin) through the phone. Atiku, having heard this ordcred Mr.
'fiifa Halogun, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to ensure Ngige's rclcase.
I-Ic was f'reed a11d in the morning, he went back to his office instantly. But
concurrently to these events, the purported resibwation letter had been sent to
the I Iouse of Asse~nbly niembers. Ukah (2005: 13) reported:
7'1ien Speaker of the House, Mrs Eucharia AzoJo read to nicmbcrs of the house a letter dated July 9, 2003, part of whic l~ rcad that the governor's resignation was based on prcssin-e from his family and friends. Aftcr reading the Icttcr, hlajority Leader of the 30 member house moved a mot ion for the adoption of the letter wh ieh was seconded by anotlicr member.
This is t l ~ c Nigerian politics. It was said that somebody resigned a d at
the same time hc \vas forced out of office even without examining tlic alleged
f i u l t against him. IS i t logical? And at the same time the deputy weut on ; I I I ~
crowned Ilimsclf "I am the governor" all within 12 hours. The nmvs n3c'nt
round. Everybody heard that. The police who were used to perform this
wicked act obviously received the order from somebody. It will be either from
the godfather of Ana~nbra politics or from the Chief Security, in Nigeria,
(Chief Obasmjo). 'Illis may be the reason for his silcnce over the trcaso~i.
Another height of political crisis which is the peak is the November hllay-lie111
4.2 The November Mayhem: (loth - 1 3 ~ ~ November, 2001, The Days of
the Jackals)
With tlie abtluction saga, tlie serious political crisis blossonicd. 'I'lie
perpetrators gaincd ground because the President backed them. And Npige
was strong bccai~se. for him, liis enemies being unsuccessful in unseatirig Iii~n.
saw light of frecdorn. For this he was as courageous like Moses in leading tlic
Anambrariaris out of Empt (slavery). He (Ngige) fired his zeal to carry tlie
state to tlie sky. And liis enemies, too, mustard their courage to make tlic state
ungovernable. Aglm (2004: 17) writes:
Mercenaries and thugs of Chris Uba, godfather of Anambra Politics. storm the state - destroying and looting property all in a bid to seize power from incumbent Governor Chris Ngige
At Awka. .the capital of Anambra State, four teams of thugs in about I8 buses were ready at the same time for the cardinal operation.. .Their mandate was simple, namely to shake four districts of the town to their foundations through a free reign of terror
by Chris Ubr71i and tiis cohorts. It was in a bid to destroy and cripple the state.
The mayhem is really the peak of tlie climax of the cmer.ging political cu1tt1r.c
in Nigeria. Ma~iy pcoplc witnessed it and spoke in the same vein. 'llle d c l ~ ~ i s
of the cxplosio~l is still at the various bombed and guttercd as at the same ti111e
of'the prx~jcct. 'lhe following can be confined by a look at these pictr~rcs. 4
A. ( 1 ) The h n t of'fice of the Deputy Governor Fig. 1
(2) Govertior's Of'fice Awka Fig. 2
(3) Onitsha South L.G. generator vandalized Fig 3
(4) Torcllecl )f'ficc of Governor Chris Ngige Fig. 4
(5) 'l'hc h r ~ l t illlain Chambers of the House of Asscnll~ly Fig. 5
(6) 'Ilic slatuc of symbol of the liberation that was broke11 and brot1g111
down 1 ) ~ . the I~oodlums. Fig. 6
(7) t )c~nol ih ld Court IIall of Chief Judge of the Slarc*s of'ficc co~l~l) lcs
(8) A [\IIS 1211rnl hy Tliilgs during the rnayhein
(10) Govet-1101-s I.:gwu and Ngige being condwtcd r-or~nd burnt ,\n:rr ir l l1-:1
I t is 1101-1-il~le ;~ri t l devastating!. . . The global areas a!Tcctcd irlclr~tli*:
(i) Radio St;ltion (;Ins)
(ii) Co\lenimetit house especially the governors executive chamber
(iii) House of Assembly Complex
(iv) Iyiagu Estate (\vhere the legislators live with tlieir properties and some of
their veliicles).
(v) State Electoral Commission (ANSIEC)
(vi) Deputy C'Jovet-nor's office
(vii) Ikenga I Iostel (Government Hotel)
(viii) About 37 private arid office cars
(ix) Private birses atid one luxurious bus (private) etc.
The above are the affected areas that we can lay hands on. One of tlic
eye witnesses, a journalist - Uka (2005:22) noted:
1,ike an undesirable hurricane wind, a group of boys aged between 17 and 23 years on Wednesday, November 10, 2004, invaded Anambra State, causing mayhem. destroying government facilities. They came in about 43 hi~ses, chanting war songs Most of them wore black. T-shirts, with black bands tied on the foreheads. The bo\ss, tliough do not look strong were suspected to be hircd t l i~ys as they were armed with dynamites, petrol bombs, rnatchcts
Ukah's testiriinny is a clcar corifirrnation of the great inayllern. I l ic d q ~ s
were really the dark periods in the life of Anambrarians. I t was such t h t the
wornen (like it1 Ranla in the bible) gathered together to mourn arid pray for
God's intervention. 'Tlie following pictures made the stories more concrete and
real.
