A former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, has explained why he is working against the re-election of his successor, Willie Obiano.
Obi, who spoke on Wednesday during a rally organised by the women’s wing of the Peoples Democratic Party at the PDP secretariat in Awka, Anambra State, said he was just against Obiano’s poor performance.
A media aide to governor Obiano, Mr. Egbuna Amuta, had alleged in an interview with a private radio station in the state that Obi’s feud with Obiano was because the latter had refused to pay N7bn Obi demanded for allegedly funding the 2013 election of Obiano.
But addressing the PDP women on Wednesday, Obi said,” In 2013, I took Obiano around Anambra State, to the markets, to every part of the state and the people kept asking me if I was sure of him as they did not know him, so they voted for him because of me.
“I told them, I would be the one to lead a campaign against Obiano if he did not perform well in his first term. Today, can anyone show me what the governor has done within his first term? He has nothing to show for it. I don’t have any issue with Mr. Willie Obiano as a person, but I have issues with Willie Obiano as governor.”
He said Obiano remained his bossom friend, describing what he called the governor’s poor performance as worrisome.
The former governor, who was accompanied to the rally by the PDP governorship candidate in the November poll in the state, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, said he was fighting Obiano because of a vow he made to Anambra people in 2013.
Obi said, “Winning a second term is an easy task for any performing governor as all that is needed is to point at his achievements in the first term and now tell the people what he will do in the second term and the people will vote for him if they are satisfied.
“When I was working for my second term, each community I went to, I showed them what I had achieved, and that made it possible for the people to vote for me because they saw what I could do.
“We challenge Obiano to show us what he has done in his first term. Go to all parts of the state where all of you come from, can you mention the things he has done? He has done nothing. That is why I am here to lead the campaign for his removal.”
Obaze, while addressing the women, said his choice of a female, Mrs. Chidi Onyemelukwe, as his running mate, was a clear demonstration of his government’s intention for women in the state.
