Is President Olusegun Obasanjo's proposed National Dialogue the way forward for Nigeria?
Obasanjo Asks Ngige to Resign
I won�t, says Anambra gov By Yusuph Olaniyonu in Lagos and Charles Onyekamuo in Awka, 12.28.2004
President Olusegun Oba-sanjo has urged the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to get Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra State to resign from office on account of revelations that he did not win the April 19, 2003 governorship elections. Obasanjo was said to have conveyed the request to the party leadership during a meeting the National Working Committee (NWC) had with him on December 22. But Ngige apparently reacting to Obasanjo's call on the NWC yesterday in Awka said he would never resign from office. He added that the only institution that can make him quit office is the Anambra Elections Petition Tribunal currently hearing the petition filed against him by the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate in the election, Mr. Peter Obi. THISDAY gathered that as part of the efforts to resolve the face-off between Obasanjo and the party's national chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh, early in the month, the PDP NWC met with the President on December 22. Since the crux of the disagreement between Ogbeh and Obasanjo was the issue of the presidency's attitude on the Anambra State crisis involving Ngige and his enstranged godfather, Chris Uba, the NWC delegation asked Obasanjo to intervene more decisively in the crisis. The delegation which was led by Ogbeh, Chief Tony Anenih, the acting chairman, Board of Trustees, Senate President Adolphus Wabara and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Bello Masari specifically told the President that recent disclosure by Uba that he participated in rigging the polls to get Ngige to power was dangerous to the interest of the party. But the NWC delegation was surprised when Obasanjo said he was not prepared to discuss the Anambra crisis any further. He told Ogbeh to get the PDP leadership to do the right thing by getting Ngige to resign from office since all indications pointed to the fact that he did not win the elections. "The President specifically told the NWC that he would not rediscuss the issue of how Uba and Ngige confessed in his presence that the PDP did not win the 2003 gubernatorial polls in Anambra State as he has stated all he knew and did on the issue in his December 6 letter to the national chairman," a source told THISDAY. He added that the President further told the NWC delegation that "you are the leaders of the party, go and deal with the matter as you deem fit. But the right thing however is that you should get the man with a stolen mandate to vacate office.� Following this development, Ogbeh was said to have replied that the President's request was beyond the NWC to decide or act upon. The party chairman explained that some National Executive Committee (NEC) members had complained that NWC was usurping their duties and so he would refer the matter to NEC which is the party's highest organ. He also explained that since the President is the leader of the party and a member of NEC, the issue will be resolved at that level. Ogbeh then fixed an emergency NEC meeting for January 4 with a sole agenda to discuss the lingering crisis in Anambra State. The NEC meeting which is the first in which the Anambra crisis will be discussed is expected to decide Ngige's fate and that of Uba and other principal characters in the crisis. It is also expected to deliberate on the implications of Uba's statement on his role in the elections. Uba in a one-page press release last week stated that "my mistake for which I ask for understanding stemmed from my belief that election is like a battle and since all is fair in war, I believe that the end justifies the means in an election. We did everything possible to put Ngige in power. In the presence of the President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, I asked Dr. Chris Ngige whether he actually won the election, he confirmed he did not win the election. The President drove us out from that point, he did not wait to listen to our story." Uba said Ngige had also confirmed the fact that he did not win the elections in the presence of Ogbeh who then urged them to "keep quiet on the issue." Obasanjo had also in his December 6 reply to Ogbeh's letter confirmed that he witnessed Ngige's admission that he did not win the gubernatorial polls. Ngige while receiving members of the Board of Orient Petroleum Resources led by its Chairman and former Commonwealth Secretary General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku who paid him a courtesy call at the Governor's Lodge, Awka said it was "mischievous" to call for his resignation based on an alleged confession by a person he described as a "felon". The Governor said those who made the alleged confession knew why they did so and that since they are known to be his political opponents, such alleged confessions did not come to him as a surprise. He, however, stated that the alleged confessions had grave implications for the PDP as a party since, the same confessor had boasted that he installed all PDP elected public office holders in Anambra State. "If one person had boasted that he installed all PDP elected public office holders in Anambra State from the governor, his deputy, three senators, members of the Federal House of Representatives and 29 Assemblymen and women, and this same man is now claiming that he rigged the election, it now means that PDP did not win any office in Anambra State," he said. Ngige decried the posture of some politicians in Anambra State, which he said is responsible for the political crisis in the state. He likened the crisis to the struggle between a few individuals and the majority. While observing that this clique behind the tiny minority is bent on holding down the state, the governor expressed confidence that at the end of the day, the wishes of the majority, which is good governance shall prevail. He said he was not afraid of losing the governorship, since "I was born Dr. Chris Ngige and not Governor of Anambra State." He said it mattered less if he was governor "for one year, two years or three years," but that what matters is that at the end of his tenure, Anambra State would never be the same again for good. He urged all those interested in his removal to await the outcome of the Anambra Election Petition Tribunal, which he said is the only body constitutionally empowered to declare his position vacant. He advised them to take a cue from the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) gubernatorial candidate in the April 19, 2003 poll, Chief George Moghalu and that of the Nigeria Advance Party (NAP), who challenged his victory at the Tribunal and lost. "Moghalu even went to the Appeal Court in Enugu to challenge the outcome of the Tribunal, but again lost," he said. He said those who feel that they have relevant information with regard to the April 2003 polls in Anambra should mount the witness box and stop intimidating and applying undue pressure on the Tribunal. Earlier, Anyaoku had lauded Ngige's efforts at road construction in the state. Noting that he was not in the country when the recent crisis erupted in Anambra, Anyaoku, however, said the action was "most condemnable", and called on the relevant authorities to bring the arsonists to book. Fielding questions from newsmen, Anyaoku dispelled fears that the crisis in the state may have scared away prospective investors. He said over 20 multinational firms had indicated interest to build the state's oil refinery at Otuocha, near Onitsha. He expressed optimism that the refinery will kick off by December 2005. Accompanying Anyaoku on the visit were former Vice President Alex Ekwueme and former Nigeria Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), Chief Arthur Mbanefo among others.
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