Anambra election and hovering hawks For want of a better metaphor, someone said that giving certain persons too much money is like setting that money ablaze. The story of Anambra State is almost sounding like that. A stupendously self-made people, it is commendably a place where each of the 177 communities that make up the state boasts of dozens of millionaires and professionals in virtually all walks of life. Yet, it is one state where the falcon cannot hear the falconer. If any state in Nigeria is truly endowed, it is Anambra; yet again, it lacks a collective and progressive leadership recruitment process that will ensure that some of their best get the chance to guide the state to true greatness. With the release of state governorship election timetable by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Anambrarians are on the march again, looking for Mr. Governor. November 16, 2013 is the D-day to decide who takes over from the incumbent. As usual, the list of interested contestants is increasing by the day, and has reached over 30 and still counting. This is not strange as it has always been a cacophony of aspiration in Anambra. In the last election, for example, over 30 aspirants slugged it out on the platform of the PDP alone and 28 at the general election, discounting scores that participated in the primaries of the numerous amorphous political parties. It is the highest anywhere in the country, which many rightly see as a game of the spoilers, not any genuine manifestation of the so-called republicanism and democracy that the Anambra nay Igbo people pride themselves with. What is even more disconcerting about this recurring development is the hollowness and incoherence of an overwhelming majority of these aspirants, who have not demonstrated in any discernible way that they have an idea of what to do with power if they get it. Like broken records, these contestants simply shout, “I will transform Anambra State”. Yet, not one has come forward with a well-researched analysis of the condition of the state, how the state got to where it is and how he, the messiah (as they all claim), hopes to do the transformation. They seek power as an end in itself, and not as a means to change things for the better. With such people in office, all Anambra can ever hope for is brand new masters, not any meaningful change as is being touted. Old Anambra State was created in 1976 from the East Central State, and its capital was Enugu. Further state creation in 1991 by Ibrahim Babangida divided Anambra into two states, Anambra and Enugu. Anambra State is unique in many ways. It is a state with a big catalogue of firsts in practically everything – the good, the bad, the ugly. It is the home of many most outstanding Nigerians who have shaped the nation and played on global stage. Some of these figures are Emeka Ojukwu, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chinua Achebe, Emeka Anyaoku, Alex Ekwueme, Philip Emeagwali, Chimamanda Adichie, to mention just a few. The only Nigerian saint (in the making), Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, is from the state as well, while struggling with Bayelsa and Abia for kidnapping capital title. There is no doubt that the potential of the state as a commercial and technological hub of the nation has not been tapped because of mediocre leadership.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 00:23:13 +0000
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