A video of Willie Obiano, the former governor of Anambra State, walking his dog in his leafy neighbourhood in Houston has gone viral on social media, generating comments about the infrastructure, peace and security he is “enjoying”, which his eight-year misrule from 2014 to 2o22 has denied the people of his state.
Obiano was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in March last year and was released after six days to allegedly get medical treatment abroad. The charges against him include money laundering and the misappropriation of public funds to the tune of 5bn and 37bn naira. It is very unlikely that he will be returning to Nigeria any time soon to face those charges.
There is an almost universal consensus in Anambra State that Obiano’s tenure was a disaster. But many seem to have helped Peter Obi, Obiano’s predecessor, by their silence, to extricate himself from the misrule of the governor he helped to install. At a rally in 2021, as Obi tried unsuccessfully to install another governor, this time Valentine Ozigbo, Obi apologised to the people of Anambra and “begged for forgiveness” for the role he played in putting Obiano in office.
This is all well and good, and it is one thing to have the benefit of hindsight and acknowledge that Obiano was a terrible mistake. However, such a mistake raises valid questions about Obi’s lack of foresight and judgment. Obi ran for president promising to make the right calls for the benefit of Nigeria. The reality is that such claims are gravely undermined by his backing for a patently flawed Obiano as a governor.
Obi’s supporters aka “Obidients” like to gloss over such poor judgment like it doesn’t matter. Andrew Likierman disagreed in the Harvard Business Review: Leaders need many qualities, but underlying them all is good judgment. Those with ambition but no judgment run out of money. Those with charisma but no judgment lead their followers in the wrong direction. Those with passion but no judgment hurl themselves down the wrong paths. Those with drive but no judgment get up very early to do the wrong things. Sheer luck and factors beyond your control may determine your eventual success, but good judgment will stack the cards in your favour.
One “Obidient”, who is a friend of the man himself and was his contemporary at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, said that of all the criticisms of Obi, the only ones he couldn’t defend were picking Obiano as governor and agreeing to be Atiku Abubakar’s running mate in 2018. Most honest Nigerians admit that former VP Atiku was among the biggest looters that have visited themselves on the country – this is some feat considering the competition from the likes of the current president Bola Tinubu.
A close examination of those two examples of chronically poor judgment should reveal Obi’s hidden intentions. Nobody who wanted the best for his state would pick Obiano as a governor and nobody who wanted the best for Nigeria would support an Atiku candidacy for the presidency. Obi campaigned for both dangerously flawed candidates. The only plausible reason he did so was his selfish interests. Being succeeded by Obiano was an opportunity to play “godfather” in the state and continue corrupt rule via proxy – like Tinubu was doing in Lagos State. An Atiku presidency with Obi as VP would have been great for the accounts of both men, but by all accounts would have continued or accelerated Nigeria’s terminal decline into a basket case nation.
