By Sonny Igboanugo
The tiger caresses its cobs with its powerful canine but tears down the enemy with the same powerful canine.”
With these poetic, but impactive words, Chief Chekwas Okorie, founder and National Chairman of the United Progressive Party (UPP), handed over the three instruments with which Chief Osita Chidoka, commenced the journey to capture the number one job in Anambra State via the November 18, governorship election.
Okorie explains: “The journey he is commencing now and what we have is the journey of the tiger. He looks every inch a tiger. He will protect the assets of Anambra people. He will make Anambra develop, jobs will be created. But the enemies of Anambra, beware. The tiger is the king of the jungle.”
The instruments included the Certificate of Returns, from the party declaring him the rightful winner of the primaries that took place on August 19, in Awka, Anambra State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), form CF-001 and the INEC nomination form.
The ceremony, which took place at the party secretariat in Abuja, was witnessed by its bigwigs amid substantial dose of pomp and ceremonies, as are usually expected and witnessed in any of such gathering.
Before the formal ceremony, the party boss, had appealed for a level playing field in which the people of the state would be allowed to vote in a candidate through a transparent process, devoid of any form of inducement or arm-twisting.
In this regard, two agencies, INEC and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would have to brace up for the challenges, with the former ensuring that the situation which allowed for ballot box snatching and other crooked means of skewing the process, would be eliminated, while the latter would ensure that the influence of money would be removed.
Hear him: “I wish to appeal to the Independent National Electoral Commission, to please, comply with the promises they made to political party leaders, the promises they made to media chiefs which they assembled differently, the promises they made to pro-democracy and donor agencies and that is that the Anambra governorship election will be conducted with an upgraded card reader that will transmit results direct from the polling units to the central server.
“That was the promise that was made to all of us. And it was demonstrated before us and we all acclaimed it, acknowledged it and applauded it, because for the first time, the ordinary Nigerians, the voters, the electorate in Anambra State will be granted the opportunity to indeed choose who their governor will be.
“Once that is done, we are home and dry. Then, I wish to also recommend, if only for the Anambra election, that the EFCC should be part of the monitoring team. I say this because, in 2013, we were also in that governorship election in Anambra State.
“Because, there is a limit to the amount of money anybody can carry at a particular point in time, and that falls within the purview of the EFCC, I therefore recommend that the EFCC should be incorporated into the monitoring agencies, so that these malfeasances and perfidy will not be allowed to repeat itself.”
Chidoka, himself, was no less upbeat at the prospect of winning the election and taking over the governorship of the state, which is seen in certain quarters as the cradle of Igboland, which he said had left the Igbo people groping in the dark, as a result of poor leadership.
The former Corp Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and Minister of Aviation, believes that UPP presented the most credible option towards calming the frayed nerves arising from the massive discontent in many parts of the country, giving rise to seeming uncontrollable agitations, particularly the South-East.
His take was that the grievances of the Igbo people, could find expression through a credible political party, capable of articulating all their misgivings and presenting them on the table at the national level and bringing back the right feedback that would enable the two entities strike a balance and thus eliminate the grey areas that have allowed the mutual anger and suspicion, currently troubling the polity.
“And the reason why we have to do that is because we want to help Nigeria as a country to re-channel Igbo anger, to re-channel Igbo energy towards building a nation that works for everybody, towards building a country that accommodates all, towards building a country that all the constituent parts are able to join freely to build a great nation.”
To put his plan in clear perspective, Chidoka, told the audience that he would not only build the Anambra of the future, in which the people would be fully integrated into the generational terrain of knowledge economy erected on which hi-tech capacity and information technology platform, but that which recognised the major attributes that made the Igbo the driving force of Nigerian economy and a reference point internationally.
Let it be known that today, the United Progressive Party has come to restore the Igbo voice in Nigeria. The United Progressive Party, has come to give hope to our people. The United Progressive Party has come to end the cries emanating from our people.
So, the election in Anambra is not a referendum on the government that is existing in Anambra, it is a referendum on our future and I stand here today to say that any vote for UPP is a vote for the future of ndi Anambra, is a vote for the future of ndi Igbo.
“Of course, no more will it happen again that the maternal mortality, as it happens in Anambra as it is growing in Anambra. It is a national scandal that a state with the smallest size outside Lagos, is still talking about building 200kilometers of roads and three flyovers. No more will happen again that out children will travel long distances to attend primary schools and secondary schools and that our public schools are in retreat, while private schools of questionable quality are in ascendency in our state.
If Anambra is truly secured, our night economy will begin to flourish. Our first task as governor is to make Anambra a 24-hour economy; to build a security system that will make it possible for industries to have three shifts a day, to triple the economy that is already existing in the state and to make it possible for our people to engage and to be employed fully.
“Our greatest resource is our human beings and I promise Anambra people that I will build infrastructures for the new economy; infrastructures for the IT-led development, the infrastructure that will make Anambra the home for those looking for people that will be programmers across the world, that will develop websites across the world, that will do call centres across the world. The economy of Anambra will transcend the economy of Nigeria.
“Our economy as a people is bigger than our geography. We will not be constrained by our geography. We will not be constrained by the forces that have held us down before. For, we will go out to meet the world, not with anger, not with just agitation, but with knowledge and pride in our heritage.
“I want to assure our party today, particularly the National Chairman, the National Working Committee, and the state chairman that the trust reposed on me, that I will fly party flag, I will fly the banner of service and I will hand it over without stain to those that will come after me.
“The banner that I have collected today is a banner for a new generation, is a banner for a new beginning, is a banner that will do away with all that is wrong with us and promote all that is right with us. It is a banner that will question the history that makes a people who are renowned globally as hardworking people, but who in Nigeria, are struggling to exert themselves in what we do.
“Therefore, I step away from this room today, energised by the flag that has been given to me by my party, encouraged by the support of the teeming people of Anambra State and emboldened by a generational challenge to interpret Nigeria to ndi Igbo and to interpret ndi Igbo to Nigeria.”
Igboanugo writes from Lagos