Fig. I
The burnt office of thc Deputy Governor
(Extract from Tell Magazine) Agbo; 2OO4:l8
Extract from Uka; 2005:25
Torched Office of Governor Chris Ngige R L -- - _ _ _
.. . r ... . .,, a ,.... . .
T h e burnt Main Chambers of t h e S t a t e House of Assembly
Fig. 6 Extract from Uka; 2005:33
The statue of symbol of the liberation that was broken and brought down by the hoodlums
Fig. 7 Extract from Uka; 2005:41
Demolished Court Hall of Chief Judge of the State's office complex
Fig. 8 (Extract from Uka; 200532)
Anambra Women mourning and praying for God's intervention
Fig. 9
A bus burnt by thugs during the mayhem
Having seen the deeds of tlie jackals, any loval statesman would then
ask, what were tile police doing when these were happening? What were tlicir
findings after tlie niayl~ctii? Chief Chukwue~neka Ezefic, fonner governor of
old Anninbra State spoke vehemently on the crises. Adcyemo and Oriimlatle
(2004: 1 9) wrote:
Aftcr all the noise, nobody was prosecuted. The world was naac to see whcre few people, hoodlums, wcrc doing their , tli~iig and the police was standing aloof doing nothing. The Commissioner of Police said the situation was 01-ewhelming. Thcy had not lost a canister. Thcy had not lost a bullet, but was able to say the situation was ovewhelinitig. What did we see? A security council meeting was called at thc federal level, the people who led the destruction of Anambra Statc had boasted that \~licn they start, there would be a state of emergency declared and Ngige removed. hllobile police officers called tlic mcmbers of thc Asscmbly to sign a doct~mcnt to remove the g ~ \ ' ~ ~ - r i o r , they refilsed, and the hoodlums werc led to destroy their- 11 opc~ty
Illat is the police in action. ?lie stance of the Nigerian Police oil the
niayliem was that of'connivance. People understood that clearly. 71iey tlitl not
catch tlie l loodl~i~~is . Even if tliey caught any, no action has been taken. Abo\.e
all, the chief pq)rttrstors werc boasting that there sliould be s stale of'
emergency aiid the removal of the governor. Unt'ortunntely for them. tllc
Anambraians aiid the Ngige loyalists embraced the events calmly. So thc
distortion of law and order was only done by the rebcls, the arsonists and the
cliques that were connived with the Nigeria police. This is the emerging
political culture in Nigeria. This action of the hoodlums and the police was so
inhumane and hol-rible that it attracted the attention of Nigerians especially the
men of the judiciary. Collins (2005: 1) disclosed:
A NIOO billion suit may soon be filed against the Federal Government by the Anambra State government over last November's mayhem in the state, according to hints from the office of the Anthony General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Nnoruka Udechukwu (SAN). . . Ilaving assu~iicd that responsibility on their own by shacking the police and if the police contmue to fail to prosecute the felons who visited sponsored terror and mayhem on the state and its people, 1 m i l l continue to explore legal avenues to get justice for thc st:ltcb
'llic professional arid learned justice Nnon~ka has said it all. Fcdet.:il
Government has full responsibility in the matter of the mayhem. 71iis is
because she controls tlie police. But tlie question comes, has government
responded to this event as to show sympathy for what wasdone? Was there
any concrete action done as to apologize for the inefficiency or thc inability of
the police regarding the incident? Majority opinion Ivas that the Federal
Govct-nrncnt would own the responsibility of replacing and rebuiltlii~g t l ~ c
clcstroyed infrasti-r~ctrrre. I t is in this vein that Southern States governors isswd
a coinii~uniqui: to hlr. President and tlie Federal Go\mxmcnt. Ero (200.1:2.1)
puts i t thus:
the governors observed that 'one of the ma-lor- lhc to~c rcspnns~ble for the widespread lapses in the coul~tr). ivas thc ~nnlility of elected governors to take full control of thc sccurity operatives in their respective states . . The reccrit e ~ p e r i ~ n c e to Ngige has further justified the long-drm811 agitation for state police or constitutional amendments that would make the commissioner of police report to the governors
in their respective states. The governors therefore, not only called on the Federal Government to give special assistance to the Anambra State government towards restoring the public properties damaged but also called on law enforcement agents to arrest and prosecute all these that had been identificd as culprits/sponsors ofthe mayhcm.
