Elections

Obi contested for the Governor of Anambra State under the All-Progressives Grand Alliance in 2003, Chris Ngige was declared. Ngige’s win in the election was overturned in 2006 by the Court of Appeal, after a ruling at Enugu, which declared Obi the winner of the 2003 election, and he resumed office on 17 March 2006.

Impeachment and return

Obi was impeached by the state legislature on 2 November 2006, a day after the Nigeria Court of Appeal overturned the removal of Rashidi Ladoja, the Governor of Oyo State. In a report by Daily Trust, Mike Balonwu, the Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly, went to the state House of Assembly in Awka around 5:30am under “heavy police security” and passed a resolution which impeached Obi. The report claimed that Balonwu and the other state legislators left Awka for Asaba, Delta State.

He said he will not take over the government house, meanwhile Obi reportedly condemned the impeachment as “an illegal and unconstitutional act. Impeachment is a grave matter and should be done in broad daylight, not under cover of darkness”. According to Obi, he was not informed of the impeachment and has not been able to defend himself. He claimed that the 12 lawmakers did not make the two-thirds majority necessary for the impeachment.

He also asserted that the panel requested his deputy, Virginia Etiaba, to appear before the state assembly to present her defense but no defense for himself [Obi], even after requests from his lawyers. The Nigerian constitution states that “a state governor or his deputy can only be removed by two-thirds of the state legislature’s membership”. Balonwu later said that Obi was impeached after a panel set up to investigate allegations of graft and abuse of office found him guilty of eight out of the 11 charges against him. Virginia Etiaba replaced him as the governor.

After refusal to participate in the 2007 state gubernatorial election, Obi challenged the impeachment. His petition was annulled by the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Obi was re-instated on 14 June 2007 after a court rule in southeastern Nigeria.[9] The speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly and about 23 members who voted for Obi’s impeachment denied being present. According to BBC, it was the third sacking of a governor in 2006 that has been declared illegal by the courts in Nigeria. The chief judge of the state and three other judges were suspended.

On 29 May 2018, senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in an article released to commemorate the third anniversary of Buhari’s presidency, listed Obi as “one of those who suffered injustice while in office as Governor”.

2010–2014: Second tenure

On 7 February 2010, Obi won the governorship election, and served his second term until 17 March 2014, when he was succeeded by Willie Obiano. After the 2015 General Election, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Obi as the chairman of the Nigerian Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), and on 12 October 2018, Obi was named as the running mate to Atiku Abubakar under the Peoples Democratic Party’s for the presidential election in 2019. The Atiku and Obi ticket finished second behind incumbent Muhammadu Buhari of the APC.