By Celestine Okafor @CeleOkaf11
February 19, indeed, remains a special day in the life of Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, a former Senate President of Nigeria and ex-Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and also a holder of Nigeria's second highest national honour of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON).
It is the birthday of the eminent statesman, which he often celebrates with pomp and panache. Beyond his usual Christian tradition of offering praises and thanksgiving to God Almighty for His mercies and goodness in his life, February 19 provides Senator Anyim the opportunity to take stock and reflect on a range of issues which includes his life of service to humanity.
Anyim did much of that on Friday, February 19, 2021, when he clocked a milestone of 60 years. Nigerians from all works of life, including the high and mighty in the land, gathered at his Abuja residence and in his offices to celebrate a man who, unarguable, has impacted so significantly on his fellow citizens and on the destiny of his country through his servant leadership. This year, Saturday, February 19, 2022, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, will attract hordes of Nigerians again from the various socio-political strata, to converge at the ornate International Conference Center (ICC), Abuja, at 10am, to hear from the nation's former number three citizen why he desired to lead a rescue mission of their country as President, in 2023.
At 61 years, however, Anyim is very much in his life's prime. He has indeed come a long way in many respect. From his early years in life, Pius has been a man of destiny who would serve as God's veritable instrument to uplift his fellow men through service. He has equally proved to be God's agent in the quest to re-order and reposition his society.
Fresh from school as a young man in 1988, Senator Anyim knew what he wanted - to serve others! And he carefully worked his way through it. He is first and foremost, a man of patience, humility, understanding and compassion, the very requisite ingredients for his success in public service. As a public counsel (lawyer), refugee worker/administrator, a political stalwart, a lawmaker, a head of the complex engine room of a national government and above all, a Nigeria's number three citizen, especially at a time the country's democracy was at its tenuous, fledgling stage, those inherent qualities of Senator Pius Anyim helped him to make a success of his glorious career in service.
Since his exit from government on May 29, 2015, Anyim has remained committed to the service of humanity. He has equally remained faithful in the service of His creator who Has been his source of strength, upliftment and triumphs. Anyim, in the past seven years of his life outside government, has passionately engaged in various youth and women development initiatives across the geo-political zones of country. He had particularly been involved in youth mentoring; ensuring skills acquisition for the young and has been engaging in other relevant social interventions at his own personal costs.
Besides, Anyim, from a statesman's standpoint since his temporary exit from government, has frequently intervened on critical national matters that require high level mediation which essentially affect the well being of the ordinary citizens and the corporate unity of the nation.
For instance, in May last year when the level of insecurity and tension in the country had peaked to almost intolerable proportion such that it became a thing of serious concern to the government and to the citizens and even to the international community, Anyim, as usual, was on hand to offer prompt intervention. He made efficacious suggestions to the President, Muhammadu Buhari, through an open letter. He warned about the ominous dimension of the threats to the corporate unity and stability of the country, and reminded Mr President that all violent agitations in the country, so far, first started as non-violent activities but later snow-balled into full scale conflagration.
Pointing the way forward, however, the former Senate President advised the President to draw from the approach of the former colonial governor, Sir Henry Willink's Commission that dealt with the agitations of the tribal minorities in Nigeria and urgently make history by creating a civic forum of national engagement to hear the actual grievances of the people. He, above all, counseled the President to empanel another Commission of inquiry to look into the remote and immediate causes of the rising tension in the land and recommend ways to de-escalate them. Anyim's suggestions however drew local and international applause as a way out for the country. He also gave more interventions in the case of Igbo agitations through the youth organizations under the auspices of Biafra. While urging the Biafran agitators to show restraints, Anyim advised the government to consider a pacifist and wholistic approach similar to what the Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, did which ultimately brought peace and unity between the warring tribes of Hutus and Tutsis.
Senator Anyim has always responded to contemporary situations that challenged true statesmen particularly in moments of anomie in the country, just as he has often shown more than a passing interest in matters that concern the stability of democracy in Nigeria and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Since quitting government six years ago, Anyim has reached out to leaders across the country to seek ways of collaborating with them in finding solutions to the challenging political, situations affecting the country and her people. Not for once has he remained aloof on matters of regional, national or continental dimensions. Anyim has undoubtedly proved to be an unflinching believer in true democracy and good governance; a patriot and pan-Nigerianist, both in style and character, who has tremendously helped in the growth of Nigeria's current democracy and her national economy. He is renown across the land as an effective bridge-builder who has remained focused on his vision and on his primary purpose of good governance for the country, hence his decision to seek to serve the country, once again, at the level of presidency has elicited so much support and national endorsements.
While as presiding officer of the Senate, Pius Anyim was not a lame duck Senate President. He piloted the affairs of the Senate and the National Assembly with uncommon maturity, comportment, courage, youthful energy and zest, wisdom and dedication to duty, resulting in the successful passage of both executive and member bills, etc.
