http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=166011
Obi: Cat With Nine Lives
By Tokunbo Adedoja, 02.08.2010

Until 2003, little or nothing was known about Mr Peter Obi in the nation’s political circles. He emerged on the nation’s political scene after the 2003 governorship election in Anambra State. In that election he was the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Though, he was widely believed to have won the election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Dr. Chris Ngige of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner. It took him almost three years of litigations, threading through all levels of courts, to upturn that declaration. On March 15, 2006, the Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling, sacked Ngige and declared Obi the winner of the 2003 election. He was sworn in two days later.

He had barely settled down when it dawned on him that, though, he may have won a judicial victory, he had just started a political battle. The state House of Assembly was firmly in the hand of the PDP. Eight months later, the import of that arrangement in the legislature was felt as Obi was impeached on November 2, 2006 by the PDP-controlled Assembly and replaced with his deputy, Dame Virginia Etiaba. Again, Obi began another round of judicial battle which ended with the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Enugu, that voided his impeachment on the basis of non-compliance with constitutional stipulations on impeachment by the Assembly. He was returned to office on February 9, 2007.

But that was not the end of his political and judicial battles. The duration of his tenure was soon brought to the front-burner of national discourse. While the PDP, INEC and governorship aspirants on the platform of other political parties claimed that his abridged tenure would end in May 2007 when new leadership would be sworn in at the state and federal levels, Obi, insisted that he had a four-year tenure and must run its full course.

Sure of his conviction, he again sought refuge in the court. Worried that the 2007 election was fast approaching, Obi filed a suit at the Supreme Court seeking to stop INEC from conducting election in Anambra in 2007 and a declaration that his tenure would end in 2010. But the apex court threw out the suit on the ground that it could not be the court of first instance in that case. Obi had to begin his litigation from the High Court at a time the election he was seeking to stop was just within a hauling distance.

While his litigation was on, Mr Andy Uba (PDP), a former presidential aide, was elected governor and assumed office on May 29, 2007, thus terminating Obi’s tenure. With renewed vigour, he continued with the pursuit of his case and on June 14, 2007, the Supreme Court, in another landmark judgment declared Uba’s election a nullity and upheld Obi’s contention that his four-year tenure started from February 17, 2006 when he took oath of office.

Not long after his judicial victory, he was back in the trench battling to secure his political platform-APGA. Two factions had emerged in the party. One headed by Chief Chekwas Okorie, the founder of the party, and the other led by Chief Victor Umeh, who was the national treasurer. Obi pitched his tent with the Umeh faction which also had the backing of former Biafran Leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. But surprisingly, INEC, under the leadership of Prof. Maurice Iwu glaringly took sides with the Okorie faction, even in spite of the fact that he had been expelled from the party and his expulsion, endorsed by the courts.

In the build up to last Saturday’s election, Obi’s political battles became intense as INEC gave the party’s governorship nomination forms to the Okorie faction, a development, which would have put an end to his aspiration on the platform of APGA. It however took another court pronouncement for INEC to officially recognise Umeh’s leadership, thus paving the way for Obi’s participation in the election. He came first in that poll.

With a tenure which had been abridged twice and his re-election, in last Saturday’s poll that had been adjudged free and fair, and violence-free in spite of all odds, Obi has proved that he is a cat with nine lives.

Born on July 19, 1961, Obi, who hails from Agulu in Anaocha Local Government Area, attended Christ the King College, Onitsha where he completed his secondary school education. He holds a B.A. (Hons) degree in Philosophy. Surely, when the story of electoral development of the nation would be told, Obi’s contributions, through the dogged pursuit of his political rights using the courts, which led to various landmark judicial rulings that had helped to strengthen the nation’s democracy and improved her jurispudence, would occupy a chapter.

Congrats Mr Obi. Anambra has always produced genuises, good or evil.
Now its all over.
FOR THE SAKE OF POSTERITY "HOW DID HE DO IT ?"
I mean
His Reverse Rigging with INEC.
People think of rigging as stuffing ballot boxes.
Obi managed to win with empty ballot boxes.
I know he did something !
Please tell us .
I really respect the dude ! 

There is nothing funny about your silly comments.

Reverse rigging?? Bullocks. Go check your head b4 spewing trash on NL.

CONGRATZ TO PETER OBI. Anambra people have spoken once again. We don't sit idly while PDP thugs impose dictators on us. That's where we stand out the most among our people in the East and beyond.

adigun101:

Congrats Mr Obi. Anambra has always produced genuises, good or evil.
Now its all over.
FOR THE SAKE OF POSTERITY "HOW DID HE DO IT ?"
I mean
His Reverse Rigging with INEC.
People think of rigging as stuffing ballot boxes.
Obi managed to win with empty ballot boxes.
I know he did something !
Please tell us .
I really respect the dude !

just keep on clowning, while Obi is flying higher. Nkita ara!!!

pls lets appreciate his courage and stop abusing our selves