It is so s~~rpr i s i~ ig that these pleadings from the fathers and leaders of the
Southern States to Obasarijo have not been hearkened to. All the same, people
are appealing to Obasatljo for justice and fair play as a good leader. b
In clamoilritig for this, there is another stage of events in the cli~nnx of
the emerging political culture which indicated height of negligence towards
these pleadings.
4.3 Suspension and Expulsion of Governor Chris Ngige and His
Erstwhile godfather Chief Chris Ubah from the PDP.
Tlie third stage of the climax of the emerging political cultirre in
Atlarnbra Statc is the suspension and expulsion of the two Chief opponcnts,
Dr. Cliris Ngige and Chicf Cliris IJbah. After all the cffiwts which l m c I x x n
made for the recoticiliation of the two were proved abortive, the PDP tie\ iscd
strateby fix the suspension and expulsion of the two. Wliy for the suspensio~~?
The reason for tlie suspensio11 is for alleged confession made by the godfather
- Chief Chris I,!hah for having rigged the election of which he rightly said it
was not for Cliris Ngige. And Ngige was suspended for liaving sworn to gi\e
remunerations to Cllris Uba which he did not fulfill. According to tllc I'nncl crl'
Enquiry on this crisis, "they are not men of honour". f3otll actions of'thc two
actors (Ngigc and Uba) raised tnoral questions to thc credilility of tlic
People's De~nocratic Party. For the suspension, Uka (2005:69) stressed:
The I'DP Executive (NEC) which had scerl the matters as a PDP family affairs, on Tuesday, Jan , 5,2005 suspended Ngige and Ubah for 30 days.
b
In this period of suspension (30) days, they sct up an i~l\mtig:ltio~i
committee on thc ~r~atter . At the lapse of time, thc committee came out with
the following I-eco~.r~lnendations. Ajaero (2005:28) reportcd:
1 .) Chief ('hris I!ba - I<xpulsion from the party
2 . ) 1)s. Chris Ngige - Expulsion from the party
3.) Dissolution of the National Working Comnittce.
From tile reco~n~iietidntion of the Panel of Tnquity into thcsc polif i<:ill
party. For Npige, i t w a s :I sad situation. Fle said that he was not aware of h i s
sins. While I!lxd~ c~npliatically said that they deser\c that. For the society, i t
was a bewiltlcri~lg situation. On the \vliolc, any social n~mlyst will k ~ ~ o w t l i : i ~
crisis is still cooki~lg and fcrnienting in Anambra State. For the mean ti~ltc,
101
any social scientist may ask Obasalijo as the pilot of tlie Nigerian political
crew, wliicli is to be done? (Quida casu?).
4.4 Commentary and Inlplications for Nigerian Polity
?lie kind of Nigeria polity is indced governance wllich is \--cry tliffic~~lt
for one to say wliicli is wl~icli. Constitutionally, it is granted that hTigcl i : ~ r w c
0
deri~ocracy but in practice no one can validly say whether the couritry is r i r ~
either by autocracy. plutocracy, oligarchy, tyranny or dictatorship. A pootl
social analyst will undoubtedly believe that the present Nigerian s ~ s t e ~ n of
governance, nllicli is now in practice, could be any of the aboie 1i)t-mc of'
governance rnentio~icd except democracy. [fence t l x public arid pr-i\.atc
property were dcstl-oyed in the society without qualms and the g o \ c ~ - ~ i ~ ~ i e ~ i ~
still keeps silent. For this the destroyer and the hoodlrrms still gallivant 31-or111tl
the country. '111~ pcoplc also keep akimbo watching. O n the caw of' tlic
alductiot~ of the A~arnbra State govenlor, the fedcral goim-nrnent st i l l kept
miite. Tl~is is lwcai~sc the perpetrator was the inan ivlio 1i:ls 'tlie poivcr I\ i t l i
all' and he was il l affiliation wit11 the presidency. Oh! Where is t11:rt
dc~nocracy? U'llcre is the Nigenan constitution \ \ l i iu l l has constit~lfio~i;~l
human rights provisions? Could anybody say sometliing about thc days of die
jackals-the rn;i>~lwrn days? \;\'liicli way Nigeria? Wllicli nay Ananll)r.nr.inn.;:'
This is so lanicntrtl)le, so disgusting and so sad. In any case tlie irnplicatioiis
for this political rncsc; abou~id. N;mely:
(i) A time sliall come for this country Nigeria to drop lwr- constitutiori.
(ii) The 'Iyra~inic:~l sq-stcm of govenlance which lins :llwnys been (hc cnsc fiw
the Nigerian 1'olitici:lns will sooner or later lead us agni11 to a g e a t r.e\ol~rtio~i
or anotllcr war. 0
(iii) 'Ilie abuse of Politics which is the lack of tlie rc;il science of ru l i t~p ~ l i o
society will consequently lead to a total lawless socicty (i.e. a total c1i:los).
