By Chuks
Iloegbunam
Anyone
asked the impact of Governor Willie Obiano’s victory in the November 18 gubernatorial
ballot in Anambra State could answer with a single word: Crushing. He won in
all of the 21 local government areas of the state. His closest rivals came up
in dismal second, third and fourth places. The combined total of the votes
garnered by the rest of the 33 candidates managed to hit the hundreds.
*Gov Willie Obiano |
Significantly, ex-Governor Peter Obi, the godfather of PDP candidate Oseloka
Obaze lost in his Anaocha local government area. Mr. Obaze himself lost in his
Ogbaru local government area. His running mate, Mrs. Alexandria Chidi
Onyemelukwe, famed daughter of Dr. Alex Ekwueme, lost in her Nnewi North local
government area. The string of tragic losses is bewildering. APC candidate Tony
Nwoye lost in his Anambra East local government area. His bankroller, the
tycoon Arthur Eze, lost in his Dunukofia local government area. The loquacious
PDP campaign director-general Joe-Martins Uzodike lost in the polling booth in
front of his Awka-Etiti house. Indeed, APGA is a party of giant killers. All
their opponents were buried in a landslide!
Anyone
asked the meaning of Governor Obiano’s reelection could answer by saying that,
“One good term deserves a second.” They would be right. But such an answer
pleads for amplification. My younger sister, Mrs. Anne Offor, phoned to say
“Congratulations.” In the small talk that followed, she said there was never an
impulsion on her part to listen to the diatribe on radio that passed for
political campaigns. She had no cause to attend an Obiano rally. She saw no
point in busybodies preaching to the converted. She knew that her vote was for
Obiano. Why?
My
sister’s answer was the same as proffered by thousands of retirees in the
state. With an honours degree in Mathematics from the University of Nigeria,
Nsukka, she went into teaching the subject at secondary school level. When she
turned 60 during March 2017, mandatory retirement beckoned. “I got my gratuity
less than two months after retirement. I’ve since been regularly and promptly
collecting my pension, while in many other states workers are committing
suicide for non-payment of salaries,” she explained. “That settled it for me.
No further campaigning was necessary. My vote was for Willie Obiano.”
Willie
Obiano is an empathetic leader. He is on record as saying that it was sinful
not to pay workers their salaries as and when due. Even before becoming
Governor, he turned over his vast estate in Aguleri to relief workers for the
accommodation and comfort of flood victims. As Governor, he established proper
platforms for giving a meaning to the lives of the physically challenged. Those
with shattered limbs were fitted with prosthetic alternatives. Those with the
necessary qualifications were given automatic employment. In discussions with
him, he was always emphatic that governance had to run on the wheels of
humanity. The problem of the collection of illegal levies and taxes was a
knotty one. Yet he forbade the use of brute force on violators of the law. “No
one should be hit; nobody should be beaten up. Offenders must only be arrested
and prosecuted,” he maintained.
*Chuks Ilogbunam |
Governor
Obiano has gradually been removing Anambra from the warp of kill, mangle,
trample, strangle and obliterate. He has been building a kinder, gentler
society way removed from the impunity of past unconscionable political
leadership. He chased the kidnappers away, vowing to remain awake in order that
his people would always sleep with both eyes wide shut! Rice, a staple food in
these parts, always seemed like cultivated only for the affluent. He got his
people Anambra Rice. He deployed time into ascertaining not just what the
people wanted but, more importantly, what was inevitable for their individual
and collective fulfillment.
The
rational assumed that his second term of office was a fait
accompli. The problems materialized precisely from that time in point.
Those responsible for establishing a zoning system for the Anambra governorship
seat to move in turns from one Senatorial district to another turned abruptly
around and swore to disrupt and overturn the acclaimed arrangement. Politicians
desperate to elude pursuers of ill-gotten lucre swamped what they tagged “Party
of the National Grid” and vowed to orchestrate the very death of APGA, the only
national political party rooted in the Igbo country. People deserving of
checking themselves into prison for long stretches over multiple criminal
infractions suddenly became the toast of expired politicians striking poses as
kingmakers with oracular prowess. The din was overwhelming. The injustice was stultifying.
From sunup to sundown they had a changeless song in their vocal cords – that of
traducing Willie Obiano. If he spent a Kobo on a life-saving gadget for the
State’s Teaching Hospital, they would post on the Internet that he had blown a
hundred billion on choice wines. Even if he flew up to Abuja in a commercial
flight and displayed his boarding pass for all to see, they would claim that he
had chattered four aircraft for the 35-minute hop into the nation’s capital.
The lies went ballistic on people’s senses.
There
was also the sacrilege. They organized what was termed a political rally and
used it to set ablaze bales of cloth bearing the image of General Ojukwu. Would
anyone try that of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the Yoruba country? Would anybody
attempt that of Sir Ahmadu Bello in Arewaland? All sorts of characters deluged
Anambra State, speaking at its people. The fact that Governor Obiano kept a
cool head all through the impertinence and provocations, the fact that his
people maintained the peace in the name of democracy, and the added fact that,
in victory, neither Obiano nor APGA has been triumphalist, is a testament
worthy of understanding. Anambra is not for pushing around. Ndigbo are not
anybody’s second-class citizens.
The
vanquished may now go into hibernation, licking their wounds, utterly
humiliated, politically terminated, and their bloated egos comprehensively
eviscerated. Governor Willie Obiano’s electoral victory means that the fate of
Ndigbo is squarely in their own hands.
*Chuks Iloegbunam is the chairman of Governor Obiano’s
Media Team.
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