PETER OBI'S PANDORA PAPERS SCANDAL: WHY IT MATTERS.

ICHEOKU says the issue is not whether he is a "wealthy" man or "a very big trader" or the "sole importer of Heinz salad cream" or brings Ovaltine in container loads into Nigeria or is the chairman and/or board member of so many banks, nobody is questioning or begrudging him of his riches. The issue is that he turned out to be just one of them, another hypocrite who preached one thing while doing the other. He harped against corruption but ended up engaging in corrupt practices, hiding assets in offshore tax havens to avoid paying taxes on them. He also owned foreign bank accounts against the code of conduct for public office holders as a former governor of Anambra State. 

He portrays himself as squeaky clean, an image which he cultivated through many economic theory themed speeches and which he markets himself to Nigerians with, as the only authority on the solution to Nigeria's multifaceted problems. He painted an image of an incorruptible personality, the quintessential embodiment of a saintly politician, the moral authority of exemplary leadership and someone possessed of the clout of an ideal Nigerian leader, something which have eluded the country until Peter Obi emerged on the scene. It is this image which he created for himself and sold to Ndi Anambra and which he is also trying assiduously to sell to Nigerians that has now been sullied and besmirched by what the Pandora Papers revealed. 

So, if Nigerians cannot trust him to be honest with his assets declarations and compliance with set rules of code of conduct of public office holders, what else can they not trust of. He is approaching the issue with responses and reactions which are off tangent by proclaiming his innocence and declaring how rich he is. Therefore, no matter the length he goes to protest his innocence and/or declare that he acted based on advise of professionals, including international lawyers who had assured him that he did nothing wrong by incorporating companies in tax havens and in his children's and wife's names, it will not cut it. He acted to avoid being directly identified as owner of the companies and to avoid paying taxes on them. It impeaches his character for trustworthiness and this is the only issue that should concern him which he should work to restore. 

The mere fact that he was ready, willing and able to participate in such a money/assets hiding scheme goes to show his character for dishonesty and if he did it, what else he is willing, able and ready to do just for the sake of money. It is his conduct that is on trial alongside his character for deceit. Recall that many of those rich and wealthy individuals implicated in the Pandora Papers are leaders of some countries whose citizens are suffering from all manners of crass deprivations, including the King of Jordan and his $100 million hidden assets. These are heartless people who do not care nor necessarily love their people that they would rather stash millions overseas than invest in their countries and with jobs creations, help their people earn their living. People are dying in their countries from hunger and starvation while they have millions hidden in money laundering havens. 

Anyway, Peter Obi is one fella who ICHEOKU does not particularly care for especially following the Ezu River 23 floating dead bodies of IPOB and MASSOB members who were massacred when he was the governor of Anambra State. The extra judicial murders of these young Igbo men were not investigated and as their governor, he failed to throw his weight to ensure that their killers, the State, took responsibility for their murder and the culprits were prosecuted and punished and compensations paid to their families. He simply acquiesced to it and the murders were swept under the rug of Ezu River and it was acceptable to this Peter Obi. That callousness cost him a lot of goodwill which he hitherto had both in Anambra State and Nigeria. To say that he speaks funnily, in a small, witchy, shrill voice, unfit for any fully grown adult to possess, especially a man, adds to his general weirdness. 

There is something about him that significantly questions his sincerity and trustworthiness; or should ICHEOKU say something eerie feeling about his general demeanor and personality. He could be an accomplished businessman, scholar, administrator and what have you, but there is something unsettling about him that any clear eyed, unbiased and disinterest person can easily see of him even standing hundreds of feet away. So what the Pandora Papers claimed is not the surprise here, the surprise is that there were not many more of such accusations in the papers as appertained to him. 

As an advocate of good, transparency and open governance which he claims, like Caesar's wife, he should have been above board in every facet and flank. He should not  have given anyone including many of his detractors any reason to throw mud at him and say, you see he is just one of us, big on saying things but small in doing them. Like the Pharisees, he does not practice what he preaches. The veneer of corruptibility is sufficient to sully his reputation and for a man who has pontificated and preached values of a holier than thou person since leaving office as Anambra State governor a few years ago, it matters that he was implicated in the Pandora Papers scandal. He is damaged no matter from which angle or perspective it is viewed as the Peter Obi of yore is no longer the Peter Obi of now.

Peter Obi should understand why many Nigerians, especially his fans are angry at him, worried and concerned about the assertions in the Pandora Papers, which he has since admitted, claiming that he did nothing wrong by what he did. It is because of the trust which they hitherto reposed in him but which has now somewhat be shaken or diminished or completely wilted away as a result of the disclosure. They are unhappy with him that their idol and symbol of honesty and good stewardship is no more; and now questioning if he has been just a great pretender all these years. An Igbo adage has it that 'a good face does not deserve to be scratched'; and being above really means being completely above board, regardless. 

That pedestal of incorruptibility and honesty which Peter Obi had placed himself on have been compromised, it has caved in as a result of the Pandora Papers disclosure and so much so that his once colossal political height have become diminished and he no longer stands as tall as he once stood in the eyes of Nigerians. He should therefore channel any damage control to finding ways to repair it and reinvent himself as the man with candor and character who shuns everything and anything corrupt. He can start this by first shutting down those secret foreign operations, then apologize to Nigerians for the mistake, with a promise to be better going forward while simultaneously denying knowledge of ever being aware that such practice is wrong. He needs humility and not defiance, nor using the opportunity to proclaim how "wealthy" a businessman he is, as his riches is not the issue but his sharp practices of secreting assets overseas. 

Once he can appreciate the distinction, he might recover some of his political capital and standing before Nigerians, otherwise, he has gone off the political cliff and with it whatever chances he formerly had at ever berthing himself in Aso Rock. With Atiku Abubakar's avowed notoriety for being acutely corrupt and now Peter Obi's questionable overseas business sharp practices, imagine what would have been the faith of Nigeria had the duo won their ticket's election in 2019. It is possibly the reason the almighty God intervened and prevented their anchor from dropping in Aso Rock. Just imagine how many jobs his $15 million stashed in overseas' bank accounts would have created in Nigeria and helped put food in so many hungry stomachs. It is that Peter Obi is infallible or that he did something which no other Nigerian has done before, but that Peter Obi should have lived the expectations from Peter Obi and not be just one of them. It is sad.