After eight years of continuous tenure in the executive branch office, Anambra State of Nigeria is set for a transition of the executive power to a successor. The outgoing Governor, Mr. Peter Obi has personally selected a region of the state that he intends to handover the power to. The governor’s reasoning is based on his personal judgment that the area has not been fairly treated when it comes to getting their fair share of the highly privileged position. As a result, he is using the State’s resources to deliver a favorable outcome to his chosen region.
On the surface, this appears to be a good gesture from a highly dedicated Chief Executive of a state who cares about equality in the state. However, evidence shows that underneath the disguise, the governor, who has a penchant for being unforgiving and holding grudges is playing the regional card to shut out his most dreaded political opponents and settle political scores.
Outside of the governor’s party APGA, people find it quite incomprehensible because Anambra is a homogenous State, comprising of the same ethnic group that should not be divided for political reasons. Furthermore, the Ibos have always blamed the national quota system as one of the problems with Nigeria. They complained that if only Nigeria would choose the best qualified individual, the Ibos will excel in education, sports, employment, contracts and consultation etc.
It is therefore not surprising to see why the people wonder why anybody will want to introduce a quota system that has not only failed in Nigeria but is purely antithetical to the tenets of democracy in a progressive State like Anambra. They compare it to going on a job interview only to find out that the job has already been reserved for the interviewer’s favorite candidate. Thus the most important job in the state has been preserved for someone before the first vote is cast – Suffix to say that Nigeria’s brand of democracy is modeled after the USA system.
The questions begging for answers are many and may never be answered before the votes are counted. First, keen observers of activities in the state are asking, “At what point did the governor develop this change of heart for fairness”? In the last election the governor used the state resources to support his kit and kin such as Dora Akunyili, Joy Emordi etc all from his hometown of Agulu for elected offices. The fairness did not cross the governor’s mind when he was fully aware that the chairman of the party is also from his hometown. The fairness also took a leave of absence when the governor chose his homeboys for the choice positions such as the chairman of Onitsha local area or recommending them for federal jobs or INEC commissioners. We know from reading their incessant propagandas emails that most his handlers are also from his neighborhood.
Some folks find it quite insidious that the Governor who taunted his predecessor for developing only his region is now advocating that his successor should come from a particular region. What is the purpose of the regional selection if not an inducement to concentrate on ones own region? The underling code word thus says ‘it is now your turn’ (To loot in the name of your area). Shouldn’t it be that anybody who is elected to a statewide office should consider the entire state his region and treat them equally? Is this not an implication that some regions were neglected by the outgoing administration? Could this not provide the tool for an indictment by other ethnic groups who say that all the garbage Ibos are complaining about the Federal government using quota to award college admission, jobs, sports and all worth not, are just mere words?
The governor’s pronouncement has not only overexcited the people of the chosen town but has set the stake so high for them that failure to achieve the expected outcome can be very devastating and disappointing, thereby causing a feeling of alienation, animosity or hurt. Even if the expectation is accomplished, it will only amount to what others may concede as winning in Special Olympics. The governor has to tie the hands of the other competitors for his man to win.
There is something fundamentally creepy about knowing that you won something only because the standards have to be lowered for you to win or that others have to be restrained for you to excel. What if it turns out that the governor is only using this region for a dubious purpose? How disorganized is the rest of team and their game plan if the governor’s first choice of his close friend, Oseloka Obaze, who was highly marketed as a possible replacement, was not even a registered voter while he was serving as the Secretary to the State Government?
Now, pertaining to the issue of fairness, how did the governor determine this and why is it limited to region only? There are other aspects of the spectrum that can equally stake their claim for fairness. The governor chose a Catholic like him. Why not give other religious denominations a fair chance? The governor chose a male like him. Why not give a woman a fair chance? After all, women have not been treated fairly since the creation of the State. Again the governor chose a banker that worked with him. Why not give other professions their chance? When you talk about fairness, it shouldn’t be limited to just one person’s interpretation. This is how senseless quota system sounds. It gets to be annoying if it doesn’t speak your language. That’s why it is better to run an open democracy.
Anambra State has about 177 towns and other communities agitating to be classified as towns. Anyone can bet his/her last money that none of these towns will vote that their communities received their fair share in the power distribution of the state (may be with the exception of the governor’s town). So why is the governor applying the rule of divide and conquer before exiting the stage? The answer may not be far-fetched –Divert attention from the real issues while he flies back to overseas to count his acquisitions and check on his children who live outside of the problems the common man faces everyday in Anambra State.
What are the implications of Anambra State accepting this concept of allocation of future positions based on quota system? The floodgate would be wide open to future claims and counter claims. The chairman of one the factions of the APGA party, Chief Umeh states that the central region of the state should not participate in the election because it will amount to 18 years of ruling if someone from that region should win. He obviously did not think about this when he and his brother governor sponsored only people from their town for elective offices in the state.