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 Governance in Anambra: Under Mbadinuju and Ngige's Period
5.1 Mbadinuju vis-i-vis Npige's Governnwnt
WIle~i we talk of "Religioii, Morality and the l':mcrping Political C'~11tw.o
in Nigeria - a C'asc Study of Ananibra State". Ngipe's personality m d his
government m ~ ~ s t 1iac.e to be studied. And an experienced scholar cannot draw 0
any valid inferences witlioilt Ilaving a gliinpse of kno\clcdge of hlhntlin111 rl's
governmelit a d pcrsoliality on which the said Ngipc's government took ol'f.
Tlie two personnels could be said to be contraries in their idiosyncrasics. Odili
(2003:NP) writes:
. . . Govenment of the State suffered. By the end of MImdin11-jii's tenure in April, Anambra State was in stas~s.
I t was the only state that had the embarrassing record of shutt i n s down public schocrls for over a year; salaries of public servants were not paid for ncarly 1 0 months; pensioners were owed; pulll~c scrvice virti~ally collapsed. Onitshn l l~c commercial ncrvc centre of the state was overt:iken by filth
This is to say that the state was i n a conditicw o(' i~~activity an(l J c c : ~ . .
Ihsiness was allrwst coinplctcly dead. Economy cvns c~.ippled. 111 I l~ct . a11
spheres of lifc in thc society were nothing to write Iioinc about. Oric \ \ i l l tllc~l
ask, why is this cliicrgi~ig condition in such a statc that has the largest riiarkct
in West Africa? M'liy should this sorry state of life bcfall the state t11:it
produces inany intclligcntsias? The cause was the mismanagement on the part
of the man at the helm of governance. The second cause was the greediness of
the Igbo people who are always in pursuance of money and power. Odili
(2003:NP) again revealed:
For thc most part thc fight was on Mbadiniiju 1 lc 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 aids in government. He also said that he had given Offor enough contract to defray his electoral expenses. b
From the nbovc quotation, it is said, Offor is fighting liim. Offor was his
godfather just as I!bah was Ngige's godfather. He allowed him (Offor) to
norninate co~nrnissioners and gave liim some contt-acts to defi-:ly his
expenditure. Mbndinr~ju yielded to all these abrf-eemcnts wliile Ngige reneged.
Since Mbadintiju's government paid all those rititals, it then became a
revolution wlicn Ngige came up and rejected them. hjbadinuju constructed the
foundation of such an emerging political cultiue and made it strong.
Subsequently, Ngige shook down the foundation "in situ". Conscqr~entlq..
there was erncrgmce of crisis and thc falling apart of things. 'l'lic two
ad~ninistrators had different political proble~ns. Mbadinli-iu was bcrert ol'
finance for the course of his governance because the money has been pockctcd
into the prijrate purses investing on state treasury. The resultant effect was tlic
state's financial bmkriiptcy, which manifested in the total degeneration of thc
states' economy. Okcke revealed (2005:NP):
Mbadinuju's four years was like a nightmare because he was not man enough to say no to the looting of State's fimds by PDP stakeholders. The blood of Barrister Igwe, that of his wife and their unborn baby was shed for daring to say that workers should be paid their salaries.
Mbadinwju was not able to say no "to the looters. He was always saying
"yes" to thc looters, that is why when Ngige came up with "No" to that
nonsense, lle got problem with them. Then, the action bred a violclit
e revohtiori. According to Nnanna, he (Ngige) "is the dealer who exposed the
ltresldeni and the PI)P.'3ie brought to light, the cankerworms, which
Mbadinu-ju swallowed (from Emeka Offor and Ubah). Nwmganga said, "It is
widely believed now that Enneka Off'or received between two hundred to fol~r-
hundrcd xi I naira ~r~onthly fiom Mbadh1u.u-led. Anambra St:ctc
As a rcs~ilt to this, Mbadimuju could not deliver to the people tile
dividends cbT democracy. Again, he was not in politics for nothing. He will
satisfy hinlsclf arid his sycophants. And as a result of this, there was nothing
left for the poor people of Anambra State. Workers were not paid, lcac;lws
wcre frequently on strike; this necessitated the close of schools for mioriths.
Pensioners waited in vain for their pensions. State roads were deteriorated
without receiving attention. Life conti~mued to be hell for the people."
The tenure of Mbadin~ju was a horrible period for Anambra society.
