PROF. SOLUDO’S FORM EC9 PROOF-POSITIVE THAT NO ONE KNOWS IT ALL – CHIMA CHRISTIAN
The exchanges and “hot takes” that have mostly occupied Anambra media/political landscape since it became public knowledge that Prof. Chukwuma Soludo wrongly filled some sections of his Form EC9 are as educative as they are entertaining.
I’m personally gratified that matters like this were brought to public knowledge before proper assumption of duty. If not, who would have believed that “a whole” Professor, especially given his public disposition, did not grasp the meaning of the word “constituency” in the context it is used in Form EC9 as at the time he filled and returned his form.
Well, it has been observed that the higher up one goes in the pursuit of knowledge, the more specialised one tends to become. This leads to mostly two distinct outcomes. For some, the body of knowledge they have thus far acquired and the realisation of how vast the body of knowledge they are yet to aquire gives them unmatched humility.
For numerous others, that comparatively rare specialisation and vast accumulation of knowledge, predisposes them to “earned” arrogance or should we mildly describe it as confidence? There are others who safely operate in-between the two extremes.
It is now of little use for me to consider what end of that “confidence” spectrum Soludo majorly operates from. The safest conclusion one can draw is that the erudite Prof. wouldn’t have been in this legal entanglement had he asked for guidance, or ran his completed form by those who know better than him on the matter before handing it in.
Regardless of what the court of the first instance decides on the November 30th or what the final arbiter ultimately decides, it should now be clear that even the most gifted/educated of us is still a human – and like every other human, prone to mistakes.
The mistake in Soludo’s Form EC9, no matter how consequential intervening courts may deem it to be, pales in comparison to the weighty decisions expected of the occupant of the exalted office of an executive governor.
Anambra cannot afford a governor who assumes he understands the basic presuppositions of every matter. That is why Soludo, or whoever indeed the court pronounces should it find merit in the arguments now before it, needs to have;
competent hands around him
the humility/patience to listen to all shades of opinion, and
the wisdom to sift through and determine the best course of action to take.
May Anambra succeed.
Chima Christian