Chairman Umeh has been in office for quite some time and has no plan of relinquishing his position to the newly elected chairman Max Okwu. He will rather accept a divided (1/3 of a state) party than give up his inherited position. We learned through his quarrel with the governor that he came to politics with nothing but can now boast of properties in choice areas of Abuja, Lagos and Enugu excluding the assets overseas. This is all at the expense of the Anambra people state, yet he is not ready to quit the stage. I doubt if any town in the central region will agree with Chief Umeh that they should not be part of the political contest because Agulu has taken the slot for their region.
Even a blind cat can recognize that most of the dubious Nigerian politicians can sniff out a naked virgin rat from a thousand miles and these guys can’t wait to rape the newly appointed APGA Political Virgin – Obiano so mercilessly – all in the name of putting him in power. The chairman obviously forgot that the people of his town took more than their fair share even within the Anambra central region as the state now divides and defines itself.
Just consider this. Religion: if we accept this concept of quota system, the governor has drawn lines along religious doctrines. The Anglicans can now petition that the Catholics have had their turn for more than eighteen years and it should be their turn at the gravy train. They have every right to make a case for a person of different denomination for the job. Imagine every religious sect fighting for its’ own spot. Almost all the candidates currently running are Catholics. Do we ask them to withdraw their party nomination to be fair to other denominations?
Gender: The women group can step up and stake their claim. After all, women are said to make up to fifty percent of the electorate. They can argue that men have had their chance in the State government’s affairs and it should be their turn. We currently live in a world where for the first time in human history, men are no longer indispensible. The human races have quickly moved away from physical power to brain power for survival. You now have more women obtaining college/university degrees while men are dropping out of school or fleeing the State and the country at an alarming rate. It is no longer an issue of gender equality but whether men can even keep up or catch up in the future. So women could make their case.
Institutions: Having being a product of CKC, other reputable schools such as DMGS etc may be asking for fairness. Why must we choose another CKC product or another catholic school product? Is it fair that after eight years, another person from the same type of institution will take eight more years?
Profession: Other disciplines will want to know why we want another banker. One thing Obi, Obiano or even Soludo have in common is that they are all bankers. How do you think that Nigerian bankers amass so much wealth even when the banks were failing and people’s deposits, stocks and bonds were disappearing? All you need to do is look at the bankers and bingo, you are right on the money with your answer. Who didn’t know someone who lost all his/her life savings in some of the Nigerian banks scams? Everyone in America is familiar with the Nigerian underwear bomber, whose ‘Bank-Chairman’ daddy bought him a 4 million dollar house in UK while he was still in school. Don’t we know how much bank employees make? The answer is ‘Yes’ we do but we choose to feed the fire of corruption by enabling the corrupt individuals to our own detriment. We call them spotless even when we know better.
Actual Regional Expenditure: Unless the claims were bogus, the governor’s internet warriors constantly reminded us that the governor has done a wonderful job in Anambra North (Onitsha environs) even more than the State capital – Awka. How much did other regions get? In his determination for fairness, the governor chose the same region he professed to have spent the most money in. How unfair could that be?
Looking at the lay of the land, the stage may be finally set for people to vote along regional lines. As deeper emphasis gets laid to the concept that it takes someone from your region to get essential amenities and developments from the state government, we should not be surprised to see the extent some regional champions will go to garner the most votes for their man or at least alter the outcome of the election to suit their purpose. People working in their areas for candidates from other regions risk reprisal.
Senator Chris Ngige appears to be the major target of the governor’s foot soldiers. They are using every avenue to categorize him as a bad choice for people. The State government is throwing its entire arsenal at him in an effort to discredit him. This makes anyone wonder why the state government is so terrified of this guy – Ngige. Other candidates rarely get mentioned by the governor’s propaganda machinery.
What is the secret to Ngige’s strength? Why does Ngige’s image loom so large? The answer lies in the fact that Ngige represents the hard core Igboman’s dogged spirit. His determination to stay the course and not give up had been taught to many Igbo young men and women but few are able to put these qualities into practice. Many that dare undergo what Ngige went through, would have given up and ran away or submit to the higher powers. He sort of reminds the Igbos of themselves at their best.
During his term in office, he single-handedly fought the Federal might to a halt when the then president -Obasanjo applied the same tactics that the governor is using now. He prevented the former president from having his way with the state causing the president to withdraw his security details. He embraced the masses and delivered the dividends of democracy in quantum leap. It was during his administration that the people of the state even realized that revenues were being generated by the state government. It was his stubbornness and refusal to yield to political looters of the state that made it possible for Pete Obi and his party to emerge.
There is an African proverb that says if you want to catch a monkey, you have to act like a monkey. When he left office, he left over twelve billion Naira in the state coffers, which is unheard of before in the history of the state. Anambra people understood that Ngige had to go undercover to discover what was making the state bleed, just like undercover cops must act a certain way to catch criminals.
He was the only governor of the state to be celebrated across America after leaving office. Usually people celebrate the governors while they are in office to seek for one thing or the other. No one else elected or selected has placed the people first and no other past leader can command such enigmatic presence. So, anyone can see why the people like him so much especially women, children and the youth and why they are very apprehensive about the introduction of a political novice who only came to run for office because he was asked to come.
