By Chuks Iloegbunam
When news of the terrible development hit the
Awka seat of power early that morning, many scenarios taxed the imagination.
Nothing of the sort had previously happened in Igbo history. There was a
bizarre angle to it, of course, that was of tremendous import: Anambra State,
reputed to be an oasis of safety and security, peace and placidity in
tumultuous Nigeria had taken a vicious bang on the jugular.
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| *Gov Willie Obiano |
Who had done the violent action? To what end?
Since it is often the case that “when it hits, it reverberates,” was the
impunity set to spread? These were some of the questions Governor Willie Obiano
tried to think through while, at the same time, receiving Security and Intelligence
debriefing. Taking little time, the Governor’s convoy negotiated the 48
kilometres from Awka to Ozubulu, and hit the scene of the bloodbath.
Armed with both the truth of what had happened
and the spins sprouting in the social media, Governor Obiano inspected the
carnage inside the St. Philips Catholic Church, Amakwa, Ozubulu. Twelve
congregants whose only “offence” was attending the 6am mass to worship their
God had been brutally massacred in an orgy of gunfire. Eighteen others
sustained gunshot wounds, some of them life threatening.
Governor Obiano, sure of the proper course of
action, addressed the disheartened inside the church premises, dousing the
insidious apprehension that was creping in. Social media upstarts had falsely
seen the hand of Boko Haram or Fulani herdsmen or else separatist agitators in
the mayhem. Had there been any truth in this narrative, it would simply have
meant that “water don pass gari.” But the Governor knew better. So, citing the
outcome of preliminary investigation, he stated that the debacle was the work
of feuding drug kingpins from the town domiciled outside Nigeria. Expectedly,
he condemned the unspeakable crime, promising comeuppance for its perpetrators.
Next, the Governor visited the wounded in
hospital, comforting them and announcing that his government would shoulder the
financial responsibility for their treatment. He ordered 50 doctors,
radiographers and ancillary medical personnel deployed to augment the efforts
of their colleagues on the ground. This is trademark Willie Obiano. It will be
recalled that on February 15, a petrol tanker had rammed into a gas station at
Zik’s Roundabout in Onitsha, spilling fuel and setting off a conflagration that
reduced a vast area of the commercial city to smoldering debris.
On the night of the fire outbreak, Governor
Obiano had just arrived Abuja for a meeting of the National Council of State.
But, the next morning, he caught the first available flight and made a beeline
for home. Before noon he was at the disaster scene, inspecting the charred
remains of buildings and vehicles, consoling the victims and speaking
compassion to his people. He visited those hospitalized for burns. He axed the
situation of petrol stations in densely populated areas. He deployed N8.5
million into compensation, hospital bills and temporary accommodation for the
affected. He imported three state-of-the art fire trucks for the State Fire
Service and enlarged its workforce.
The key point here is that Governor Obiano’s
compassionate solidarity with Ndi Anambra is nothing to do with polishing media
image. It is his nature. During June I had emphasized this attribute in an
article entitled Governor Willie Obiano – Fit To Continue. My point then
and now remains that Governor Obiano has fixed Anambra’s security, improved its
infrastructure and resuscitated the investment climate. He has in addition
improved agriculture, education and health care delivery. But beyond these
solid achievements, he has also made a mark in the intangible sector.
This sector refers to Governor
Obiano foregoing salary and emoluments for the upkeep of society’s less
privileged. It refers to the sanatorium he built to give a meaning to the lives
of the sick and wretched of the earth. It pertains to scores of prisoners who,
on completion of their terms, receive N1 million each to start life on a fresh,
clean slate. It has to do with the disabled who are automatically employed in
the State’s Civil Service. It is connected to limbless folks issued with
prosthetics. In short, it is all about exercising political authority with a
human face.
These are the “intangibles” that situate
Governor Obiano in the ranks of genuine leaders. In every condition, he
epitomizes visionary leadership. He knew that jarred nerves had been soothed by
his first-day intervention on Ozubulu. Nonetheless he consolidated that
achievement with a statewide broadcast 24 hours later, declaring Monday August
7, 2017 a day of mourning for the slain, and calling for a noontime minute’s
silence in their memory.
Unfettered by the distractions of conspiracy
theorists, and disdainful of partisan opponents intent on riding on Anambra’s
dead to score cheap political points, he declared: “We have chosen to stay
awake that Anambra may find sleep!... All shadowy characters behind this crime
shall account for it. This is the first and last of this appalling crime.
Fellow citizens, I call on you today, to join hands with me to rid our society
of crime and criminality.”
* Iloegbunam is the Chairman of Governor
Obiano’s Media Team.
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