That is why the society rejected him. From the look of things, the PDP hersclf
denied him contesting again under the platform of tlic party. Pitifully, God
also was against him. This is in line with tlie saying that the voice of the
people is the voicc of God (vox populi vox dei). IJaviiig realized this hc
(Mbadinuju)said: "God has shut his door against me". Thc rejected governor.
seeing his rejection in tlie society flew out of the country to 1,ondon. Atuprlazi #
hdbadinuju was compelled to go into a "3 hour" hea t to heart talk with the royal father. At the end of it all, a wlwoping sum of $8 1 7,000 U.S. had exchangcd hands with a promise to remit an unknown balance later. The royal father was s a d to have asked Mbadinuju if he had ever believed he wol~ld some day be on the run and told him that it should s c n ~ as a lesson to him that no condition is permanent
What we arc trq.ing to covey is that Mbadinuju's govcrnrnent endcd in a
lamentation that God has re-jecteci him. Hc ran out of the colintry bcc;l~~sc hc
did not perform well. Ilis administration generally s l ~ o ~ ~ t f wicked~less to tlic
society. In his era the Anarnbra s o c k 5 expericiiced licr dark ape. I lk
administration gcnclally showed wickcdiicss to the state. The state's s lopn
was that it shall bc well with Anambra Statc.
During the carly period of Ngige's government which is simil:~~. to
Mbadinqju's era, Anambra State experienced a lot of anxiety. In the middle
period, during the mayhem days, it was as if the state was undergoing a
demise. The society got a huge lose of public property amidst her scarce
infrastructure inherited for ages. It was a bolt from the blue. Nevertheless, it is
worthy of note that with Ngige's government Anatnbra people have
experienced a new lease of life regarding infrastructural rehabilitation and
other developments. Like education the workers enjoy good condition in their
works. There is peaceful education and some innovations in other areas of fife.
With this, it seems, it is well with Anambra State at least to some extent. Still
till today, frankly speaking, the state is in a shaky condition as far as political
life is concerned. 7he emerging political culture is still on a dance of
pendulum as at the time of this project. The bone of contention is who will
govern the state, Ngige or Obi- the presumably on-coming messiah? Thus, thc
pertinent question which shakes the two governnlents the two governments i s
which of the two preferable (Mbadinuju or Ngige)? Perhaps the mediator is
likely to be heralded in the person of Mr. Peter Obi . Nevertheless, At~mbt-rt
State is serio~rsly yelling and yearning for a redemptor. lux-e is a serious call
for mediation and rcdetnption.
5.2 Anambra State: Calling for Mediation?
The A11 Progessive Grand Alliance (APGA) flag bearer in the 2003 gubernatorial elections in Anambra State and winner at the election pertition tribunal, Mr. Peter Obi has said that Governor Chris Ngige must vacate
office and hand over to him. (Obineche; 20056).
Following the political juggling and jittering around Anambra State.
Mr. Peter Obi, invigorated his petition tribunal which he filed after the 2003
gubernatorial election. In line with his optimism, the judiciary p m t e d him his
heart desire. The above statement was made by him on the ground of Dr. Chris
Ngige's governorship election which was nullified on Friday 12, August. 2005 4
on the basis that IIC did not win the election. Iloegunain (2005: 1 1) writes:
. . . the election tribunal has confinned d i n t tile world ah\ n y s knew. which 1 was the validly elected candidate in the 2003. Anambra gubernatorial election
Tllis is Mr. Peter Obi speaking. Dr. Chris Ngigc having been lcgally.
through the verdict of the judiciary, declared a loser in the 2003 guht.rnntrwi;d
election mustcred courage to go to Court of Appeal in a bid to seeking for
final resort of the caw. According to him (Ngige), the veldict is "a tnisc;lrriagc
of justice". But Mr. Pcter Obi, the said winner according to the jutlici:~ry,
appealed to him (Ngige) tlmat he must surrender the power to I~im. Xiripe,
himself, has already set out for appeal. His target i s that appeal colrr-t wil l
expose all the injustices. Iie has also many reasons wily Anambra cr-i i is
persist. Whilc Pcter Obi vowed that "Ngige nwst lia~id over to hirim (Obi)
hence he is going to be a redeemer from the Anambra Political crisis.
Iloegbunain (2005: 1 I) reported this ambition:
Under my leadership, the people of Anambra will know genuine peace, in their hearts, they know that I am their true governor, that I am out to serve them selflessly.
In watching these two power tusszlers (Dr. Chris Ngige and Mr. Peter
Obi) on this political terrain, one will then ask, with whom is Obasanjo? What
kind of dream has he for Anainbra State? Has Chief Chris Ubah stayed clear
of the scenario? What of Mbadinuju, is he smiling or lamenting? What of the b
fate of good people of Anambra, are they sitting akimbo for what is to take
place? Has governor Ngige got the solution to his assertion "Why Anarnbra
crisis will persist". Does Anambra State still have religious people? These are
rhetoric questions which every well-meaning Nigerian should be negotiating
within himself. Amidst all the circumstances, there are in existence the three
major religions. These religions must have something to contribute. Hence, in
the next chapter we shall exallline their roles and part being played in
Anarnbra e~nerging political culture.
