Peter Gregory Obi popular known as Peter Obi is a Nigerian businessman and politician. He was born on 19th July 1961 in Onitsha, Anambra state located in the southeastern region of Nigeria.
He attended Christ the King College, Onitsha, where he completed his secondary school education. He was admitted to the University of Nigeria in 1980 where he graduated with a B.A. (Hons) in philosophy in 1984. He attended Lagos business school, Nigeria where he did his Chief Executive Program. He also attended Harvard business school, Boston, USA, London School of Economics (Financial Mgmt/Business Policy), Columbia Business School, New York, U.S.A. (Marketing Management), Institute for management development, Switzerland where he also got two certificates in Senior Executive Program and Break-Through Program for CEOs, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, U.S.A. (Advanced Executive Program), Kellogg School of Management U.S.A. (Global Advanced Mgmt Program), and Cambridge University: George Business School (Advanced Leadership Program).
Peter Obi is the second child of the family with two brothers and two sisters. They are Bibiana Adani (elder sister), Fabian Chinwuba Obi, Josephat Ndibe Obi and Martina Obi.
He is married to his beautiful wife, Margaret Brownson Usen in 1992. Their marriage is blessed with two children – Gabriella Nwamaka Frances Obi (female; elder) and Gregory Peter Oseloka Obi (male; younger).
Peter Obi started his life as a trader, a path which is not surprising since he was born into a trading family. He later ventured into the corporate world and has served in numerous positions for different companies such as Former Chairman: Fidelity Bank Plc, Former Chairman: Guardian Express Mortgage Bank, Ltd. , Former Chairman: Future Views Securities, Ltd. , Former Chairman: Paymaster Nigeria Plc. , Former Chairman: Next International (Nigeria) Ltd. , Former Director: Guardian Express Bank Plc. , Former Director: Chams Nigeria Plc. , Former Director: Emerging Capital Ltd. and Former Director: Card Centre Plc.
Obi political career came into limelight when he contested for governorship of Anambra state as the candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) political party in 2003. His opponent, Chris Ngige of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Obi challenged Ngige’s victory in court and was declared the actual winner by the Court of Appeal on 15 March 2006. He resumed office on 17 March 2006. On 2 November 2006 (after seven months in office), he was impeached by the State House of Assembly and was replaced by his deputy, Virginia Etiaba, making her the first-ever female governor in Nigeria’s history. Obi returned to court and challenged the impeachment and was reinstated on the 9th of February 2007 by the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu and Etiaba handed power back to him after the court ruling.
In May 29, 2007, Obi vacated the governor’s office after Andy Uba won the general elections. Meanwhile, he fought the election of Uba in court claiming his four-year tenure he had won in 2003 only started counting when he assumed office in March 2006 and should be allowed to complete his four year tenure. The Supreme Court of Nigeria on the 14th of June, sided with him and ordered Uba to vacate office for Obi. He served as a first-term governor until March 2010.
Peter Obi was declared winner of the 2010 Anambra governorship election on the 7th of February, 2010 after defeating the former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Charles Soludo. He served his second term as governor of Anambra state until 17 March 2014 after which he handed over to Willie Obiano.
On 12 October 2018, Peter Obi was named as the running mate to Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party's Presidential Candidate in the 2019 presidential election. As a candidate for Vice President, Obi opposed proposals for a standardized national minimum wage, arguing that different states should have different minimum wages. However, the Abubakar/Obi ticket came second.
Peter Obi on March 24, 2022, declared his intention to contest the 2023 presidency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). On 25 May, Peter Obi announced his resignation from the PDP and also withdrew from contesting the party’s presidential primary election. Two days later, (May 27, 2022), Peter announced he is a member of Labour Party (LP) and would be aspiring for the presidency on the party’s platform. On 30th of May, Peter Obi emerged the presidential candidate of LP after other candidates like Pat Utomi stepped down for him.
Younger generations under 30 proved to be some of the biggest Obi's supporters, showing their support via social media and protests and street marches. Young supporters of Obi's campaign have been nicknamed "Obi-dients".
In an article in Business Day, it was argued that: "[The Obi-Dients] are attracted by Peter Obi's ideology of frugality, economic production rather than the ostentatious consumerism and waste, and resourceful management and investment in key sectors, for economic growth and development."
These are some of Peter Obi's Achievements as Governor of Anambra state;
- Anambra was the first State to commence Sub-Sovereign Wealth savings, the first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa. At a time many other Governors were leaving huge debts, he left the equivalent of $500 million Dollars in investment as well as local and foreign currency, including $156 million in Dollar-denominated bonds.
- For the first time in the history of Anambra State, Ambassadors and High Commissioners of notable countries such as United States, Britain, Russia, European Union, South Africa, Belgium, Israel, the Netherlands, Canada, among others, visited the State. Before his tenure, Anambra was practically a pariah state blacklisted by the Diplomatic Corps and international development partners.
- Development partners such as UNDP, UNICEF, the World Bank, DFID, the European Union etc., which hitherto were not in Anambra State started working with the State. Anambra was consistently adjudged one of the best states in development partnership and commitment to reforms for good governance.
- He was recognized as Best Governor by the Millennium Development Goals Office (OSSAP-MDGs) and the UNDP in the implementation of their programmes in Nigeria.
- The Nigerian Debt Management Office (DMO) rated Anambra as the least indebted state in Nigeria. In spite of visible and measurable achievements recorded in various sectors, the State under him did not borrow or raise bonds for her various projects.
- The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria rated Anambra State as the most financially stable state in the country.
- The State’s ground-breaking return of schools to their original owners – Voluntary Agencies (Churches) on 1st January 2009, and subsequent partnership with the Agencies in Education, saw the State move from 24th position out of 36 States to Number One in National Examination Council (NECO) and West African Examination Council (WAEC) examinations for three consecutive years. This made the World Bank to commission a study, led by the renowned Prof. Paul Collier of Oxford University, on this revolutionary partnership and phenomenal achievement.
- The State also entered into strategic partnership with the Churches in the Health sector. This symbiotic relationship resulted in a tremendous boost to health care because of the services offered by health institutions owned by Voluntary Agencies, while the State restored grants to the agencies and made available to them more than 50 million Dollars in various types of support.
- Through partnership with the Church in the Health sector, his Government funded the transformation of;
- Iyienu Hospital, Ogidi
- Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Ihiala
- St Charles Borromeo Hospital, Onitsha
- Holy Rosary Hospital, Waterside, Onitsha
- St. Joseph Hospital, Adazi-Nnukwu.
Peter Obi during when he appeared on “The candidate”, an NTA presidential programme in 2019 said;
“I left office in this country, leaving Anambra State with investment in cash of N75billion. The day I left office, we had $56million, N12billion in Fidelity Bank.; in Diamond Bank, $50million, N12billion; in Access Bank, $50million, N12billion for Anambra State. Show me in the history of this country where anybody has left 10 per cent of that.”
Twitter: @PeterObi
Facebook: @PeterObiGregory
Disclaimer
The information in this article was curated from online sources.
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