My daughter’s emotional message on Whatsapp says it all. “Daddy,” she advises, “please be careful in Anambra o! You are the only father I have o…I love you and I don’t want anything to happen to you.” My wife, ordinarily a courageous woman, went into serious prayers the day I travelled for the governorship election. She couldn’t advise me not to go because she knew my mind was made up. Most of my loved ones advised me to either stay clear of Anambra during the election period or be mindful of my movement. They are not to blame because the hype about insecurity in Anambra State was such that you would think that war planes were dropping bombs everywhere.

But it has all ended in praise. And it is now I fully understand the import of the kolanut with seven lobes discovered in November last year at the inauguration of Soludo Promoters Forum (SPF) at Igbo-Ukwu in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State. Usually, Igbo kolanuts have three or four lobes. But when it comes with seven lobes, it is seen in Igboland as unique and a sign of a big thing to happen. It is usually kept aside for an elaborate celebration at a later date. That kolanut was celebrated at the inauguration of SPF, Isuofia chapter, on January 1, this year. It was the first sign of a big thing that was destined to happen in Anambra. That big thing has now been confirmed by Professor Chukwuma Soludo’s landslide victory last Saturday, November 6.

It is worthy to note that this victory did not come easy. Different people threw variegated stones. Some went to Jigawa State to procure bizarre court judgement against Soludo and his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Some gunmen invaded his country home in March and killed his three police orderlies while he was addressing the youths of his community. But he triumphed over all that.  

Though the governorship election was largely peaceful, it was almost marred by the malfunctioning of the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). I was in my polling unit at Isuofia as early as 8am. But I could not vote until about 3.30pm due to the problematic machine. Many others, including Professor Soludo, suffered the same fate. A visibly disturbed traditional ruler of Isuofia, Igwe (Col.) C.A.O Muoghalu (retd) and some of his cabinet members as well as the President General of Isuofia People’s Assembly, Mr. Jude Okeke, moved round different polling units in the town to show solidarity with the people. INEC should improve on this BVAS for future elections.  

Besides, the earlier sit-at-home directive by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the entire South-East from Friday November 5 to Wednesday, November 10 to protest the continued incarceration of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, helped to heighten tension. Tale bearers went to town, talking about how Anambra people were running out of the state for fear of being killed. To worsen matters, fake news merchants sent out the story that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Anambra has been assassinated. With this information, many of those who had wanted to brave it and return home cancelled their planned trip. Anambra wore the toga of a state fighting a war.

The shooting at Ekwulobia roundabout in Aguata Local Government Area of the state on Friday, October 29, sealed every hope of many people planning to return home. Some gunmen had reportedly invaded the area and killed two security men. They were said to be shouting, “No election in Anambra!” We were later regaled with a video clip of the encounter between the gunmen and the combined team of soldiers and policemen at Nnobi junction in Idemili South Local Government Area of the state. In that video, the sound of gunshots boomed. People were forced to lie flat to avoid being hit by stray bullets. The scene was a replica of a real theatre of war.

Having conditioned my mind for the worst, I hit the road a few days to the election. And so when the police in Benin stopped my vehicle for a routine search, I never bothered. One of the officers, in the name of searching for only God knows what, opened my bag and started removing every item inside the bag. Even my pants were not spared. With fingers that may have been infected with coronavirus, he rummaged through every part of my bag, but found nothing. He ordered that the burnet be opened. He surveyed the engine compartment as if he hid any contraband there.  When he found nothing, he allowed the vehicle to go. I had a strong feeling that the man was part of what triggered the EndSARS protests of last year.        

Nevertheless, I entered Anambra expecting to see some of the over 34,000 stern-looking soldiers and policemen harassing people on the road. I saw none. I only saw a police checkpoint at Head Bridge, Onitsha. From Onitsha down to my town, Isuofia, I saw no police or soldier on the road. People were freely going about their normal business.

IPOB softened the ground more by cancelling the one-week sit-at-home order it earlier declared. The group urged the people of Anambra to come out en masse and peacefully exercise their franchise and resist being intimidated by anybody, group of persons or security agents.  

No doubt, Soludo is a child of destiny. Although he was born into a poor family, he rose to become a global man by all standards. He not only made a first-class in Economics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he was the best graduating student at graduate, postgraduate and doctorate levels at the same UNN. Little wonder he became a professor in his 30s. His tenure at the CBN was probably the best in Nigeria’s history. During his reign as the CBN governor between 2004 and 2009, he championed banking consolidation that changed the landscape of our banking industry for good. He has consulted for many global institutions.  Currently, he is a member of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and chairman of Anambra Vision 2070, a committee set up to fashion out a strategy for the emergence of Anambra as a fully developed economy in the next 50 years. A multiple-award winner, Soludo is Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR), Nigeria’s third highest national honour.

Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State did not make any mistake when he urged his people to “rally round Professor Soludo who will do far better than all previous governors of Anambra State, including me.”

Anambra people deserve commendation for heeding this call. Despite all odds, they voted according to their conscience. They dread going back to Egypt. Victory song is sweeter when it is won in a hard way.

Congratulations Professor Soludo on this sweet victory! The full import of the kolanut puzzle has become manifest. Now, I can assure my daughter that all is well that ends well. Truly, Anambra is the light of the nation!

 

Re: Before EFCC interrogates Peter Obi

 

Dear Casy, note that when a child attains kingship status, all manner of envy erupts. So the ill-laden shouts arising from Pandora Papers that Peter Obi be sent to the gallows is understood. Again, with 2023 hanging in the air, the desperados as represented by SWAGA ‘23 and Political Birth-Right Claimants up North would stop at nothing to unsettle the likes of Peter Obi. Hence all manner of semantics now adduced to asphyxiate zoning in order to block the diadem from deservedly landing in South East in 2023. May the Pandora Papers’ authors be reminded that bare human palms do not shield the moon from shining! As for the schemers for 2023, may they know that he who covets what is not rightly his, attracts to himself, mortal misfortune which, rightly, is not his.

-Steve Okoye, 08036630731.          

 

Before you informed us, we already knew their tactics: give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. But it is not only pedestrian this time, it is out of tune. We know better. And they with their games are dead on arrival. They can only succeed in using the State and its apparatuses to stop him becoming the next President of this collapsing make-shift but they cannot succeed in taking his honour away from him. It is a pity the type of men we allow to dictate our fate and the narrative will change the day the youths drop their docility and challenge the status quo. Till then we wallop in deceit. As for Peter Obi and the current storm, it is nothing: ‘mmiri mara Ugo asago Ugo ahu’ (the rain which beat an Eagle only succeeded in bathing it).

-Aloy Uzoekwe, [email protected], 080 38503174.

 

Casmir, although, the report smacks of jealousy that is filled with venom of hatred for Obi’s personality and with an obvious axe to grind against him, EFCC should please be allowed  to do its job without undue pressure from any quarters. He is just being invited for questioning. Holding brief for him would raise an air of suspicion that he truly has some skeletons in his cupboard. Tax fraudulence is synonymous with the rich. Remember Messi, C. Ronaldo etc from the world of football. This is the consequence of frolicking and dovetailing with Atiku during 2019 elections.

-Mike, Mushin Lagos, +2348161114572

Related News

 

Dear Casmir, you appear unusually emotional and deeply pained by the veiled attack on Mr. Peter Obi. Your firm belief is that the attack is nothing but a hatchet job orchestrated by his political enemies. The case of Mr. Peter Obi cannot be divorced from his due qualification for the 2023 presidential ticket. He is also ‘qualified’ for E.F.C.C interrogation because he is not a former head of state or president which is a ‘no-go’ area for E.F.C.C. Nigeria’s presidential seat is for a Nigerian and not for a saint. And we have never had one before. I know too well that Dr Orji Uzor Kalu has an ambition. He’s qualified: he should come out and not be bothered by the current E.F.C.C grandstanding. Dr Ogbonnaya Onu should also present himself for the seat. Under the PDP umbrella, I key into the remarkable argument of my friend, Dr S.A. Ekundayo, that the PDP should zone the 2023 presidency to the South East exclusively. Peter Obi deserves the PDP presidential ticket instead of these unnecessary distractions that are being fueled by his enemies and hacks. Note that the Pandora Papers saga may wear the hairy hand of Esau, but the voice is certainly that of Jacob.

-Edet Essien Esq. Cal. South 08037952470

 

Dear Casy, Peter Obi left the highest legacy in all segments of human and material development in not only Anambra but entire Igbo land. Since 1999 till date, Peter took political landscape in the entire Igbo land with honour, grace and showed good leadership both in and out of office. Peter Obi remains the best politician among his peers in Igbo land today. Under Buhari’s watch, EFCC has become APC government tool of oppression. The government of the day has used the agency to harass, intimidate and destroy the members of opposition. The irony of it is that we have more corrupt men in APC, yet Buhari looks the other way. Peter Obi, ride on bros. ‘Ejikwala ujo dara enwe n elu.’ Shame to APC and her corrupt officials!

