Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party has said his challenge of “the rascality” of the system in 2007 was the catalyst for the emergence of Adams Oshiomhole (Edo State), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti State) and Rauf Aregbesola (Osun State) as governor of their respective states.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Obi, a former governor of Anambra State was speaking at a presidential town-hall meeting organised by Arise TV on Sunday in Abuja.
Obi served as governor of Anambra from March to November 2006, February to May 2007, and from June 2007 to March 2014.
He ran for governor in 2003 as a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), but his main opponent was unlawfully declared the winner. After three years of legal battles, Obi was declared winner in 2006 and assumed office in March 2006. He was impeached in November the same year, but his impeachment was overturned and he returned to office in February the next year (2007).
Obi was removed during the 2007 Anambra State gubernatorial election, and the judiciary again intervened, ruling that he should be allowed to complete a full four-year term. In 2010, he won re-election to a second term.
“Being governor, I was impeached. I went to court again, I challenged the rascality,” Obi said.
“And I became the second person to come back in this country as a governor from impeachment. And five months after that, my tenure again was terminated by an election that was not supposed to exist. And I went back to court and established the tenure of governor which has been structured in every election till date.
“Without me, the likes of Oshiomhole, Fayemi, Aregbesola, all these people won’t be governors. It was my challenge of that rascality that made it possible for them to go to court afterwards.”
