Anenih bows out of partisan politics

• Ex-President Jonathan Differs

Two-time Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, yesterday formally announced his exit from active partisan politics.

Anenih dropped his withdrawal notice in the presence of eminent witnesses, during the public presentation of his autobiography, titled, “My Life and Nigerian Politics” in Abuja, yesterday.

However, while the elder statesman was qualifying his resignation with a commitment to continue availing the country of his experience, immediate past President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, said he does not believe it was time for him to turn his back on his “political children.”

The book presentation, which took place at the International Conference Centre (ICC), attracted prominent Nigerians, friends and well wishers, including two former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar, (rtd), immediate past President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan; his Vice, Arc. Mohammed Namadi Sambo, Second Republic Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, the first female Chief Justice of Nigeria, (CJN) Justice Mariam Aloma Muktar, former ministers, former governors among others.

Gen. Abubakar, who chaired the occasion, described the Iyaseke of Esan Land as “a committed, honest and sincere Nigerian, who has kept their relationship spanning over 40 years.”

According to him, his path had crossed that of Anenih as a middle cadre military officer in the old Bendel State, with Anenih as a senior police officer, even as he recalled that Anenih’s door was always open to them at any time of the day and night.

The book presenter and former Minister of Defence, General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, (rtd) who was represented by the former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, also acknowledged Anenih’s political astuteness, saying that was the reason “he had survived for this long on Nigeria’s slippery political terrain.”