Former governor of Delta State, James Ibori has described the death of Chief Anthony Akhakon Anenih as the end of a remarkable era in Nigerian politics.
In a statement signed by Tony Eluemunor, his Media Assistant, Ibori said Anenih was in a class of his own as he was almost unsurpassed in political strategy for four decades. According to him, Anenih was depository of political wisdom, a library of contemporary Nigerian political history and the nation’s foremost political tactician for decades.
Ibori noted that Anenih’s life should be studied like a book by anyone who wants to go far not just in Nigerian politics, but in life generally, because he drew himself up by his own boot straps and remained almost unequalled as a political leader and pathfinder since the 1970s till his retirement after the last general elections.
He said: “Anenih was a self-made man who did not have the benefit of attending a secondary school but studied at home for his West African School Certificate while he was already in the Police Force. With that certificate in his pockets, the sky was his limit as he attended the Police College in Ikeja, and merited to be selected for further training in the Bramshill Police College, Basingstoke, England in 1966 and the International Police Academy, Washington DC in 1970.
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“Perhaps as a sign of what was to come, he served as a Police Orderly to the first Governor-General of Nigeria, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. He retired as a Commissioner of Police in 1975.
The statement further eulogised Anenih as a master political tactician who during his tenure as State Chairman of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) from 1981 to 1983, spearheaded the election of late Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia as civilian Governor of Bendel State.
Ibori went down memory lane to recall Anenih’s exploits in the Nigerian political space. He said of Anenih: “When democracy returned, he was National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1992 and 1993, and masterminded the election of Chief M. K. O. Abiola as President. Yet, it was in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that he was nationally recognised as “Mr. Fix It”, a tag the Daily Independent newspaper actually gave him. From 1999 until his retirement in 2015, he played great roles in the party as Minister of Works, National Leader, Chairman of BoT, etc, helping to decide the political direction of Nigeria. There is no doubt that very few Nigerians have played the masterly roles that Anenih routinely played.”
The former governor said he was lucky to have been very close to Anenih who took him under his wings. “I learnt a lot from him. Even in my darkest moments, he believed in me. His memory will ever remain green in my heart. May God grant him eternal rest and grant his family the fortitude to bear this massive loss,” he said.
