By Ken Ugbechie
He carries a certain charm. A magnet that attracts peace, unity and spell-binding amity. Anyim Pius Anyim, former President of the Senate also carries profound grace that makes him, at critical times, the epicentre of peace.
He typifies the Biblical truism that when the ways of a man please God, He makes even the man’s enemies to be at peace with him.
Two incidents, indeed three, in Anyim’s storied life of many moments easily pop up to index this streak of Anyim as a national unifier. It does appear that Anyim has the uncanny gift of knitting the nation into one indivisible unit each time Nigeria’s foundation is threatened and fractured by bitter politics.
Penultimate Saturday, precisely on February 19, Anyim marked his 61st birthday. His family and friends put up an event to celebrate the life of a man who wears grace as an armour. It was a celebration meant to have happened last year to mark his Diamond anniversary but for Covid-19 with all its restrictions. The event meant for his 60th birthday was therefore pushed forward to his 61st birthday. But it didn’t matter. What matters is that his birthday was celebrated by his family, friends, frenemies and politicians of diverse ideologies and statesmen of craft and gravitas.
By hindsight, you could tell that divinity was at work even in the postponement of the birthday celebration. You could discern the wisdom and invisible hand of God in moving the event to this year: the year of political hustings. When God’s grace is on duty, every disappointment becomes a blessing. By this time last year, Anyim was out of the nation’s political radar. Many politicians were. But not this period. With 2023 general elections barely a year away, politicians have crawled out of their private spaces. The soapbox is once again busy.
The platform knows no rest. The dais is buzzing, yielding to one politician after another. Anyim is one of such politicians who have unhinged themselves from their families and cherished privacy. He is not mincing words about it. He wants to run for Presidency in the 2023 election. A stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Anyim brims with confidence; infectious confidence. He counts on his pedigree. He counts on his fidelity to his party, his capacity and competence. On several platforms, he has analysed the problems of Nigeria. Each time he speaks, he sounds different. He sounds intelligent, composed, at peace with both himself and with humanity and as someone who knows the way.
Anyim, sure, knows the way. As former President of the Senate, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), civil servant, and lawyer with loads of experience, he is a perfect cut for the job of President. And it shows in all his conversations. He is distinct in his approach to leadership. His prescriptions have been described as plausible and feasible. Anyim is a hands-on man; very pragmatic in his leadership style. He showed it as President of the Senate. He demonstrated it as SGF. And he says he’ll bring all to bear on his Presidency if he gets there.
But this article is not about Anyim’s capacity. That is well noted. He has capacity and capability. He has the courage to lead, the intellect to understand and the foresight to envision. It’s about Anyim’s clout to, at critical times, transform to a rallying point for national unity. This special grace showed up when he was President of the Senate. There was entropy in the polity. Then President Olusegun Obasanjo’s impulsive manifestations was running wild. For a reason too flimsy to reproduce here,
Obasanjo turned his tantrum against Anyim. To him, Anyim must go the way of his predecessors: Chuba Okadigbo and Evans Enwerem. Both were impeached at the behest of Obasanjo who turned the Senate Presidency to a roulette. A game of chance. By early 2003, towards the twilight of their first term of four years, Obasanjo had decreed that Anyim must be impeached. Two South East senators, both of the PDP, Anyim’s party, offered themselves as hirelings to execute the job. There was tension. A section of the media was in celebratory mood, demonstrated in their tendentious headlines. But never! Anyim was not impeached. He did not even falter, let alone fall. What happened? Grace showed up. The ever-present help in trouble showed up. Rather than allowing themselves to be used, the opposition senators (mainly ANPP members) plus some PDP senators queued behind Anyim. Outside the National Assembly, the polity was divided across party lines but inside the Senate, a majority of the senators across party lines were united behind Anyim in one loud and eloquent expression of national unity. Anyim became that rallying point for national unity.
Even out of office in 2003 when he buried his father in his Ishiagu, Ebonyi home, the story was the same. Both PDP and ANPP politicians, among others, emptied into Anyim’s home in Ishiagu, a bi-partisan congregation. A carnival of national unity.
And now this! Dateline: Abuja, February 19, 2022. Anyim’s 61st birthday celebration. Every political party, every state, every political ideologue, every faith and every age bracket was represented. President Muhammadu Buhari, held back by State duties, did not want to miss the show. He sent a worthy representative in Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and his deputy Namadi Sambo, Governors, ministers, National Assembly members (both serving and ‘retired’), business people, indeed men and women of every human endeavour were represented. Outside, politicians were still engrossed in politicking across party lines but inside the hall, the statement was loud and clear: Nigeria is one. Only an Anyim could attract such bi-partisan crowd simply because of his brand of politics which promotes fairness, justice to all and malice to none.
The bi-partisan crowd was not there just for optics. Speaker after speaker pointed to Anyim’s capacity to engage, ability to lead, and his sublime accomplishments at his various stations in the past, especially as former leader of the Legislature and former engine room of the Federal Government.
President Buhari famed for his taciturnity could not hold back his admiration for Anyim’s peaceful disposition on national issues. He described Anyim as a “patriotic Nigerian who always puts his nation first and he is one of the stabilizing voices we have today in the politics of our country. This he has demonstrated a number of times, but the one that stands out and still echoes with me was his insistence that elected officers should always stay a single term and he kept to his word by not seeking for re-election to the Senate, after the expiration of his first term as Senator and Senate President in 2003.”
His former boss, President Jonathan was both frank and forthright when he said: “I don’t regret committing him. He is a very hardworking young man, committed to serving this nation and I believe if he has the opportunity to serve more, he can do better.”
There were other speakers but the summary of what they said was that Anyim can be trusted with higher political responsibility in the future. That future beckons!
*Ugebchie, veteran journalist and public affairs analyst, was media aide to Anyim
