We agree with Mr Ifeanyi Ubah, Chief Executive of Capital Oil that the gift of SUV vehicles to the traditional rulers in Anambra State on the 24th hour of Governor Peter Obi’s administration is a ‘Greek Gift with a political undertone’ specifically targeted at the outcome of the this year’s Anambra State gubernatorial elections, which winner will come to power early next year.
‘The Motive of the Governor Obi in giving the gifts at the tail end of his administration ,which is well known to Anamba people ,is to curry favour from traditional rulers and Anambra people to so as to have the leeway to install a governor for the state in 2014 .’Ubah had said through his aide, as reported on Page 9 of the Daly Independent Newspapers of Thursday June 20, 2013.
We also agree that the governor’s Greek Gift is a reaction to the visit of the traditional rulers to Lagos in which they were given loads of cash gift by Mr Ubah, which in our estimation has neither brought honour to our state nor dignity to the reverence of traditional rulers.
We nonetheless share the optimism with Uba that this gimmick will not work as the ‘the people of Anambra State have vowed to resist any form of imposition of a governor on them
However, we hold the view that the exchange between Obi and Uba is an exchange between the kettle and the pot in a ‘blacker-than-thou’ contrast on which neither side has the moral rectitude to win in honour.
While we accept that by-passing communities without drinking water, employed youth and guarantee on security to curry the favour of their traditional rulers in an election year is a pointed misplacement of values and priority, we also note that choosing the same year to show the rulers the business investments in a ‘strange land’ raises the same moral questions, which understandably has been responded to by Obi.
We also fail to agree that cash distribution in volumes to principals and APGA-peopled committees, bribing of the Army though N100 LARGESE, or dashing individual owners of sports facilities money, which naturally are not reflected in the Anambra State budget cannot lead the state on any path of disciplined and structured utilisation of public funds. Neither will any such actions from the wings that rehearse further abuse if given the powers IN ERROR.
In the circumstance, we urge Ndi Anambra to be wary of those traits we see now in Uba that has not come from any aspirant in any governorship election in Nigeria , or those polices of profligacy we see in Obi’s government which falls below what can be found in all progressive states in Nigeria ,and look in the direction of All Progressive Congress (APC) for disciplined ,fast-paced developments that conserves our moral values as a state, driven by a visionary leader and guided by the APC robust manifesto, which abhors waste.
For: ALL PROGRESSIVE CONGRESS, APC (ACN +ANPP+CPC+OTHERS)
Okelo Madukaife
State Publicity Secretary,
ACN, Anambra State
