Peter Obi
Peter Gregory Obi CON (born 19 July 1961) is a Nigerian politician and businessman, who was the vice presidential candidate in the 2019 Nigerian general election under the People's Democratic Party (P.D.P). He is also a presidential aspirant of the 2023 Nigerian general election. He was the former governor of Anambra State serving from 17 March 2006 to 2 November 2006, when he was impeached and from 9 February 2007 to 29 May 2007 after his impeachment was overturned. Although a fresh election was held on 29 April 2007, he was reappointed governor on 14 June 2007 after a court ruling that he should be allowed to complete a four-year term.He was re-elected to a second-term in office during the 6 February 2010 gubernatorial elections.
Contents
- 1 Early life and education
- 2 Pre-political career
- 3 Political career
- 3.1 Governorship
- 3.2 First term
- 3.3 Second term
- 3.4 2019 presidential elections
- 3.5 2023 presidential elections
- 3.6 Leaving the PDP
- 4 Awards
- 5 Pandora Papers revelations
- 6 Personal life
- 7 See also
- 8 References
Early life and education
Peter Obi was born on 19 July 1961 at Onitsha. He attended Christ the King College, Onitsha, where he completed his secondary school education. He was admitted to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1980, graduating with a B.A (Hons) in philosophy in 1984.
Peter Obi attended Lagos business school, Nigeria, where he did his Chief executive program, Harvard business school, Boston, USA, where he did two programs, London School of Economics, Columbia southwest school, New York, USA, Ins*ute for management development, Switzerland where he also got two certificates in Senior Executive Program and Chief Executive Officers program. He also attended Kellogg graduate school of Management, USA, Oxford University:Said business school and Cambridge University: George business school.
Pre-political career
Peter Obi was a business man and trader before he ventured into politics. According to Peter Obi, he started his life as a trader, being born into trading family before venturing into the corporate world. He held leadership positions in some private establishments. Some of the companies he served includes:Next International Nigeria Ltd, Chairman and director of Guardian Express Mortgage Bank Ltd, Guardian Express Bank Plc, Future View Securities Ltd, Paymaster Nigeria Ltd, Chams Nigeria Ltd, Data Corp Ltd and Card Centre Ltd. He was the youngest chairman of Fidelity Bank Plc.
Political career
Governorship
First term
Peter Obi contested in the Anambra State governorship election as candidate for the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) party in 2003, but his opponent, Chris Ngige of the People's Democratic Party, was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
After nearly three years of litigation, Ngige's victory was overturned by the Court of Appeal on 15 March 2006. Obi took office for on 17 March 2006. On 2 November 2006, he was impeached by the state house of *embly after seven months in office and was replaced the next day by Virginia Etiaba, his deputy, making her the first-ever female governor in Nigeria's history. Obi successfully challenged his impeachment and was re-instated as the governor on 9 February 2007 by the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu. Etiaba handed power back to him after the court ruling.
Obi once again left office on 29 May 2007 following the general elections, which Andy Uba won.Obi returned to the courts once more, this time contending that the four-year tenure he had won in the 2003 elections only started to run when he took office in March 2006. On 14 June 2007 the Supreme Court of Nigeria upheld Obi's contention and returned Obi to office. This brought to an abrupt end the tenure of Obi's successor, Andy Uba whose 14 April 2007 election the Supreme Court nullified on the grounds that Obi's four-year tenure should have remained undisturbed until March 2010.
Second term
On 7 February 2010, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Peter Obi the winner of the 2010 Anambra State gubernatorial election, where he defeated Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, former governor, CBN. This election victory gave Governor Obi an additional four years as the governor of Anambra State.On 17 March 2014 Peter Obi served out his second term and handed over the governorship to Willie Obiano.
After the 2015 general election, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Peter Obi as the chairman of the Nigerian Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).
2019 presidential elections
On 12 October 2018, Peter Obi was named as the running mate to Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party's Presidential Candidate in the Nigerian 2019 Presidential elections. His party came second.
2023 presidential elections
On 24 March 2022, Peter Obi declared his intention to run for the position of President of Nigeria on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Leaving the PDP
In an exclusive report by Peoples Gazette, Peter Obi wrote to the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party on May 24 to resign his membership of the party. According to the report, Obi feared that he may be humiliated at party's presidential primary. Mr. Obi confirmed the development to the newspaper citing the existence of a gang up against him.
Awards
These are some of the notable awards of Peter Obi
- Sun Newspaper's Man of the Year (2007)
- Thisday Newspaper's Most Prudent Governor in Nigeria (2009)
- Champion Newspaper's Nigeria's Most Trustworthy Governor (2009)
- West Africa ICT Development Award for Governor of the Year (2010)
- Zik Leadership Prize (2011)
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Best Performing Governor on Immunization in South-East Nigeria (2012)
- Ezeife Leadership Foundation's Leadership and Good Governance Award (2012)
- Methodist Church of Nigeria's Golden Award on Prudence (2012); Business Hallmark Newspaper's Man of the Year (2012)
- Silverbird's Man of the Year (2013)
- The Voice Newspaper's Award for Outstanding Example in Leadership and Governance (2014)
- Champion Newspaper's Most Outstanding Igbo Man of the Decade (2014)
- Nigerian Library *ociation's Golden Merit Award (2014)
- Catholic Diocese of Onitsha's Golden Jubilee Award (2015)
Pandora Papers revelations
See also: Pandora PapersAs a result of the Pandora Papers leaks, the Premium Times reported on Obi's involvement in offs* companies in tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands. In 2010, Obi had Acces International help him set up and manage Gabriella Investments Limited, a company in the British Virgin Islands named after Obi's daughter with figureheads as directors to avoid Obi's direct involvement; one of the directors was also the director of a Belize-based shell company that was issued 50,000 shares in Gabriella Investments. In 2017, Obi reorganized the company under the name PMGG Investments Limited and created a trust named The Gabriella Settlement which became the sole shareholder in PMGG Investments Limited. Further reporting showed that Obi appeared to have made shell companies in the 1990s as well, with the Barbados-based Beauchamp Investments Limited and UK-based Next International (UK) Limited being tied back to Obi and his family.
After reviewing Obi's history of holding offs* companies, some journalists found that Obi broke several laws due to his business dealings. Firstly, Obi remained as director of Next International (UK) Limited while serving as Governor of Anambra State in direct violation of Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act. Secondly, Obi's non-declaration of his offs* companies broke the Nigerian Cons*ution's provision that require public officers to declare all their properties, *ets, and liabilities. Lastly, both the Cons*ution and the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act outlaw a public officer from holding a bank account outside Nigeria and the leaks (along with Obi's response to them) made it clear that Obi maintained his foreign accounts while serving as Governor.
After the revelations, civil society groups pushed for investigations into Obi as reporters queried the EFCC on if the commission would start investigating Obi. A few days after the report, Obi responded by claiming that he did not break any laws and clarified that the accounts' money was accrued from his time as a businessman while the EFCC invited him for questioning later in October 2021 after Buhari directed all anti-corruption agencies to investigate those named in the leaks.
Personal life
Obi married Margaret Brownson Usen in 1992, and together they have two children. He is a Catholic.
See also
- List of Governors of Anambra State