9 November 2009
Laws they said, are made for the promotion of sanity in the society. According to the lawyers, the law is an ass and is no respecter of person. But the above scenario is not true when events in Anambra state, since the creation of the state. Among the Igbo speaking people, South-East of the Niger, of all the other states, Anambra is the easiest to govern. Their reasoning are not far fetched, they believe that when one becomes governor of Anambra, what the person need to do is simply pay workers and salary and pocket the remaining revenue.
No wonder of all the states in the South-East, Anambra is the least developed in terms of infrastructure and physical government presence. It is only in Anambra that one would see a state capital that is just "one street capital". Even at that, the backwardness and "above the law" attitude of the people does not permit none indigenes or even government to acquire land for developmental purposes. For the military governors that ruled the state, they simply converted the fund allocated to the state into their private pockets and walked away. Nothing happened thereafter. Period.
This was the scenario until Dr. Chris Ngige became governor of the state. The man, who got into office in defiance to the wills of the forces of darkness, was eventually named in history as the first serving state governor to be abducted, abducted by no less a person than a serving Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), the late Raphael Ige. Ngige also went down in history as the first governor to he so harassed by an ordinary citizen that his convoy of official cars being secured by assorted policemen attached to him statutorily, could be so brazenly knocked off the road by that of a civilian citizen of the state. It was also during his administration that some political miscreants invaded the state and totally destroyed everything that symbolizes government, including the Government House among other monuments. Yet, not that the sponsors of these mayhem are not known, the man holds sway and has been sitting as prominent member of the topmost position of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
When the whistle blew for aspirants to indicate interest in the governorship seat of the state, the same man, allegedly sponsored more than one-half of the total number of aspirants in the party. The same person also made the party's Elders Committee not to look the way of the state even when last Wednesday, it submitted an interim report to the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP.
Chairman of the committee, which has now metamorphosed into the "National Peace and Reconciliation Committee", Senator Ike Nwachukwu while presenting the committee's report to the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party stated that "appreciable progress have been made in Ogun, Kaduna, Oyo and Akwa-Ibom states". Crises rocking the Anambra chapter of the party took a toll for the worse last week, when the group led by the self-acclaimed political godfather of the state, Chief Chris Uba and the 21 gubernatorial aspirants who are believed to be in his political camp defied the directives of the national leadership of the party and staged anti-Prof. Charles Soludo rally in Awka, the state capital, when the party's leaders were presenting its flag to Prof. Soludo.
Apart from this, crises in the state chapter of the party has been on for a long time to the extent that none of the measures put in place by the national secretariat of the party, including the setting up of an interim state executive worked. The party had two years ago, set up the Dr. Alex Ekwueme Peace and Reconciliation Committee, which failed to reconcile his kits and kins feuding in the state. The party's attempt at getting the Senator Jim Nwobodo Action Committee to fix the problem also failed as up till now peace is not in sight.
The Prof. Jerrry Gana Committee, which also dwelt so much on the problems in Anambra state also failed to achieve desired results. Ike Nwachukwu committee which also submitted its interim report to the NWC yesterday did not mention the state at all. All efforts made to hem the state branch of the party to line have so far failed. It has been as if water was being poured on top of igneous rock; highly impregnable.
According to General Nwachukwu, whose committee was inaugurated in July, "we dealt with challenges which confronted us and as we promised to deliver, we have attained a modest result. "We have been able to achieve 70 per cent reconciliation in Ogun; 75 per cent in Oyo; 80 per cent in Kaduna and 95 per cent reconciliation in Akwa-Ibom state. Before we achieved these, we decided among ourselves to be fair, just, equitable and strict. We made sure we were careful and carried everybody along, particularly those who felt they were hurt. Those who felt they were hurt are now prepared to sheath their sword".
Earlier, the National Chairman of the party, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor commended the committee for its efforts, promising to continue to work with them towards attaining the objectives of the party. He noted that with the up-coming elections, the party can not afford to be in crises, saying that having painstakingly selected members of the committee, the NWC was sure they would deliver on their promises.
The problem with the Anambra state chapter of the party seems to have defied all solutions and would probably require direct intervention of the President to resolve. It should be recalled that when former President Olusegun Obasanjo was in office, he gave tacit approval to the perpetration of this lawlessness in the state. It was not in doubt he was indirectly backing the formentors of the problems, since they all came from the same source up till today and the family produced one of his closest aide, the one who is said to be carrying his purse, the one whose word was law. PDP need to act urgently if this constitutional conundrum would not conflagrate and escalate to uncontrollable level. At least, what happened at the Shehu Musa Yar'Adua Center, when the PDP convened a meeting of stakeholders in the state to choose a gubernatorial candidate, is a clear indication that except something urgent is done, Anambra will etch a new lexicon, and that is it will become known as the state where above the law personalities thrive.
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