He may not have intended it to be so, but Peter Obi has emerged, undisputedly, as the most positively disruptive figure in Nigeria’s politics in the modern era. Never before in the annals of partisan politics and governance in Nigeria has any individual, through sheer force of personal discipline and meticulous organisation, shown convincingly that a different Nigeria is indeed, possible.
Obi seems, curiously, to have been prepared for life, for the role of scourge to politicians, that he has become. His uncanny capacity to keep records, as well as his proclivity to walk a straight path, even in the dark alleys of politics, seem second nature to him.
Forget what his detractors and political opponents say in the public, they surely must be in awe of Peter Obi’s ways. Nobody who is not in denial of truth will not marvel at how Obi is arranged. He is simply too organized and meticulous for comfort. To argue as a number of the elements on the opposite political sides are wont to, that Obi is not a saint, is trite. Who said he is one? The problem is that the other non-saints on the political arena seem to have given up about seeking their own redemption. Obi seems constantly to be striving after that. There lies the difference. The light he is shining is the attraction to many, not his individuality, assuming the two can be extricated.
In the wake of the dizzying 2023 presidential elections, in which the machines of the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] developed glitches and stopped counting, as it were, when they came in contact with Peter Obi’s name, a problem that eventually threw up other technically amenable names, Obi has moved on. He has gone about his life, doing as much good as he can. No other politician, either in Nigerian or elsewhere, who has cause to feel short changed in an election, has continued to show such goodwill across the society as Obi has been doing since the 2023 presidential election debacle. He has been showing very uncommon empathy and sympathy with the rest of the society now suffering from debilitating social and economic glitches of unprecedented type. It does seem as if the Labour Party [LP] presidential candidate sees himself and the larger society as victims of these electoral glitches, one way or another.
Last week, an internal disputation within LP, inspired Obi to step out, once more, in a characteristic principled manner. The allegation by the National Treasurer, Oluchi Oparah against the National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure, to the effect that the Chairman appropriated all financial responsibilities in the party during the 2023 elections, thereby side-lining her, had tended to create the impression that the accounting system of the party had not been as it ought be. As always, Obi has his records in his pouch. He promptly released the receipts and expenditure of the LP during the election, a significant part of which is his personal donation of N800,000,000 [Eight hundred Million Naira] to the party.
His public account provided other details, among them the donation from other Nigerians to the campaign, amounting to N575,976,994. There was also the payment to Polling unit agents during the elections, to the tune of N324,381, 700, etc etc. As at the end of the elections, the party has a positive balance of N19,238,395.
The LP presidential candidate, obviously, would not want any tardiness in the administration of party finances to be an issue in a party he is part of. Instructively, he requested all other key officials of the LP who may have received funding during the elections to come forth to declare whatever they got and align it to the party’s general account. A bigger challenge to the other political parties and their candidates in the 2023 elections, to rise to the test of accountability, is yet to be found elsewhere.
The LP presidential candidate could afford to publicly declare that he donated N800,000,000 to his political party, because he can comfortably account for the legitimate sources of his income, at home and abroad. Now, how many politicians can do that, including those known to be stupendously rich? For many of these, their wealth derives from what the First Republic politician, Dr. Kingsley Ozuomba Mbadiwe, once referred to as income from “sources known and unknown”. The unknown side is apparently, the overwhelming column.
When Obi publicly declared what he contributed to the LP for the 2023 presidential election, what the other supporters chipped in and what the campaign expenditure was, he was treading a path he is used to. In 2014, on completing his second term as governor of Anambra state, he publicly declared the amount of money he was bequeathing his successor in office. His public accounts statement included cash in hand, expected income from investments with maturity date, as well as outstanding debts, for which he said provisions had been made for their settlement. It was very atypical of a departing political office holder in Nigeria.
An interesting aspect of Obi’s public declaration of what he was leaving for his successor in 2014, is that over time, in the course of political bickering, some third-party political agents and opponents dismissed the former governor’s public statement on what he was handing over to his successor, as mere politics. Some said his figures were exaggerated. Some others said they were not factual. Not once, however, did the man to whom the said resources were handed over, contest what Obi said publicly that he passed on to him.
Even at that, no other politician since then, has had the courage or spirit of adventure to publicly declare anything near such huge positive balance sheet, as what was being handed over to a successor. Now, Obi has raised the bar once more.
Talk is cheap. Those who find it difficult to acknowledge the former governor’s proven integrity and meticulous accountability, but chose to see him as grandstanding, should do well to grandstand on a similar level, as well. Nigerian politics will surely gain from such grandstanding performances from several public office holders. Those who dismiss Obi’s public accountability as a show should not end up as no-shows. They should step up to his challenge.
Campaign finance monitoring remains a huge challenge in Nigeria. At the Independent National Electoral Commission, monitoring and enforcing the section of the electoral law dealing with campaign finances has remained, more or less, a mountain pointed at, but not climbed. The political parties and their candidates are aware of the loopholes and they gladly play the system. Audited party accounts, will always be submitted, of course, but that, more often than not, is for the records.
Electoral Act 2022 provided N5billion as the upper limit of the election expenses allowed a presidential candidate for any particular presidential election. While, it is commonly suspected, if not well known, that some parties and their candidates exceed this amount these days, in the course of buying everything buyable during elections, the presidential candidates in the 2023 election should take up the cue from Peter Obi and declare publicly, what exact personal resources they committed respectively, in their quest to come and serve the people.