By Sunny Igboanugo

On July 10, 2003, I drove at breakneck speed from Enugu to Awka. The news had just broken about the drama involving Chris Ngige, then Governor of Anambra State and his ordeal with the band of political hounds and scavengers he had decided to dine with.

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Nobody at that stage really knew the true story. It was said that there had been a change of guard in the state with Okey Udeh, his deputy taking over from him and that his whereabouts were unknown. It was on getting to the Anambra State capital that I was directed to the Choice Hotel, where he was said to have been holing up.

By then, I had lost substantial ground, transiting from the almighty flagship of Nigerian media – The Guardian to Daily Independent that was at its nadir at the time, having not broken into the media world like Daily Sun, which was an instant success. That counted against me in terms of prestige and reckoning. I had suddenly discovered that the accolades some people reserved for me was due to my status as a reporter with the paper and not my personal prowess.

So, for that reason, I had to work extra hard. Of course, that meant that the press crew in Awka Government House did not invite me or reckon with me for their briefings, meaning I had to work on my own for any information I needed on the matter. But information, I must get to help my paper, which also needed the news.

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That was how I found my way at the Choice Hotel. But that was how luck struck. For a journalist, these things usually happen – breakthroughs at the last minute, when it is least expected. I was standing behind the sea of heads at the hotel, not knowing what to do next. At best, I was now prepared to contend with the circumstantial report on the incident – just the environment and spice it up with information filtering from elsewhere including the radio and televisions.

But at that moment, somebody nudged me. “Do you want to see oga?” It was the driver to Ngige himself the main dramatis personae. He had spotted me from afar from the crowd and knowing my relationship with his boss, dating back to when he was still toying with the idea of joining politics, he knew I was a friend and posed no problem to his boss. Of course, that was all I needed. Nothing could be juicier than hearing from the governor himself.

That was how the driver led me through the maze of human obstacles until we got to the door leading to room being occupied by his boss. We had succeeded all along in beating the security barriers that had cordoned off the entire arena until that point. The security operatives vehemently refused to let us through even when the young man tried to explain to them that it was the governor that sent me.

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It was then that I joined in. “Go and tell him that it’s Sunny Igboanugo,” I offered. But no dice! They were not prepared for that. There instruction was nobody should cross beyond that point. But then, just then, the door opened and somebody approached the security men, with a directive. I should be let in. The governor, my good friend had overheard the conversation and my name being mentioned and sent the security aides with him inside the room to invite me.

That was how I ended up with Ngige on that fateful day right inside his room and extracted an interview, which would have been world class, but for the status of the paper I worked with then. I’m not aware that any other journalist met with the governor face to face on that fateful day, as all I heard were everyone else quoting Fred Chukwuelobe, his spokesman.

Having recalled this incident, and situating it with the current drama in Rivers State, the only thing I could see and the only conclusion I could make is – “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” – the more things change, the more they stay the same. This wise saying attributed to Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr a French writer, was made as far back as 1849. That means, it is 174 years today.

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By the way, the Ngige saga, was actually not the beginning. His predecessor, Chinwoke Mbadinuju was the first to bite the silver bullet. It was the same traducers of Ngige that first went for his political jugulars. Hours after his inauguration, on May 29, 1999, the battle started at the Anambra State House of Assembly as to who would be what? It was then that 22 members were spirited to Enugu, where they were quartered and from where they launched their internecine battle against the government till the end.

It was the same forces that made sure that Mbadinuju did not return for a second term in office, apart from posting the most dismal outing and considered the dreg of Nigerian governors in terms of performance that later installed Ngige. Now, what was in issue? The purse of Anambra State!

Ngige told me that evening that the core of the problem was the Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO), an euphemism for a drain hose, which his traducers planned to fix into the purse of the state to drain away all its resources. His refusal became led to a chain of events that culminated into the July 10 saga.

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Like the current replay in Port Harcourt, which is practically on all fours with that of Awka, about 20 years ago, the source of the problem is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its poor management of the election. In 2003, INEC, under Maurice Iwu, practically handed over the entire election to one man in Anambra State and turned its back. Incidentally, the man was a stark illiterate, who had no place for any form of finesse or niceties, and who, because of the backing from the Presidential Villa in Abuja, practically broke the door with his bare feet, like the thief sent by his father.

That is what is playing out right now in Rivers State. It is a battle between Abuja and Port Harcourt. However, what is not known is how much Aso Rock Villa is willing to delve into the entire show of shame. If indeed, Nyesom Wike, derives the same powers as the anti-Ngige forces did, then the nation should not expect anything less. Until Peter Obi eventually took over in 2026, three whole years after the charade, Ngige never knew peace.

For that period, Anambra State was practically on fire literally and metaphorically with the police and all the security agencies of the state, supplying the fuel with which the fire was maintained. Even the entire government house, Awka was razed down by identified thugs, with the police providing cover.

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Even the almighty judiciary, was not left out. Remember of the cases of Wilson Egbo Egbo and Stanley Nnaji, the two judges that were consumed by the saga, for giving outlandish judgements in the course of the battle.

But then, that was when the courts still maintained some veneers of courage and audacity. With the current state of the judiciary, which is all ready to acquiesce and interpret the letters of the law without the spirit, nobody knows the direction it would go if the cases start getting there.

Yet, that historic era, has remained the redeeming moment of Anambra State. For standing up rather than capitulating, Ngige made  his case with the people, such that those who cursed his government earlier, swearing not to have anything to do with it, joined him in the war to the extent that by the time he was eventually ousted by the courts that handed power to Peter Obi, many households in the state, were in mourning rather than celebration.

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One lesson Sim Fubara, currently at the receiving end in Port Harcourt must learn is that those fighting him take no prisoners. Like in the case of Ngige, they could go to any length to achieve their purpose. To them, there is neither law nor decency. Neither public opinion nor morality means anything to them.

Yet, this could become the redeeming moment to liberate Rivers from the vice grip of political hounds which had descended on the state in recent years, if like Ngige, he clings to the people. Unlike Mbadinuju, who adopted the strategy of spending scarce state resources to appease the elements in Abuja rather than taking his case to Anambra people, Ngige did the opposite and not only survived, but became a hero from a common villain in a matter of weeks.

Incidentally, there is a surfeit of cases to learn from apart from Anambra. Whether it is Orji Uzor Kalu versus Theodore Orji in Abia, George Akume and Gabriel Suswam in Benue, Rabiu Kwankwaso and Abdullahi Ganduje in Kano, examples are replete to suggest that this is a war he is not likely to lose.

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In the end, this war could either make him the winner or loser, the villain or hero. But on a balance and from the hindsight of decided cases, this is his war to lose!

Igboanugo, a journalist, wrote from Lagos

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