CHAPTER SIX
TIIE ROLE O F REI,ICION AND MORALITY 1N Tllk? FACE O F 'TPIE
EMERGING POIdI1'ICAEd CBTLTURE
In tlie real sense of the word, the pertinent question of this resc:lrch
project remains: w h t were the rolcs of religion in this e~nerginy politicril
culture? What co~icrete/practical steps did religion take so as to qtlell thcsc
crises? If ever I-cligion has taken some steps. are ttlc slops positi~oly'or
negati\.ely taken'? \C'l~at are the effects? These are the main issucs this clanpter
is out to treat. Ilicre is no doubt that religion has played some spccilic
functions regarding this kind of condition. Perhaps the rolcs being played by
both Christianity and African Traditional Religion will be sufficient as
samples.
Beginning with he entire Nigerian society, relipion has t r i d t o
intervene in the tmior criccs arfecting Nigeria. The first p a t rolc was m d c
before the bcgin:ling of the ci\d war. With military coup of January 15, 1060.
by Major Ch~~l iwt~ma Kaduna. Nzeogu, and other s\tbscrjricnt co!~p dc clnts.
which emel-ped during this period, Nigeria begm to look \.iolence 2nd pxsiblc
disintegration. At this point in titne eve~ybody was i n upset for a great iloorn
that was signaling in the country. On hearing this, the then Suyren~c I'orltiff:
IIis Holiness Pope John Paul 11, summoned the Ro~nan Catholic 13ishops of'
Nigeria Dioceses to Rome. He gave them his fatherly advice. Makozi et a1
(1 982:92) write:
The church is one above every conflict; the church oves and is loved, above every division; the church wishes to bring peace and love where there is war. t11c church wishes to aid the suffering. The church experiences her witness especially in the most tragic moments of history of people. That is what the church is doing in your regions.
This is an advice from an elder and father. The Catholic Bishops iind
faithfully taken the word into account. They returned from Rome and callcd
the ecumenical meeting of tlie leaders from other dcno~ninations. Thcy
reached a consensus to send a delegation to Gowon, the Ilead of State of tlic
Federal Military Government on the seat. The head of the delegation was most
Rcv.Dr. John K.A. Agsey (Catholic Bishop) with the memorandum. blakozi
( 1982:93) notes:
These church dignitaries urged that the use of force be nlled out as a means of resolving problems of thc country and admonishing Gowon to avoid statements that might provoke any of his colleagues of any scction of the country they expressed their beliefs that Nigeria should remain one
. With the action of the pontiff, we can see the rolc of thc church as a
mother. The cli~rrcli cares and is concerned for oneness and unity of creation
(tlie people of God). She advises the rulers and the ruled. Should ii he that
Gowon hcarkcned to the advice of the church elders, conseq~~cntly, tfic
corruption that was heightened during the war would have been abated. 7 1 ~
church leaders (of all denominations) rallied into one voicc to sue for pcnce.
The main task of this is to seek for peace, unity and of aversion of corr-rlpt ion
Despite all tlic efforts 111ade by the ecu~nenical leadcrs. still rir,
compromise was acllicved. 'Tlie war broke out. Ncvertlielcss, the charcll tiid
not relent in her efforts at making peace and love as a 111other. She took lier
own field of figlitirig the war. 'The ch~irch waged war against hunger. diwncc
and other basic ~iccds of man like provision of articlcs of clothing. 0Litf1ci.e
(2003: 107) i11dic:ttcd:
Wh~le all these were happening, religious bodics have not sat on thc fence as it were Thcy have played yc:~t roles in swing tliat victims of war are clothed, fcd, and cil~cltcred.
Ol)vio~rsly, t l~c civil war inflicted much affliction on the society. Siill
there was sonlc cushioning effect as a result of provision of these lmsic ;itctlt;
of life. 'The Caritas International was in the forefront. 'lliey brouplit i l l fimd
and ~nedica~ncnts in tl-iousands of tones. The world bodies $wing tl~at this
World Council of C'llurches (WCC). The relief tliesc c11ar itablc 0ri::mi7:l1 ion^
were supplying was a source of healing to people during tlic war.
In the snnie vein, after the war there were several crises tllat cnicrgctl
resulting from solnc tyrannical governance of political elites. A cnsc ill ~nintl
was that of Abnclia political junta. During this period. the visits of tllesc tilo
leaders of the cli~ircli (the Catholic Pontiff, His Holiiiess Pope John Paul 11 ant1
Arclibisliop Runcie of Anglican Communion) brought solace and lieali~ig to
people. The Catholic Pontiff advised Abacha to soft-pedal in his political
cultures. But Abaclia did not revert his culture of governance. 'lllings
continued to develop from bad to worse. Such situation continues to exist in
Nigeria till the current emerging political crisis in Anambra State which rcnr-cd
its face from 1999 (from Mbadinuju's government). b
This period was the wake of the very emerging political culture, ~ l ~ i c l l
was hatched, and delivered by political godfatherism between Mbadin r ~ i r I and
Elneka Offor. Tliis political syndrome bred violence, dcspair a id somc
irrational beliaviorir among tlic niliiig class. For this, tlic clirirch cmbarkctl on
serious conscientization of the society. There was active training of young
people. New private and church schools were enco~~ragcd. As go\e~-n~ncnt
owned school were collapsing tlie church and private scliools were p.rowinp I q .
leaps and bounds.
