Anambra
State has been upbeat since 2003. Dr Chris Ngige, as governor, took the
state in a new direction, and his successor, Chief Peter Obi, continued
in the same direction for the benefit of the people. The current
governor, Chief Willie Obiano, is in the same mould. In one word,
Anambra is not just in safe hands, it is now arguably the fastest
developing state in Nigeria after Lagos. In education, for instance,
it is ahead of every other state in virtually every external examination
and contest. Its agricultural development programmme is second to none.
Its security nexus is far superior to that of any other in Nigeria
state, a development which has earned plaudits from the nation’s top
security brass.
This
is a remarkable achievement if we consider that only three years ago
its prominent people were being kidnapped and killed at an alarming
rate. Today the state is almost synonymous with peace, stability and
development.
However,
there are new signs that the state is under threat. And the threat is
coming from its own people, particularly those who want to govern it by
all means. As the state prepares to have a gubernatorial election later
this year, all manner of people have been declaring interest in running.
This interest should ordinarily not be regarded as a major issue. After
all, in the 2014 governorship, for instance, there were as many as 27
people who sought the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which
was then the ruling party. But as God would have, a very competent
person emerged the governor.
What
is worrisome this time is that some of the people determined to become
our governor are well established arsonists and sponsors of arson which
in many countries is considered such a heinous crime that it attracts
the death penalty. The worst case of arson ever in Nigeria’s history
occurred in Anambra State for two days in November, 2004, when a faction
of the PDP in the state led thugs to burn the state broadcasting
service, the legislative building, the judicial complex and, of course,
Government House in Awka, among other key government institutions.
These
destructions took place in broad light, and were led by not just motor
park touts but also policemen, including the commander of the Police
Mobile Force in the state. Another leader of the arsonists was then a
very controversial member of the House of Representatives who held a
press conference in Awka where he dared Gov Ngige to venture into the
state from Abuja and see if he would still be alive! There was another
leader of the arsonists: the student cult leader at the Enugu Campus of
the University of Nigeria, who was to be expelled from medical school
for cult-related activities. Both daylight destructions and the dramatis
personae involved were covered live by even the Nigerian Television
Authority (NTA).
The
late great Professor Chinua Achebe would, in rejecting a national
honour from President Olusegun Obasanjo, noted: “For some time now, I
have watched events in Nigeria with alarm and dismay. I have watched
particularly the chaos in my own state of Anambra where a small clique
of renegades, openly boosting its connections in high places, seems
determined to turn my homeland into a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom. I am
appalled by the silence, if not connivance, of the Presidency”.
These
arsonists were enraged by Governor Ngige’s refusal to open the state’s
vault to them, despite their so-called written agreement before he
became governor to do so. These people have now abandoned the PDP for
the new ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). Ironically,
these erstwhile PDP chieftains in Anambra State launched and sustained
the most vicious form of mind poisoning propaganda against the APC
during the 2015 general elections. They charged the APC with being a
vehicle used to spread Fulani oligarchy and the Boko Haram brand of
Islamic fanaticism all over the country. The atmosphere of hate they
created is what is today haunting the Igbo in Lagos and elsewhere.
The
same arsonists and their sponsors who carried out what is generally
known in Anambra State as The Mayhem have joined the APC not because
they believe in the ideology of the party—if it has ever had any—but
because they want to use the government machinery to impose themselves
on Anambra State. Nigerian politicians have for decades used incumbency
to rig their way to power, in open defiance of the will of the people.
They often act in cahoots with security agencies and the leadership of
the electoral commission to announce forged election results. In the
defunct Western Region in the First Republic, for example, the entire
place was turned into chaos on account of the imposition of an unpopular
government which was to culminate in a military coup d’etat in January,
1966.
Dr
Ngige is popular in not just Anambra State but the entire country. He
has done his best to market the APC in our state. Our people have,
however, resisted the APC. Though some of us are APC sympathizers, it
need be stressed that our people’s refusal to embrace the APC is good
for the nation. Nigeria should not be a one-party state, otherwise it
cannot be called a democracy. The ambitious politicians now drifting to
the APC to contest the Anambra governorship are driven by the sheer
desire to use the federal might against the people.
The
Nigerian people, particularly the media and nongovernment organizations
(NGOs), need to assist Anambra people to ensure that the state is not
taken over by arsonists and those who used their high connections in the
Obasanjo presidency to give them political cover when they carried out
the infamous mayhem of November, 2004. Anambra State has been growing
steadily since 2003, and those Prof Achebe appropriately identified as
renegades should never be rewarded with power. There is no place where
leadership is a reward for criminal enterprise. Our state will never be
allowed to go to the dogs. Never again!
Obiwulu is a lawyer in Onitsha.
Anambra: Never Again! By Hyginus Obiwulu, LL.M
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Thursday, February 09, 2017
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