By Kene Obiezu
With his victory at the November 6,2021 election in Anambra State, the stars have finally aligned for Prof. Charles Soludo, one of Nigeria`s preeminent public intellectuals, after some failed attempts to become the governor of his state. When the fate of the victor was said by INEC to hang on Ihiala where it was said that because there had been no valid elections, there would be supplementary polls, many feared that INEC was about to invoke its electoral sorcery, of course, at the instance of the powers that be. But it is not for nothing that Anambra has always been a graveyard for electoral thieves and brigands; It is not for nothing that the state has a unique electoral cycle having drawn several groundbreaking judgments from Nigeria`s highest courts.
So, the INEC rollercoaster moved to Ihiala and at the end of a day spent on the edge of a razor, APGA`s Charles Soludo defeated Mr. Valentine Ozigbo of the PDP and Mr. Andy Uba of the All-Progressives Congress who came a distant third. In the case of Mr. Ozigbo, but especially Mr. Uba and the APC, the Omambala River certainly milks the mirth of Anambra voters in roaring laughter at the defeats they have suffered. For indeed, Anambra always remembers – its voters showing an elephantine electoral memory that is in starkly short supply in many of Nigeria`s thirty-six states in spite of the atrocious aggravations suffered at the hands of political hyenas and jackals since 1999.
In 2003, the PDP`s electoral witchery was stopped dead in its tracks in Anambra state. However, the party bought the collusion of INEC and invaded the Awka Government House where its stooge and one of Nigeria`s most recycled politicians, Mr. Chris Ngige, reigned as Governor for three years under immense pressure from Mr. Andy Uba, his brother Mr. Chris Uba and their battery of political barracudas. In 2006,a historic verdict by the Court of Appeal put Mr. Ngige out of his misery to forever change the electoral landscape of Anambra State. In 2007, INEC was again at its ugliest in Anambra state. When its stomach, undoubtedly bloated by corruption and complicity, vomited Mr. Andy Uba as Governor, the painstakingly shrewd Mr. Peter Obi, his faith restored in the Nigerian judiciary by the 2006 verdict, approached the Supreme Court. Mr. Andy Uba was to spend all of two weeks before Nigeria`s highest court sent him packing with his tail wrapped between his legs just like Mr. Chris Ngige the year before. Mr. Uba must still habour nightmares of his short-lived experience as Governor. Having played a stirring role in the heinous attempts of his principal and former Nigeria President, Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo, to twist Nigeria`s infant constitution and democracy to perpetuate himself in office, Mr. Uba had shown that when power was the prize to be won, no strategy was too repulsive or repugnant.
Today in Anambra State, whenever theubiquitous umbrellas of iniquity go up, matchlessly sophisticated Anambra voters remember those who tried to rob them of their votes in broad daylight more than a decade ago. So, during the election, it happened that in Ebenebe, a sleepy town, close to Awka, the Anambra state capital, electoral thieves, stuffed with public funds, arrogantly sought to purchase the votes of people so as to gain them a purchase in poverty and bad governance at least for the next four years. Unfortunately for the brigands, they ran into a bevy of battled-hardened women voters drawn from the Anambra school of electoral sophistication. Seeing through their sophistry, and seeing their Greek gift for what it was, the women rejected what the men peddled and, in the process, pronounced a fatwa on the APC, recalling the hardship the party has foisted on Nigerians since 2015.
With his victory at the polls, the stopwatch has begun to run for Soludo and he must remember the ruthless transience of power. He can only have four years in the first instance.If he does well by Anambra voters, he may get another four years. But he must be ready to work and work hard. His strides in the academia, consulting and public service stretch across the world in testament to his searing intellect. However, he must remember that in Nigeria, because things have been broken for too long, the journey between ideas and reality is a forbiddingly treacherous one. Anambra has had good governors since 2006. The standards have always been high.Theoutgoing governor, in spite of his rumored debaucheries, did relatively well as he found himself under immense pressure from the beginning as a result of the soaring expectation his predecessor left behind by his excellent performance in office. Thus, Mr. Soludo will not find a state all broken up and crying out for just anyone but the incumbent as Nigeria cried out for Mr. Buhari in 2015. What Mr. Soludo will encounter is a sophisticated electorate with a sixth sense perfectly honed to detect both the sophistry that abundantly clothes Nigerian politiciansand excellent performance in public office. Mr. Soludo faces a formidable challenge to do well by the standards of Anambra voters.
The stopwatch is running for him and he must fear failure.But he can have nothing to fear from his defeated opponents who must now lick their wounds becausethe good people of Anambra State never return to their vomit.
Meanwhile, Nigerian voters can learn from the striking examples of the women of Ebenebe who startled the thieves who came to steal their votes that there is no miracle of multiplication that can see a paltry five thousand naira sustain anyone for four years. Nigerians must also note that unlike the biblical Elijah at Zarephath, because the men who share uncooked rice during elections in exchange for votes are inherently evil, they cannot guarantee that their poisoned chalice will not run out before the next elections. The salt they offer in exchange for votes has no taste. It only comes to salt the wounds of their victims.
Obiezu writes via [email protected]