I have read about all those wishing to contest with the incumbent Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, on the forthcoming gubernatorial election to usher in another four-year term in the state come March 2010 when Obi’s first term would expire. But none is inspiring and compelling enough to match what Obi has done and still doing for his beloved state.
None of the aspirants has shown good and sustainable argument why he or she is seeking power in the state. None has catalogued what the state stands to gain from such a change of guards at Government House, Awka.
None has so far exhibited any philosophical grounding or ideological grasp of what it takes to seek for power. Are they seeking for power just for the sake of it? What do they intend to do with power they are daily angling for. What is it that they have for Anambra people that Obi has not done or intend to do? Which power vacuum are they hankering to fill at this point in time? Is their quest for power altruistic or is it for just mundane considerations?
Are all those dreaming for power coming on their own or through their ubiquitous godfathers that have in the past fed fat on the state’s purse? Are they not going to Okija shrine again to swear an oath of allegiance on how to share the loot after they might have rigged themselves into power?
Do Anambrarians wish the destruction of the state’s properties again and a reenactment of the abduction saga? Do they want the state to be another fiefdom where charlatans usurp power and treat the entire state as the private estate of one man and his acolytes?
Do Anambra people want a return to financial recklessness and ineptitude that characterized former civilian administrations in the state before the emergence of Peter Obi? Do they want a return to ‘lootocracy’ and mandate stealing that made a caricature of Anambra State among other states in the federation?
I do not think that the great and enterprising people of Anambra State would want a return to any of these aberrations that made the state ungovernable during Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s first and some of his second term in office before Obi through the courts got back his stolen mandate. I do not think that a people that produced the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s foremost nationalist, president and renowned pan-Africanist, Sir Louis Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Nigeria’s business mogul, historian Prof. Kenneth Dike, Dr Pius Okigbo, the cerebral economist, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, the charismatic politician, Christopher Okigbo, Africa’s most lyrical poet, Prof. Chike Obi, world renowned mathematician, Cyprian Ekwensi, the master story teller, Prof. Chinua Achebe, renowned author and the doyen of African Literature, and Prof. Chukwuemeka Ike, an accomplished novelist and now a traditional ruler of Ndikelionwu, would agree to hand over the governance of their state to those that subvert the very tenets of democracy.
I do not think that the state that produced computer wizard Prof. Philip Emegwali, Prof. Charles Soludo, Prof. Dora Akunyili, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, Prof. Laz Ekwueme, Igwe Alfred Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Ikemba Nnewi and foremost Igbo leader, and other numerous professionals and industrialists that abound in the state, would be party to another season of anomie for ‘The Light of the Nation’ state. Neither would they subscribe to the sharing of the meagre state revenue among the few power merchants clique that has seen political power as a veritable means of amassing and appropriating state wealth for a few unscrupulous individuals.
Anambra people would be content having a person who has in the past three years demonstrated that he is capable and prudent enough to manage the affairs of the state despite the meager resources that accrue to the state from the federation account and internally generated revenue. The people of the state should be happy having a man who has the interest of the masses at heart in all his projects and somebody who has taken development to all corners of the state holistically.
He has carried along all segment of the society including women and children in all his projects. He has built roads, bridges, houses and schools. He has ensured that the state has a befitting secretariat and that judges have quarters. The master plans for Onitsha , Awka and Nnewi were recently submitted by the United Nations Human Settlement Programme to the government in Awka. The plans are the first comprehensive master plans for the development of these three cities. The plans would guide physical developments of the three cities in the next 20 years.
That person is no other than His Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi, who has in everything shown that he is excellent in everything he does. The man is so prudent that the media and international bureaucrats recognize and honour him as such. Obi had in the past three years transformed the state by his monumental achievements and redefined politics. He uses politics as a means to serve the people of the state, selflessly and patriotically. His financial prudence and resource management has won him several awards.
This Day newspaper has voted him the best governor in Fiscal Discipline in Nigeria and The Sun newspaper has followed suit as the best governor in Financial Prudence and Accountability.
More commendations have been coming the way of the action governor from home and abroad. Recently the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili lauded Obi’s achievement in the past three years and urged the people to support his effort to further develop the state. In a similar vein, the former Finance Minister and now the Managing Director of the World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has described Peter Obi as the most fiscally responsible governor in Nigeria . She testified that this feat had enabled the governor to use funds for public good “which informs why there is need for Anambra people to rally round him so that the state can achieve its development objectives.”
Okonjo-Iweala who delivered a keynote address on “Anambra and the Role of Women” to mark this year’s Mothers’ Summit , the third in the series, urged Anambrarians to work together for the good of the state and Nigeria . To concur to the assertion of the World Bank MD, Obi announced that the state government has secured N100 million Faith Based Micro Credit to empower women groups in the state. This is done in the belief that women are the rock of the society. A home with well-empowered women would translate to a happy home and by extension a stable society.
Also, traditional rulers in the state have after inspecting what Obi has done in the past three years, urged the entire people of the state to continue to support him because he has done well and deserved to be encouraged to continue. Obi’s continuation come 2010 would translate to more development because he has already mapped out an action plan that would help build a new Anambra State of everyone’s delight.
None of those jostling for the job now can do what Obi has done or has any plan even to attempt what he has done so far.
In all, Governor Peter Obi remains the toast of the electorate in the 2010 gubernatorial election in the state. All Anambrarians should rally round him for the continuation of his people-oriented programmes for another four years.
