These days and at these times when public officials bemoan their misfortune of inheriting empty treasuries from their predecessors, one cannot but remember Peter Obi, the former Governor of Anambra State. He turned 54 last Sunday. But this is not about his birthday; it is about his lifestyle. It’s about his style of leadership, about his brand of economics and about his personal values and principles which stood him out of the pantheon of profligate leaders in a nation roiled by a roguish clan of locusts.

Today in this patch of wasteland called Nigeria, the talk is about mismanagement of public resources, about looting and looters, about suffering, grinding masses in a minefield of the wasteful and the extravagant. This is why Peter Obi easily comes to mind. As Governor of Anambra State for eight years, he had all the powers and privileges to engage in fiscal prodigality. He was governor at a time Nigeria earned cheap easy money from crude oil sales and shared same without recourse to the inevitable uncertainties of tomorrow. He was governor at a time when bank chief executives owned private jets and when governors went into a frenzy of acquiring private jets and choppers while those who could not went into long-term lease of jets; but Obi restrained himself from the spendthrift club.

As Governor, he was always the next passenger in a commercial flight; he joined queues at airports to check in; he carried his own hand luggage by himself; he did not surround himself with men of high muscular tonality as bouncers or bodyguards; he tempered the temperament of the few security personnel around him; he shared seats with commoners and made himself accessible to the people.

British Prime Minister, David Cameron and former Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani and sundry public officers in the advanced West are well-known for their preference to travel by public transport. Giulani, for instance, was a fan of the ever-busy New York subway. Cameron proudly flies British Airways. The combined two-year budget for the State of New York (2015 to 2016) is $142 billion dollars. This is far more than the combined annual budgets of all 36 states in Nigeria. Yet, neither any Governor of New York nor its Mayor rollicks in exotic private jets. Our governors did, including governors of states that could not fulfill their financial obligations to their workers and pensioners.

I have had engagements with Peter Obi while in office as governor and out of office; he remains the same. No airs associated with state powers; he does not flaunt his wealth as do Nigerian aristocrats and money bags; yet he is numbered among wealthy Nigerians. Unlike most of his peers in and out of power, he was already wealthy as a private citizen before taking a dive into politics. Power intoxicates and corrupts men but not Peter Obi and he says it with relish and certitude that he has kept all his friends both in office and out of office.

Obi who is legendary for fiscal frugality and aversion to wastages has consistently told diverse audiences that he has only one wristwatch which is 14 years old and he does not have any need to change it or buy another for as long as it is serving him. “I have owned and used one wristwatch for the past 14 years and it is still keeping accurate time for me so I have no reason to change it just because I can afford to. The belt I use is older than two of my children. I have no need to buy another belt for as long as this one is still okay”.

Let’s not forget that this Peter Obi was Chairman of Fidelity Bank and was involved in several successful enterprises before he became Governor of his state; he had all the cash, goodwill and credit worthiness to acquire a private jet, lease a jet, holiday every summer in the Bahamas, spoil himself in winter in Cayman Islands or take up temporary residency in one of Dubai’s sumptuous underwater hotels but he did none of these. Instead, he opted for the simple life and using every cash he could have wasted to sustain an orgy of boisterous living to better the lot of humanity.

He marked his 50^th birthday while in office as governor. Attaining age 50 in Nigeria is considered a landmark hence some people go all out to curry laudations in the form of newspaper adverts; some go on the wild, wild side of life with lavish parties but never Peter Obi. He told his well-wishers not to throw parties on his behalf or engage in laudatory, ego-massaging advertisements but to buy learning tools including computers for donation to schools. If you want to see him in any city, don’t bother looking for him in big hotels, just check out any of the simple, lowly but clean hotels. He does not drive big cars yet he is a creator of wealth for the nation and the people.

It was no surprise that upon leaving office as governor, he left behind in Anambra State coffer a credit balance of N75 billion broken down as follows: N27 billion in stock and shares of quoted and unquoted companies; N28 billion certified state/MDAs balances; and $156 million in foreign currency-denominated bonds and cash. That is the testimony of a man who came to serve the people and not one who came to be served from the till of the people. Obi came to serve and he was a huge success because he took to public office his personal values of keeping it simple, no wastages and no ostentation.

In this season of empty treasuries and as President Muhammadu Buhari shops for aides and ministers, he must go for men and women who would apply the Peter Obi brand of economic frugality. The President has no powers over governors but the governors should copy the Obi template. No Nigerian governor is that busy as to deserve a private jet; it is an obscene indulgence in a nation whose soul is barbed by the tears of a growing army of poor folks.

Real change is not in downsizing the number of ministries or slashing salaries; real change is in not acquiring or leasing private jets and choppers, not swindling your nation or state through bogus security votes; and not globetrotting with a retinue of aides for imaginary foreign investors. Peter Obi avoided these inanities and that is why he is living peacefully among the people, out of office. I look forward to sharing seat with my governor from a Lagos to Asaba flight sometime soon. Long before the emergence of APC, Peter Obi had set the tone of what change should be; let the real change begin now.

Author: KEN UGBECHIE, first published in Sun Newspaper