Former Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State has handed car gifts to key senators, including Senate President David Mark, in order to ease his path to appointment as Nigeria’s new Aviation Minister.
President Goodluck Jonathan has promised the post of Aviation Minister to Mr. Obi who in mid-March finished his second term as governor. Mr. Obi, a leader of the All Peoples Grand Alliance (APGA), is in line to be rewarded with a cabinet post for his political loyalty to the incumbent president. But Mr. Obi has been handing out cars and cash to senators after discovering that there was significant opposition to him within the ruling party.
After his exit from Government House, Awka, Mr. Obi’s name was touted as a potential government appointee, first as a replacement for Pius Anyim, a former senator and current Secretary of the Federal Government who is believed to be seriously weighing a governorship race in Ebonyi State. But several political heavyweights within the PDP moved against Mr. Obi, two sources in the party said. One source disclosed to the media that several of the PDP’s top members, including its national chairman, voiced their stance that an original member of the party, specifically Jerry Ugokwe, should be tipped to take any post for which Mr. Obi was being considered.
