Posted by By YINKA FABOWALE on
Joint winners of The Sun Man of The Year 2007 award, Governors Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and Peter Obi of Rivers and Anambra States at the weekend dedicated the honour to God and the Nigerian judiciary, without whom, they said, their struggles for justice would have been in vain.
Joint winners of The Sun Man of The Year 2007 award, Governors Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and Peter Obi of Rivers and Anambra States at the weekend dedicated the honour to God and the Nigerian judiciary, without whom, they said, their struggles for justice would have been in vain.
The awardees, in their separate responses shortly after being inaugurated into The Sun hall of fame at the Golden Gate Restaurant, Ikoyi, Lagos on Saturday remarked that they were only used as divine vessels for the liberation of Nigerians from vile and prebendal politics, even as they poured encomiums on the courts for their courage and boldness in giving 'substantial justice'` and deepening the rule of law.
Both Amaechi and Obi bagged the award for their unswerving belief in following due process and the rule of law in the pursuit of their political goals.
The duo were victims of high-wire political manipulation aimed at denying them their rightful democratic victory, but who patiently fought the legal battles up to the Supreme Court which eventually redressed the injustice done them.
Responding shortly after his investiture, Governor Amaechi said he believed that the traits being celebrated were not peculiar to him and his co-winner, Obi, but that God merely chose them for His own glory.
The governor, whose first and middle names Chibuike and Rotimi mean, 'God is my strength" and 'God stood by me," said it was their total dependence on God that has catapulted him and Obi to the place of honour.
In reviewing his chequered political career, he noted that the status of his state, Rivers, as a wealthy state probably accounted for his ordeal in the hands of his traducers, as it presented a lot of temptation.
He, however, praised the judiciary for helping in straightening what he called 'my k-leg." Amaechi said by the award, 'we celebrate the people of Rivers State, man and child," while reiterating his belief that violence must not be seen as the weapon for democratic struggle.
He observed that their triumphs and The Sun award imposed great responsibility on them, stressing that the least he and his colleague could do was to ensure good governance and delivery of democratic dividends to their people.
Speaking in similar vein, Governor Obi thanked God for using them to reform Nigerian politics, the courts for using themselves to liberate Nigerians, and the press for expanding the frontiers of democratic enterprise.
He regretted that the major problem in Nigeria was non-observance and even outright subversion of due process, adding: 'You can only imagine the rascality of the past eight years in Anambra.
Our case is that of where lunatics took over the asylum, with the supervision of the Federal Government."
The governor harped on the need for Nigerians to examine themselves for the sake of better future for coming generations. As he put it: 'An unexamined life is not worth living."
Lamenting the degeneracy in observance of due process Obi said: 'I get to the airport, they ask you to jump the queue because you are an excellency. And I say what excellency? If you are an excellency, you are supposed to be excellent and exemplary, show people how things ought to be done."
He also lashed at silent complicity in these matters, recalling an encounter with a priest, who advised him to take the rape on his mandate as the will of God. 'I asked, what God? If it is how God wants it, there was no point reporting to the police when our cars are stolen then."
Pointing to the Central Bank Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, a past winner of the award who was in the audience, Obi said although they were both age mates, he (Obi) could not lay claim to professorship like him (Soludo) unless he went through the due process of attaining the zenith of scholarship. 'So, if you want to become governor, the process through which you get there must be excellent and right," he said.
Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof Dora Akunyili, who chaired the occasion, lauded the award recipients, who, she noted, had come to represent hope in a democracy under threat.
According to her, they deserved the award for showing faith when it seemed absurd to do so.
At the same time, she observed that the award was really the celebration of the integrity and courage of the judiciary.
She, however, told the award winners that they could not afford to fail God and their people.
Akunyili was full of praise for The Sun Newspapers, which she described as dependable ally of NAFDAC in the fight against unwholesome food and drugs, for initiating and sustaining the award.
The Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Sun Publishing Ltd, Mr Mike Awoyinfa presented the award plaques to the winners after impressive citations on them was read by his deputy, Dimgba Igwe.
The event was witnessed by a gliterati of eminent Nigerians including three past governors, three serving ones, senators, politicians, the royalty, egg-heads, performing artistes, captains of industry, media people, and top government officials.
Dignitaries were later treated to a sumptuous dinner, enlivened by jokes from ace comedians/comperes, Messrs Gbenga Adeyinka the 1st and Julius Agwu.