By FRED CHUKWULOBE
As another July 10 comes around, public attention naturally returns to the dramatic abduction of Governor Chris Ngige in 2003, an event that remains one of the darkest episodes in Nigeria’s democratic history. But beyond the crisis itself, the date also brings back deeply personal memories of how I unexpectedly left journalism for public service. During the 2003 governorship campaign in Anambra State, I helped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Dr. Chris Ngige, secure an interview with the Editorial Board of Champion Newspapers Limited, where I was the News Editor of the Daily Champion.
Before the interview, two members of his campaign team approached me for advice. They were convinced that the PDP had little chance of defeating the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), whose candidate was Mr. Peter Obi. At the time, Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju’s administration had been widely judged to have performed poorly, and many Anambra people had rallied behind APGA under the powerful influence of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Ikemba Nnewi. Even within Ngige’s own campaign, confidence in victory was low.
One of the campaign officials confided in me that they had been given funds for campaign activities but feared spending the money on what they believed would be a losing cause. “You journalists are usually good at predicting elections,” one of them said. “Help us decide what to do.”
