After many years of public service, they are no longer near the public square.
ELEOJO IDACHABA in this piece asks where they could be and what they are doing now.
Chinwoke Mbadinuju
Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju was the governor of Anambra state between 1999 and 2003 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but could not return to power because of what analysts described as his “poor performance.” By all standards, Mbadinuju is an intellectual having attended some of the finest universities across the world. He was an aide to former President Shehu Shagari and former Anambra state governor, Jim Nwobodo, at various times. His election in 1999 was said to be bankrolled by a businessman from the state, Sir Emeka Offor, but it was gathered that not long after he became governor, they fell apart and the resultant power struggle led to months of unpaid salaries of workers, unprecedented strikes and several litigations.
Under him as governor, the rate of crime in the state was said to have risen to an unprecedented level that he signed a bill establishing a vigilance group which later metamorphosed into the Bakassi Boys said possess magical powers to fish out criminals.
Writing on Mbadinuju, a major online blog said, “Chinwoke Mbadinuju, the governor of Anambra state from 1999 to 2003, is the man who most people think is Anambra’s worst governor in its history. His case is put into better perspective when one considers the fact that he was one of the handfuls of governors seeking re-election since 1999 who were denied their party’s ticket for incompetence.”
Mbadinuju, who report said joined the All Progressives Congress (APC), defended his action saying that it became necessary for him to join the APC because that was the right thing for him to do. He said the injustice perpetuated by the PDP denied him a second term opportunity in 2013. “While the APC has proved itself as a promising party of present and future, we can all see glaringly that everything about PDP has since vanished,” he once stated. He is, however, no longer visible even as he is said to belong to the ruling party.
Musa Babayo
In all his career and steward in public office, Musa Babayo was nothing close to any form of scandal and since he left office almost 10 years ago, there has not been cause by any anti-graft agency to look for him. A technocrat, former banker, Babayo was the former chairman, Board of Trustees of Tertiary Education Trust Fund, otherwise known as TETFund; a member of the PD as at his last public appointment. He was at one time its deputy national secretary being one of its founding fathers.
In an interview he once granted a national daily about his stewardship in the party, Babayo said, “I have a rare privilege to serve in the National Working Committee of our party in the last four years, first as deputy national secretary and now as its national secretary. The challenges have been quite exciting but at the same time, I would say satisfying.” Since he left TETFund, Babayo has not been known to have joined any other political party as some of his erstwhile colleagues in the PDP did. He has also not been since that last appointment thereby fuelling great suspicion that he may have decided to bid goodbye to politics and public life. He is, however, missed because of the record he brought to bear in all his previous public appointments.
Jimoh Ibrahim
Jimoh Ibrahim is a trained lawyer, businessman and politician, but since he appeared to have played a spoiler role against the candidate of the PDP in the Ondo state governorship election in 2016, he seems to have absconded from public square. He is said to be the favoured business son of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as he was said to have benefited immensely from the privatisation programme carried out by that regime. That was when he allegedly bought many ailing public institutions with the promise of revitalising them, but many years after, they remain the same and worse than he met them.
For instance, he was said to have bought over the former Nigeria Airways and changed its name to Virgin Nigeria, but that was the last time anyone has heard anything about the airline. He was also said to have bought the nation’s premier insurance company, NICON Insurance, Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation, etc, but the fortunes of these companies have not improved over the years. In Abuja, he bought former SOFITEL, now Nicon Luxury, but only those who have been there can tell the exact state of the hotel. This is besides his interest in former Newswatch Magazine, Nigeria Mirror Newspaper which have now been rested with former employees roaming the streets. His oil company, Global Fleet Group, is, however, one of the players in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.
Ibrahim is a man with unending stories both in politics and business circles, but he seems to have gone into hiding.