Born on February 19, 1961, in Ishiagu, a pre-dominantly agrarian and Catholic community in Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, young Pius Anyim first attended Obioha Primary School, in Ishiagu. He later proceeded to Ishiagu High School (St. John Bosco) for his Secondary education, and subsequently, to the Federal School of Arts and Science, Aba, a huge commercial city in the present Abia state. He later enrolled to study law at the Imo State University, Uturu Campus in 1983, graduating in 1987. He then proceeded to Sokoto state for his mandatory national Youth Service. His leadership skill was identified quite early during this time, and he was made the Co-ordinator, Youth Mobilisation Programme. While in Sokoto, Anyim was one of the best Corpers in the state and won the prestigious State Chairman's award. After a while, he relocated to Abuja after his Youth Corp Service year, and in 1992, however, became the Head of Protection Department at the National Commission for Refugees, a job that included provision of legal services and political protection for refugees. In this capacity, he traveled to various parts of the world.
His passion for politics and public service burned with intensity, and in 1998, Anyim joined the existing United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) and won a Senate election. The death of General Sani Abacha, the then military Head of State on June 8, 1998, however botched his Senate victory. Undaunted, Anyim contested again for the Ebonyi South Senate election during the General Abdulsalami Abubakar's transitional regime on the platform of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and won his Senate election in 1998.
While in the Senate as a freshman politician and having been sworn in as a Senator in the early week of June 1999, Senator Anyim was elected President of the Senate in August 2000, after his predecessor, Dr Chuba Okadigbo, was impeached. He was Senate President until May 2003, but refused to seek a re-election back to the Senate, essentially on account of his strong believe in the principles and practice of power rotation as a way to stabilizing the nation's young democracy at the time and build political and ethnic harmony in the polity. He made it clear, in August 2002, his stout opposition that all elected political office holders at the time - including himself - should not go for a second term, so that opportunity could be given to others.
As senate president, Anyim ensured that parliamentary standing rules were vigorously observed by Senators and that their general conducts within the chamber conform to proper legislative ethoes. The former Senate President is not one to be fazed by controversy, and he adroitly knew how to douse controversy and tension when they erupt under his leadership. This is a rare skill among contemporary leaders of government, and particularly, for a young man of his 39 years of age, at the time. For instance, in May 2001, controversy arose over whether the Ministry of Power and Mines under the late political Cicero, Chief Bola Ige, should be probed, Anyim declared that the upper legislative house (Senate) was justified in probing the ministry.
The same month, after Anyim and the Senators had observed what they viewed as certain legal lapses about the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and he complained about it, the Senate set up a legislative panel to look into how to strengthen the anti-corruption Commission and make it more efficient. Anyim was to warn an Abuja High Court judge, Justice Egbo Egbo, that the parliament had the power to order his arrest over his apparent opposition to the necessary amendments and passage of the anti-graft ICPC law by the Senate. Anyim consequently suffered numerous official persecution and psychological harassment as a result of his stubborn insistence on the right course of things in the governance of the country. His private house in Abuja, for instance, was reportedly pulled down over an alleged violation of the Abuja master plan.
At his home front in Ebonyi state, controversy did not flee from Senator Anyim Pius Anyim. As a Senate President, and quite expectedly but unfortunately, he had a political disagreement with the then governor of his state, Dr Sam Ominyi Egwu, who incidentally is now a serving senator and seemingly a political ally of the former Senate President. Anyim also had issues with Egwu's successor, Chief Martins Elechi, who later lost out to Anyim's camp in the 2015 governorship election tussle that saw the candidate he (Anyim) supported, the incumbent Ebonyi state governor, Engr. Dave Nweze Umahi, ultimately emerge as governor, against the wishes and plans of former governor Martins Elechi.
In November 2020 and shortly after governor Umahi of Ebonyi defected from the PDP to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), a political disagreement suddenly erupted between Senator Pius Anyim and the governor, on account of, whether or not, Anyim should also defect to the APC. While the Ebonyi governor accused Anyim, Senators Sam Egwu and Obinna Ogba (both of Ebonyi South and Central districts) of being "cultists" allegedly plotting anarchy and violence ostensibly to undermine Umahi's government, Anyim countered the governor, equally accusing him, in a petition he wrote to the President, the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of the Department of State Service (DSS), over alleged threat to his life and of being "a prisoner of his greed and inordinate ambition". Anyim was to explain that his inclination not to succumb to unnecessary intimidation and orchestrated political arm-twisting, was often the cause of his political misunderstanding with opponents.
But such occasional tiffs often associated with politics and with politicians of Anyim's stature, especially in their dealings with political opponents, has not diminished or eclipsed his penchant for public service whenever opportunity presents itself. Barely four years after he successfully left office as the nation's number three citizen, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim ran for the National Chairmanship position of the then ruling PDP in January 2007. He was indeed a front runner, the candidate to beat at the proposed party convention. He got substantial following and overwhelming support from the Kaduna PDP. The League of Patriotic Lawyers and even the PDP Youth Forum also backed his candidature. These are apart from the numerous block supports he had garnered from across the geo-political zones of his party. But in the end, the PDP ruling overlords, during the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua administration, chose Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, a former PDP national secretary and ex-Minister from Abia state, as chairman of the party.