The other candidates as pitched against each other in this regional battle field are in for a do or die fight because they have several high ranking candidates from their regions in the race. Two of the political parties in the State are already hedging their bets by fielding two to three separate candidates for the same position. We expect that when the votes are cast and the winners are declared, the judicial system will step in to tell us who the voters really had in mind when they were voting. The political godfathers of the state are already enmeshed in their game of chess.
The governor is playing the god father role to his anointed son -Obiano. Another godfather – Arthur Eze has his anointed candidate in one party while his nephew (with his blessing) is in another party as a running mate. The President may yet have his dog in this fight, believing that his party needs to retake all the Igbo states by 2015.
The town criers for the governor’s anointed candidate have elevated the confusion and misinformation in their effort to measure up their candidate. In one write up they praise the candidate Obiano for receiving a chieftaincy title from one Yoruba King and in another write up they paint their perceived candidate to beat –Ngige as being a Yoruba lover.
They failed to tell us that the governor is inciting tribal hatred for no reason. They failed to reiterate that the governor has most of his investments in Yoruba land and always claims that the only house he built in Nigeria was in Yoruba land. They failed to inform the public that when the governor was caught with over two hundred fifty million in cash entering his residence in Lagos, he quickly claimed that he was transporting the money for his brother in law who would be using it to buy vehicled for Anambra State. The outgoing governor further claimed that he even takes his personal car to Yoruba Land – Lagos for the mechanics to fix.
More importantly Obiano’s town criers and handlers neglect to inform us, the gullible public that it was indeed some group of Yoruba people that eventually ended the communal war when Obiano’s town –Agulueri folks went on a rampage, killing their neighbors (in hundreds) in Anam and other Eri town for a central piece of land not up to 3km. The Yoruba people that helped in settling the dispute cited their ancestral blood line with the people of the region. Someone once said that it is time Nigerians run tribal DNA tests to know whose ancestors migrated from what region of the country. Most of these tribal bigots will be surprised at the results. If Gowon knew his people migrated from Ebonyi state, he might have persecuted the civil war differently.
Can INEC for once sanitize the system and deliver a clean election in just one state of the federation? The world will be watching.
One can easily predict that APGA will not field any presidential candidate come 2015 because the party has lost its appeal in all Igbo states except one portion of Anambra State. Ojukwu might have seen this coming and that is why he asked for one LAST chance before his death.
Our brothers and sisters in other Igbo states have moved beyond the APGA party. They understand that APGA cannot and will not accomplish anything for the Igbos the way it currently stands. It needs to team up with others if it intends to remain alive. And this is good. At least it shows that our brothers and sisters understand that in politics you must learn how to work in alliance and collaboration with other groups and tribes to achieve what you want. Anambra people cannot remain in a self imposed prison under an isolated party. They understand what all psychiatrists already know, “that the hallmark of a healthy personality is the ability to get along with a large number of people and groups”. They also understand that the hallmark of the unhealthy personality is to isolate oneself and/or hold grudges and be unforgiving for a long period of time. They don’t believe in fanning the ethnic flame just to score cheap political points. The APGA party is now a kitchen cabinet serving a few selfish individuals.
Anambra people may well decide to allow the retired Obiano to enjoy his retirement and not be used to settle scores. Most especially the people of Anambra North may yet send a clear message to the governor that Anambra North is not stupid. They may ask how many of their sons and daughters Obiano helped in securing employment when he was a high chief in several banks. How many did he place with the oil companies when he was in charge of affairs? They will look around to see how many branches of the bank he cited in their towns. They will remember that when people were getting gunned down in the communal war with his town, Obiano was missing in action and may have contributed money to the purchase of the ammunition used in the fight. At least he failed to mediate or sue for peace. They will also remember that when their houses were recently flooded, Chief Obiano was nowhere to be found.
In addition the region may recall that when the flood came, Obiano’s town people overseas were collecting donations and raising funds for the victims of their town only, without considering the plight of their neighbors. They may wonder why this sudden showcase of concern. They may remember that less than 3months ago, the people of Obiano’s area were calling the governor all kinds of ugly names for not sending forces to start an inter-tribal war with Kogi State but quickly switched to praise and worship when Obiano was anointed to replace Obaze. They may agree that the name Obiano is more of a question than an answer.
The question that will be answered on November 16 will be “Will Anambra State electorate support or reject the quota system? This may very well be answered with a resounding “NO”. If every town gets 8 years in office, it will take 1,416 years for Obi’s town Agulu to get another chance to produce a governor based on his interpretation of regional fairness. The other question that will be answered on the same day is “Should Peter Obi will be given a third term, from the votes of his sponsored candidate”? Until that date, no one can predict for sure. As one person with Imo dialect asked: Obi AP(U)GA? ka Obiano?- {Meaning – Is Obi leaving or Is Obi still there?} Again, the answer may very well be answered in Anambra dialect ‘Obi Anorozi’. (Obi is no longer there) come November 16, 2013.