– Eze Chima C. Lagos, +2347036225495

 

 

Re: Before EFCC interrogates Peter Obi

Dear Casy, note that when a child attains kingship status, all manner of envy erupts. So the ill-laden shouts arising from Pandora Papers that Peter Obi be sent to the gallows is understood. Again, with 2023 hanging in the air, the desperados as represented by SWAGA ‘23 and Political Birth-Right Claimants up North would stop at nothing to unsettle the likes of Peter Obi. Hence all manner of semantics now adduced to asphyxiate zoning in order to block the diadem from deservedly landing in South East in 2023. May the Pandora Papers’ authors be reminded that bare human palms do not shield the moon from shining! As for the schemers for 2023, may they know that he who covets what is not rightly his, attracts to himself, mortal misfortune which, rightly, is not his.

–Steve Okoye, 08036630731.          

Before you informed us, we already knew their tactics: give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. But it is not only pedestrian this time, it is out of tune. We know better. And they with their games are dead on arrival. They can only succeed in using the State and its apparatuses to stop him becoming the next President of this collapsing make-shift but they cannot succeed in taking his honour away from him. It is a pity the type of men we allow to dictate our fate and the narrative will change the day the youths drop their docility and challenge the status quo. Till then we wallop in deceit. As for Peter Obi and the current storm, it is nothing: ‘mmiri mara Ugo asago Ugo ahu’ (the rain which beat an Eagle only succeeded in bathing it).

–Aloy Uzoekwe, [email protected], 080 38503174.

Casmir, although, the report smacks of jealousy that is filled with venom of hatred for Obi’s personality and with an obvious axe to grind against him, EFCC should please be allowed  to do its job without undue pressure from any quarters. He is just being invited for questioning. Holding brief for him would raise an air of suspicion that he truly has some skeletons in his cupboard. Tax fraudulence is synonymous with the rich. Remember Messi, C. Ronaldo etc from the world of football. This is the consequence of frolicking and dovetailing with Atiku during 2019 elections.

–Mike, Mushin Lagos, +2348161114572

Dear Casmir, you appear unusually emotional and deeply pained by the veiled attack on Mr. Peter Obi. Your firm belief is that the attack is nothing but a hatchet job orchestrated by his political enemies. The case of Mr. Peter Obi cannot be divorced from his due qualification for the 2023 presidential ticket. He is also ‘qualified’ for E.F.C.C interrogation because he is not a former head of state or president which is a ‘no-go’ area for E.F.C.C. Nigeria’s presidential seat is for a Nigerian and not for a saint. And we have never had one before. I know too well that Dr Orji Uzor Kalu has an ambition. He’s qualified: he should come out and not be bothered by the current E.F.C.C grandstanding. Dr Ogbonnaya Onu should also present himself for the seat. Under the PDP umbrella, I key into the remarkable argument of my friend, Dr S.A. Ekundayo, that the PDP should zone the 2023 presidency to the South East exclusively. Peter Obi deserves the PDP presidential ticket instead of these unnecessary distractions that are being fueled by his enemies and hacks. Note that the Pandora Papers saga may wear the hairy hand of Esau, but the voice is certainly that of Jacob.

–Edet Essien Esq. Cal. South 08037952470

Dear Casy, Peter Obi left the highest legacy in all segments of human and material development in not only Anambra but entire Igbo land. Since 1999 till date, Peter took political landscape in the entire Igbo land with honour, grace and showed good leadership both in and out of office. Peter Obi remains the best politician among his peers in Igbo land today. Under Buhari’s watch, EFCC has become APC government tool of oppression. The government of the day has used the agency to harass, intimidate and destroy the members of opposition. The irony of it is that we have more corrupt men in APC, yet Buhari looks the other way. Peter Obi, ride on bros. ‘Ejikwala ujo dara enwe n elu.’ Shame to APC and her corrupt officials!

–Eze Chima C. Lagos, +2347036225495

Dear Casmir, I want to encourage Peter Obi to be focused and steadfast. There’s no crown without cross. Barack Obama faced same ordeal before getting to White House. All he needs is a good lawyer. I look forward to seeing him in Aso Rock by 2023.

– Cletus Frenchman Enugu, +234 909 538 5215

Every allegation levelled against Peter Obi over corruption is a matter of time. Let us keep our fingers crossed as anti-graft agencies are doing their investigations. In Nigeria, nobody is a saint as far as money is concerned in governance.

–Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, +2348062887535