Like a Phoenix, the former Senate President quickly rose from the ashes of the bitter PDP chairmanship race experience. In January 2010, he led a delegation of 41 eminent Nigerians that called on the ailing President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to urgently transmit a letter of his incapacitation to the National Assembly to salvage the nation's democracy from danger. Anyim effusively commended his colleagues in the Senate when they passed a resolution on February 9, 2010, to make the then Vice President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan the acting President of Nigeria. In May 2011, Pius Anyim was appointed as Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) by the Jonathan administration.
As the SGF, however, Senator Anyim played a key role in his capacity as government scribe to stabilize the Jonathan's regime. Quite early in the life of the administration, Anyim deployed his legislative experience, contacts and influence as a former lawmaker and an ex-President of the Nigerian Senate, in ensuring that there exist, a strong rapprochement between the National Assembly and the Executive arm of government. This was evident in the improved relationship between the two branches of government that had been at daggers-drawn, especially during the ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo years, as President.
Anyim equally ensured that there was stability in the leadership of the National Assembly where he was chairman between August 2000 and June 2003. He helped to give accelerated approvals to bills brought to the parliament by the executive, to the Senate in particular. However, in the lower chamber of the National Assembly where it was expected that the emergence of Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as House Speaker against the projections of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) would destabilize the government, Anyim was swift in taking advantage of his existing cordial relationship with Tambuwal and his then deputy, Hon Emeka Ihedioha, in ensuring that the expected opposition against the Jonathan government by the members of the House of Representatives was put in check.
At the official level, Anyim had proved to be a valuable and dependable SGF. He facilitated several reforms carried out by the government he served throughout the fives years the Goodluck Jonathan regime lasted. These reforms, were evident in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government, as well as at the Presidential level. It was to the credit of Anyim that the intractable face-off between the Federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which lingered for several months in 2014, was finally and amicably resolved. The former Senate President's mediating ability also manifested in the settlement of so many other industrial disputes involving the government of the federation and other labour groups, such as the Judiciary workers strike action, which was resolved at the time.
As the head of the secretariat of the national government, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim ensured that the government of President Jonathan embarked on an enduring public infrastructural projects that would impact meaningfully on the lives of the people. He supervised the celebration of Nigeria's Centenary project in which the government reportedly contributed no funds. Anyim and his team of planners of the Centenary event, skillfully got a private sector undertaker to sponsor the event very successfully. The former SGF was equally instrumental in pioneering the concept of the prestigious Centenary City in Abuja which was being handled by Eagle Hills, a famous internationally renown private developer and urban renewal expert company known around the globe and based in Dubai, the United Arab Emirate (UAE). The firm was to commit well over N20 billion US dollars into the prestigious Centenary city project expected to be one of the most elegant and modern city in the world.
Anyim, as a seasoned public administrator, is reputed to be a national peace advocate. He has helped to broker so many peace deals on cases and contentious issues that would have slowed down the smooth administration of the federal government, especially that of ex-President Jonathan, who he served as his SGF. For instance, in the unabating war against the Boko Haram insurgency, Anyim was pivotal in the efforts by government to contain the activities of the sect. Although his role was not quite visible on the exterior as a government scribe, it was Anyim's office that coordinated most of the government's policy direction in seeing to the execution of the war against the insurgents. He had proved to be a factor in the revolution that went on in government's key sectors like the water resources, YouWin programm, SURE-P, Transport sector which includes road and rail Transformation of the Jonathan government.
However, Anyim's administrative and leadership acumen was again evident in the 2014 National Political Conference in which very many key reform approaches were recommended for the future management of the country to achieve a balanced, fair, equitable and more progressive federal Nigeria. Just when it seemed that the confab might end up in fiasco, Anyim effectively took charge of affairs and direction of the conference from the rear. He ensured that vital logistics for the successful conclusion of the confab was put in place, including ensuring adequate security for the delegates and all those who participated in one way or the order in the conduct of the confab. He prudently ensured that the administrative managers of the conference operated within the financial budget of N7billion allocated for the national talk shop. Senator Anyim equally moderated and safely navigated the conference to a successful end, to the chagrin of dooms-day prophets who predicted that the conference would, at best, amount to a hollow ritual, a sheer exercise in futility.
As Senator Anyim Pius Anyim formally throws his hat in the presidential ring on the occasion his 61th birthday, the self-effacing statesman who has been described by those very close to him as a thorough family man, a devout christian with strong religious values and discipline, it is expected that his party and the electorates of Nigeria might consider giving him a chance to serve them, and to demonstrate, once again, his commitment to the service of his fatherland and his unwavering pursuit of a united and peaceful Nigeria. NNL.
