Opinion
By Sen. Chris Anyanwu
I have a great deal of respect for the office of Governor. It is not an office to be trifled with. The job is brutal, thankless and killing at times. And the weight of office is very heavy. And that is why even when they are out of office, society continues to hold them in high esteem and to rate their opinion highly. When a former Governor speaks, people listen and a certain level of decorum, decency and factuality or truthfulness is expected of him. It is completely aberrative to hear an Excellency depart from that standard to engage in street brawls and beer parlor talk. If he does, he invites insult.
I do not know how to respond to Governor Ikedi Ohakim’s latest public spat without running the risk of being found guilty of disrespecting the office he once held. But with due respect, I must engage with him on this matter because being a former Governor, people automatically assume that what he says is factual, truthful and reliable. But where it is clear that he deliberately set out to deceive and manipulate the public with egregious lies, then the facts must be publicly put straight before an idea from an old habit of lying and making up stories gets taken for truth.
First, let me say that that trash-talking, recklessly libelous individual frothing in the mouth that spoke in that interview could not have been Ex-governor Ohakim. There must have been a mistake. Did he actually say all those things? I hope not. I am compelled to make this statement to address a claim reportedly made by him about me recently in the interview he granted journalists.
In that interview, he complained about my autobiography, BOLD LEAP recently presented to Nigerian readers. Bold Leap is a book of the times: elegantly crafted, brutally scrutinized and edited by some of the most gifted writers and editors in the country. One may argue about perspective but on factuality and historical correctness, Bold Leap is unassailable. So, if Governor Ohakim argues of a substantial factual error, I would say, “bring it on”. If it’s a matter of perspective, I would say: “it’s your perspective or mine”. There’s no one way of seeing the universe; no correct way of writing about me. It is as I deemed fit. The story is mine. I have written it and I did so with respect and compassion for others and due regard for the laws of the land.
One thing to emphasize is that BOLD LEAP is my autobiography, meaning l wrote about myself not lmo State, Imo Government or Governor Ikedi Ohakim. It is about my whole life and my life traverses many places outside Nigeria. Imo State and its toxic politics of the time were merely small chapters to what is a long story. BOLD LEAP is not an Imo story. No. It is not at all.
I observe that Governor Ohakim had not read the book when he spoke. He spoke in rambling generalities not on specifics; went into the book review to borrow the observation of the reviewer on production. But with all the hot air he blew, he totally avoided talking of my accounts of some of the unforgettable things he did as Governor. He spoke like a man who took one look at himself in the mirror and went beserk. No, he should relax and read the full book. Then reflect. Things have got to change in lmo.
And finally, that bizarre story about a letter to Abacha, (may his soul rest in peace). How does a man of Governor Ikedi’s age and standing in society sit down and conjure up an asinine, egregious lie about someone writing apology to Abacha and the federal government. Is it intelligent to tell tales that are so hair-brained they can make a dog laugh? No one could write Abacha or his government and it became Nigeria’s greatest secret. How did it happen that a document that could have provided the propaganda hungry administration its greatest campaign weapon globally got locked up and no one else mentioned it, wrote about it in the numerous books written on that era in these 30 years? Except Ohakim!! Where was this letter written; when was it written, by whom and to whom was it given? And how did it happen that it was only lkedi Ohakim that had access to it? And by the way, where was lkedi Ohakim 30 years ago, in the DAYS OF TERROR when people were fighting, dying, escaping and suffering for Democracy? Was he helping the oppressors? There had to have been a relationship with the administration for them to have handed him this “dud”. Ohakim must explain this; explain what he did for a living at the time and what qualified him to keep Abacha’s secrets. When we get a glimpse into his opaque professional past, then we will appreciate why it is not beyond the realms of possibility for him to weave and fabricate this great lie.
I don’t know anybody that wrote Abacha. I don’t write or talk of things I don’t know. What I know is that as far as I was concerned, that kind of heinous idea could not be contemplated, uttered, let alone written by me, even under the gun. End of story.
And now, I dare Governor Ikedi Ohakim to produce the letter in his possession in court before forensic experts before the eyes of the world. He should remember it was a global story not just local and there were some who knew better. Coming out and telling this joke will make him an international clown. But Let him produce the letter he got from Gen. Abacha and government. Federal Government is a continuum. It should verify the letter in Ohakim’s hand, explain how it manifested and who produced it. Now, the letter writer will be tested for forgery. Let us understand that the games people played in their childhood may not carry them through old age.
This time, His Excellency will not go on unchallenged. He has claimed to have a letter. He has threatened to publish it. I dare him to bring that letter physically (not publish). Bring it to be tested for forgery. Governor Ohakim has the right to reply any publication about him but he must know that he is to do so within the ambit of the law. He cannot continue to run amok like KING KONG in the jungle, eating down the landscape, trampling humanity under his feet; fearing neither God, man or the laws of man. He will not be allowed to carry on in his lawless ways; he must grow up now, shape up and stop menacing Imo State and Nigeria.
Photo Caption: Sen. Chris Anyanwu
20th January, 2025.
C.E.
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