In Anambra, the machinations of several sectors of this cabal have left voters with an unsavory set of choices. In a state that produced some of Nigeria’s most enlightened citizens and towering intellectual or ethical figures – Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chinua Achebe, Pius Okigbo, Christopher Okigbo, Oyibo Odinamadu, Mokwugo Okoye – at least three of the prominent candidates in the November 16 governorship election (Ifeanyi Uba of Labor Party as well as Tony Nwoye and Andy Uba, candidates of two factions of the PDP) never earned a bachelors degree or a polytechnic diploma. Of course, the Nigerian constitution stipulates that a secondary school education is a minimum requirement for the governorship seat, so the unlettered candidates are qualified. Still, there’s something curious – and in a lot of ways instructive – about a governorship race in which the odds might appear stacked in favor of the least schooled. As my friend in Awka suggested, it was as if the powers-that-be in each political party – the putative cabal – took care to expunge those who, on the face of things at least, would seem to be superior candidates. In a stunning move, the leadership of APGA disqualified such aspirants as Chukwuma Charles Soludo, a former Governor of the Central Bank and an undeniably brilliant professor of economics, and Oseloka Obaze, an attorney by training, an aesthete and a retired senior employee of the United Nations in New York. I have been critical of Mr. Soludo in the past, but there’s no question that he’s possessed of the intellectual acumen, political and professional experience as well as vision to be an attractive candidate. The same case could be made for the genial Obaze, a fine man who radiated winsome moderation. Sadly, APGA rusticated both candidates on grounds that struck many as suspect if not spurious. APGA’s eventual candidate, Willie Obiano, is a retired bank executive with a reputation for being gregarious, a man reportedly fascinated by ceremoniousness and the trappings of traditional institutions. It remains to be seen whether his common touch is wedded to a transformative vision of the possibilities of governance. Source professor okey Ndibe
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 01:30:13 +0000
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