Some friends have been forwarding to me an unverified document listing the top revenue-generating companies in Anambra State, with SABMiller ranked as number six. Whether the document is forged or authentic, whoever released it- perhaps unwittingly – has done immense good to Mr. Peter Obi.
According to the list, SABMiller, a multinational company attracted to Anambra during Obi’s tenure, ranks highest among non-bank revenue generators. That alone speaks volumes about the kind of investment climate fostered under his administration. Even more curious is the presence of Fidelity Bank at number five. The irony is lost on the document’s authors: two of the top six companies – one being a bank in which Obi is the largest individual shareholder, and the other a company he brought into the state – are direct testaments to his economic foresight and business acumen. Far from tarnishing his legacy, the list only enhances it.
But one cannot help but wonder: why stop at six? What are they trying to conceal? I wouldn’t be surprised if companies ranked 7, 8, 9 – or even 20 – reveal further traces of Obi’s prudent governance and investor-friendly policies. We must demand a broader, more transparent audit: Who truly drives revenue in Anambra? What are their stories? And under whose watch were they nurtured? True accountability must rest on full disclosure.
Perhaps we should remind them that, before leaving office, Mr. Peter Obi secured a vast stretch of land along the banks of the Omambala River for SABMiller’s planned expansion. But no sooner had he left than his successor began “speaking in tongues” to the company – sending signals they could neither decode nor trust. Quietly, they relocated to Ogun State. At the commissioning of their new facility, the Governor of Ogun State publicly thanked Peter Obi for making the investment possible. What a twist.
Sadly, this pattern didn’t end with SABMiller. Just before he left office, Obi had also attracted Distell, the brewers of Amarula, to build a facility in Ozubulu. The ground-breaking ceremony was already done. Likewise, he had performed the foundation-laying for a major pharmaceutical company in Amawbia. But these ventures, too, evaporated after his departure. Like SABMiller, they could not comprehend the new “tongues” being spoken by his successor.
And there is more. For over a decade, Peter Obi was the highest individual taxpayer in Anambra State – until, that is, his successor directed the State Tax Board not to issue him a tax clearance certificate. Strangely enough, this compelled him to start paying taxes in Enugu. I wish that part of his record would also be published.
In their desperate attempt to undermine Peter Obi, his detractors are, ironically, elevating him. When one sets out to diminish a man and ends up unintentionally highlighting his virtues – what else can we call it, if not lunacy?
Obienyem writes from Awka.
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