I walked into the raucous hall. Many delegates were standing by the door screaming on top of their voices. I approached the front and secured a seat in the front row. There was a videotape on pause. The delegates were in disagreement as to whether the video should continue to play or not. On the screen, with mouth wide open and words frozen in his mouth was Gov. Chris Ngige of Anambra State. "This is an insult to us," one delegate shouted from the back. "We have heard all these before." Another screamed out louder than the one before. "If you don’t want to watch," yelled yet another from the left side of the hall, "get out and let those who want to watch do so."

I settled down and tried to observe the rowdy scenes. Mr. Oyibo Achebe, the President of Anambra-Enugu States Association in New Jersey, began to calm the audience down. He had to scream over and above the disorderly crowd in order to be heard. "I didn’t know who Chris Uba was until now," Achebe said pointing at Chris Uba who was sitting directly in front of me, "but I think we should listen to his presentation and afterwards those who have questions would ask him." Miraculously, the audience calmed down and the tape was once again turned on.

It was a documentary that chronicled the journey of Chris Uba and Ngige. It covered the period before the campaign, during the campaign and afterwards when their relationship was dandy. In several instances, Ngige was seen singing the praise of Chris Uba and attributing to Uba the sole responsibility for his victory at the election. The tape also showed Uba boasting about his confidence in Ngige and in his ability to make Ngige governor.

After the tape had played, Chris Uba was called upon to explain the essence of the tape. Oyibo Achebe premised the call by channeling the discussion towards the finding of a lasting solution that would bring peace to Anambra people. The World Igbo Congress (WIC), he said, had charged the forum to come up with resolution that would be integrated into the WIC’s communiqué.

"Ngige is like someone afflicted with diarrhea. He has been going around the press talking," Uba said, "I want to explain to you people my own side of the story." With that, Chris Uba stood up and began to narrate the history of his relationship with Chris Ngige. He talked about how he literally picked Ngige up from obscurity and single-handedly made him a governor, irrespective of the signs that Ngige was not trustworthy. Ngige, he revealed, had rocky relationship with everyone including his father and siblings. According to Uba, Ngige’s own brother, Emeka Ngige, urged him not to make Chris Ngige governor. "When we got to Enugu, I pulled Ngige into a room, locked the door and asked him to tell the truth about his relationship with his father. I insisted that I should see his father," disclosed Uba.

Chris Uba went on to talk about how he visited Ngige’s father and how the man reluctantly endorsed his son. President Obasanjo, Uba said, also had doubts about Chris Ngige’s worthiness to be governor. He revealed how he took candidate Ngige to Obasanjo who queried the candidate on facts in his security report especially as it related to Ngige’s relationship with his father and siblings. Obasanjo was particularly concerned that Ngige was not in a talking terms with his father and felt that such individual must not be entrusted with the governance of a state.

In light of these concerns, Uba said, he decided to sign several agreements with Ngige before they proceeded to have him as candidate. These agreements, he said, were aimed at ensuring that Ngige would not default from the expectation of the caucus that put him in office. Copies of these documents prepared and signed by Ngige were distributed. The Uba group had earlier bought over 17 pages in Africa Abroad newspaper in which these documents were splashed.

Chris Uba proceeded to lay fresh accusations of how Ngige had been misusing Anambra state resources. He accused the governor of mismanaging 150 million Naira monthly security vote and of claiming 36 million Naira for meals every month. Uba mentioned instances where he would pay for hotel bill after a visit to Lagos and Abuja with Ngige and their entourage and Ngige would get back to Awka and claim the money from state coffers. On the marvelous road works Ngige claimed he had been doing in Anambra state, Uba said he would pay for three people from Anambra U.S.A to come home and verify if any of those claims were true.

Uba was brass and unapologetic. Several times, his audience was stunned by the words coming out of his mouth. His derision of the governor was perhaps unpalatable to those who have spent a great deal of their lives in western styled democracy. Uba, without a qualm, used expressions like, "I forced Ngige to…" "When I brought the commander in chief…" "Ngige started to cry and to beg me…" "I told Ngige that today is today." "I called him and asked him to rush down…"

Responding to the general impression that he was running the state as if it was his personal property, Uba told the forum: "I do not control Anambra State. I control the federal government." The ease with which he threw around the President’s name in his tales was shocking and revealing. His unrestricted access to the president was apparent. It was obvious that Uba either had no sense or did not care about how unappealing his deportment was to the audience. He made spirited efforts to convince the forum that he made investment in Ngige’s political career and deserved a payback.

"Ninety-five percent of the things Ngige signed," Uba said, "was for the interest of Anambra State." As if the forum would be impressed that Uba only wanted five percent. "If I want to get back my money," Uba bragged, "I will recommend a contractor."

The forum members burst into questions after Uba had made his presentation. There were questions about the way forward and where all these had left the Anambra people. As Uba tried to answer one question, more were thrown at him. At one point Uba was visibly upset, "You cannot be raising your hand when I am talking," he warned a forum member. Periodically voices were raised and proceeding was charged. It was apparent that the audience was determined to challenge Uba on every count of his presentation. The challenge irritated Uba especially when a member of the audience asked him, "What about democracy?"

In a matter-of-fact manner, Uba stood up and astonished all that were present when he said, "We did not win the election. I have gone to church to confess. The election had no document. I called the result before 12 midnight. I gave INEC the money and asked them to call the result." The revelation caused uproar in the hall. "The person we took his thing is here," Uba said, pointing at Peter Obi who was sitting in the audience. There was thunderous applause as people looked at Peter Obi and some began to call him governor.

It was followed by a period of confusion. Voices were once again raised. Some screamed at Uba to continue with his confession. Others called him disgusting and asked him to sit down. Someone sitting near me called Uba the saving grace of Anambra State. Another man walked up to Uba who had returned to his seat and pointed a finger at him saying, "You despicable man stole my mandate." Uba’s aides, including the dreaded Chuma Nzeribe, swung into action. They stood up and asked Uba to take his seat. "Do not say anything again!" they told him. I watched Uba as he consulted his aides and immediately after he asked the cameraman recording the proceeding to switch off his recorder. Uba tried to speak more but his voice was drowned by the noise. In frustration, Uba said, "Let them make noise. I won’t answer any other question." Uba’s aides were seen threatening those screaming at Uba, "Afterwards, you will come back to Anambra State. Won’t you? We shall see."

An armed security man was brought in and he spoke to the forum members to calm down or be kicked out of the hall. When calm returned, Uba declined to comment further. Peter Obi was called up and he spoke.

In a measured voice, Peter Obi told the forum "If I say what is happening in Anambra State, you will be mad." He said he would trust Chris Uba before he would trust Chris Ngige. Obi told the story of how Chris Ngige confessed in his presence and in front of Bishops that he did not win the election. He once again repeated what had become his mantra when he said, "When the premise of an argument is wrong, the conclusion is also wrong." Mr. Obi charged Anambra people abroad to save the state saying that only those abroad could rescue Anambra. "If you reason like the people at home, you kill us." He went further to warn, "The society we abuse today will tomorrow take revenge on our children."

Thereafter, the session ended as rancorous as it began. As Chris Uba and his entourage drove into town, I followed him for an interesting evening.