In fact tlie cliurcli has l~elped to save education forni crumbling ant1 to(:~l
demise. During this period, parents withdraw tlleir cliildrcn from go\.cl-nlncrlt
school to enroll t l ~c~ t i into private and cliurch owned schools. Also, thcrc was
active evangelization in preaching and dishing out word of Got1 so as to
conscic~ltise tlie pcople into doing the will of God.Okwueze (2003.80) \\ritcc'+
In tlie same view, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)
(Anambra State wing) became strong in this era. She had more frcquent
rallies, praying earnestly for tlie change of the administration. This prayer \ms
answered by the rejection of Governor Mbadinuju by tlie cntire people (Turing
his subsequent preparation for a second tenure. The lot of governance fell on
Dr. Chris Ngige in spite of the stories behind his governorship mandate. One
will then ask, what was thc role of the cliurcli to rid society of what had
happened at the reign of Mbadinuju? There is a notion that church will not
turn her back froin politics. 'Illis notion is in line with Aristotle who says that
Inan is a "political animal" (zoo politicon). It is the same men ~ 4 1 0 are
politicians that comprised tlie cliurch. Therefore, the cliurcli will nevcr sit on
the fence while peoplc misuse or abuse politics. That is why in some churchcs,
there were bodies fonned to check politicians. In the Catholic Church, this
work was entrusted to thc .Justice Development and I'txcc Commission. 'Illis
. . body among other functions monitored the electoral personnel against rwi!mp
of election. Although, this body did licr work during tlic 2003 elections, i t was
not able to yield much fruit because of fiercing and deadly action of thc t h i ~ ~ s
hired by tlie unscrupulous politicians and their parties.
Also, on tlic cvcnt of the abduction and NovonlL)ei- when m:~jlac~n. tlrc
churches unanimomly and vehemently condemned the action of tlie atdt~ctors
and lioodlu~ns. In these ungodly events, the church spoke out without fear or
favour. In one of his pastoral messages, His Grace Most Rev. Dr. Val. Okeke.
the Archbishop of Onitsha condemned the action of the hoodlums of tllc
mayhem in this statement; "whatever may be the provocation, that \\.ill not
justify the action of demolishing the public property". For the Archbishop the
action is ungodly.
As Christian churches play their roles, the African Traditionalists ebok
their own part. On the mayhem events by the hoodlums, the "Umu ada" or
"Umuokpa", the elderly traditionalist women of the state rallied and cried
traditionally for the gods' intervention and revenge on the perpetrators. One
will then ask, judging with these efforts, has religion been able to achieve
success or failure regarding this emerging political crisis? Invariably, judging
the situation one will say that in spite of all these efforts, religion seems to be
failing. This is because some church leaders do not want to be candid in their
roles as shepherds as of Christ. Some were playing hide and seek rolc. Son~c
were cvcn insinuating the perpetrators. It is only when the church lcildcrs
begin to act like Christ that religious roles will come to light. Consequently,
the true political crrl tilre will be reassured and regained.
CHAPTER SEVEN
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSlON
7.1 Summary (Principal Analysis)
Having rend this easy, any good social analyst should then ask what is
happening in Nigeria? What leads Nigeria to find herself in this kind of
condition? Did we cause these problems or we are on curse? Is God still with
us or is he against us? It is on this regard that Ekwunife (1995:l 12)
emphatically declares:
No where is the urgency of discovering the true face of God needed in Nigeria today as in the web of the political socio- economic and religious turmoils of the country. The political cr~sis in Nigeria is no longer news to the outside world It is characterized by.. . political intrigues with alloyed mixtures of cthnicism, selfish interest and greed; assassination ofpolilical opponents, and have resigned their fate to the all-seeing God to woi-k the miracle of political stability where the powers seem to have refused to give democracy a chance.
The assertion above made by Ekwunife is very suitable (ad rern) to this
country Nigeria. 'fie political imbroglio exists in alarming rate in Nigcria. 'Illc
presented case study of Anainbra of which the pro-ject has just dulibcl-ated
upon is a life evidence. Learnt from the project, it seeins that the misnorrncr
becomes the new political culture which is only or best seen and liappcncd in
Nigeria. The tnain cause is the godfatherism syndrome. It has wrcckcd and
robbed Nigerian democratic system. The results are seen, felt in the present
Nigerian society concretely experienced in Anambra State. Notable of tliesc
results include: making the state treasury a private invcs.tmcnt; deniolition of
both government and p r i ~ a t e property worth N i 00 billion: nssassit~ntion of
human lives and character and the disregard of both rcli$ous anti Nigct-iari
constitutions. Above all, there are violations of human rights. These are cnlleci
for absolute attention if Nigeria is to thrive. On tliis note, therefore, Rclipion
and Politics should work hand in hand (i.e. pari-parso) to alleviate sofi-erinbs
of tlie society. Non of the two should absorb the other. Rnthcr they will work
hannoriiously for tlic bcttenneut of ~nan's end.
