DAILY TRUST
Fifteen years after the expiration of their tenures, four former governors are still calling the shots in their states by influencing those who get elective and political positions.
In 1999 when the country returned to civil rule after 16 years of military regimes (1983-1999), the four top politicians were among the 36 governors that were elected.
Those elected governors in 1999 are Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), Boni Haruna (Adamawa), Victor Attah (Akwa Ibom), Chinwoke Mbadinuju (Anambra), Adamu Mu’azu (Adamwa), Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (Bayelsa), George Akume (Benue), Mala Kachalla (Borno), Donald Duke (Cross River), James Ibori (Delta), Sam Egwu (Ebonyi), Lucky Igbinedion (Edo) and Niyi Adebayo (Ekiti).
Others are Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu), Abubakar Habu Hashidu (Gombe), Achike Udenwa (Imo), Ibrahim Saminu Turaki (Jigawa), Ahmed Makarfi (Kaduna), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (Katsina), Adamu Aliero (Kebbi), Abubakar Audu (Kogi) and Mohammed Lawal (Kwara).
The rest are Bola Tinubu (Lagos), Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa),Abdulkadir Kure (Niger), Olusegun Osoba (Ogun), Adebayo Adefarati (Ondo), Adebisi Akande (Osun), Lam Adesina (Oyo), Joshua Dariye (Plateau), Peter Odili (Rivers), Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto), Jolly Nyame (Taraba), Bukar Ibrahim (Yobe) and Ahmad Sani Yerima (Zamfara).
The political fortunes of nine of the 36 governors: Mbadinuju, Kachalla, Adebayo, Hashidu, Audu, Lawal, Osoba, Adefarati, Akande and Adesina went down in 2003 when they could not secure a second term.
However, despite leaving office 15 years ago, four political oracles: Tinubu, Ibori, Kwankwaso and Odili, have been playing key roles in determining who becomes governor in their respective states; starting with their successors in 2007.
While Kwankwaso failed to secure a second term in 2003, he bounced back in 2011 to complete his second term and installed his Deputy, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, in 2015.
Ibori
Elected on January 9, 1999, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ibori (63) has been controlling the political sphere of the oil-producing state for the last 23 years, installing two of his successors.
In 2007 when his second term was lapsing, Ibori rallied around Emmanuel Uduaghan, his Secretary to the State Government (SSG), to succeed him.
When Uduaghan, a medical doctor, was seeking re-election in 2011, Ibori, despite his long battle with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Interpol over corruption and money laundering, was said to have played a vital role in ensuring Uduaghan’s second term victory.
On Tuesday, April 17, 2012, Ibori was sentenced to 13 years by Southwark Crown Court, London, for corruption cases. But he was released from prison in December, 2016, after a court order. It was a celebration galore in Delta when he returned from prison.
In 2015 at the expiration of Uduaghan’s second term, Ibori, despite being in prison in London, was said to have nominated and ensured Ifeanyi Okowa’s victory.