In cognizance of this serious reflection and this tnisrmner of Nigcr-inn
political culture (crisis) and Anambra State in particular, one will then al'fi1.1~
the following points:
- tliat Nigerians should imbibe tlie culture of practising politics with thc fcnr o f
God.
- tliat tlie real democratic system of governance will again Iw re\,cr-tcd 10 by
thc political class.
- tliat religiorls especially African traditional religion. Islamic reiiyirm :~nd
Cliristianity, should realize their specific roles of leading people ( soc i~* t s f ) to
God.
- that Igbo people, should call to mind their traditional legacy of br~i l~ci l lood
and oneness which seerns to be dying.
- finally, that all Nigerians should reinember their oneness in creed and deed.
7.2 Contributions to Knowledge
Rating this work in its contcnt validity the reader is blessed will1 the
following wl~ich can uplift his or her know!cdge as social scientist: b
1. That such secret agreements (taking the oath before the Okija =41t-i11e
was for the selfish purpose of looting the public treasury and ~.i;?ging
of election). nonnally come to light in line with the Latin adngc -
"quidq~~id latet aperebit", whatever is hidden must come to light.
. . 11. That Nigerians particularly politicians should learn to abhour and
reject this phenomenon called "godfatlierisrn".
... 111. 'That Nigcrirlns have lcarnt the degree of dctcrioration of rno~xiity
among Nigerian judiciary.
iv. That t l ~ c crisis exposes Nigerians to reality of \ \kit is lnppcning t o
thc states9/ public treasury. The incident renders some g o ~ ~ c r ~ ~ o r s
incf'fccrive by making them incapable of rcndcsing to pcoplc thc
di\itlcnd o r deinocracy .
In consitlcrin~ this work, the writer opines the 17icw for n t l c ~ @ ~ v r
conscientimtiori. i s , 0k\\ueze (?004:113) in r c o and sociti;tl
morality of i ts ntllrcrt.nts. 011 t l~c whole we give the folloivii~g
politics as "a do or die game".
ost.;nci/i:lg the incorrigible ones in the socicty.
... 1 1 1 .
iv.
v .
With these in miid we call for conclusion.
7.4 Conclusion
7lic clnyring lwlitical culture (crisis) in Nigeria is a s l ~ a l ~ ~ c . 'llw
Anarnbrn Statc c~isic is a situation whi~h wider normal cir-c:imlst:inzc(; <;l~:>rl!(l
not be associated \\irh godly peoplc. TThc a u t h st3iitis to appeal to tlrc I ar-ior~c
i11dividu;ll cor~scict~cs to rctracc thcir steps unto whist will Iw of pi'r:r?:tl yoo~l
Ekwunife ( i 995: 154) asserts:
contractors, proper supervision.. . Any move towards kick hacks.. . indirect cmbezzelement of moncy is an exercise that will eventually lead to the initiator, his collaborators and t!le
whole country into the cotrntel-feit joy that brings chaos to any society.
'file research opines that selfishness should be alhorred. 'T'lw only
panacea to Nigerian political problerns (Anambra State in particu1:ir) is f iw
every citizenry to hold every common good as priorities. AII said and donc, in
spite of woes experieticed - Atlainbra - emerging political cultul-c. tlm-c s4e11i
to be a high?ight of value expected. Tile An:trnbra crisis exposed Nigerians to
what is happening to the public treasury. It tells Nigci-ian that one: 01- two
individuals could empty the states treasury. Again viewing present A i ~ : u ~ i l ~ ~ ~ : ~
State amidst fracas. there are evidences of some outstanding prog-ess. 'llwsc
are infrastrcutrnl i.eh;ihilitretions. l l i s reveals that tlierc was money f:.w a11
these only that those ~~roriies were resting in the private pxkcts .
niind. Arisc! 011 Nigerians, for bctter and a happicr coun;ry. Arisc the lion 01'
Afi-ica. Long live Nigeria. L,ong Live, Igbo Society. i.,ong Live An;t~nl,~-a
State.
7.5 Suggestion for Further Research
1.
. . 11.
. . . 111.
iv.
v.
vi .
Why is Nigeria so much a corrupt country?
Religion is failing in lier roles towards helping socicty, comment.
Is Nigerian system of governance - a true democracy? b
What are the relationships between religion and politics?
How was the practice of democracy in igbo traditional culture in
reference to Nigerian system of democracy?
Most Nigerians are guilty of the saying, "love of money especially
the ma-iority of Igbos". Can one justify this statement?
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