By Sonnie Ekwowusi
“The seat at the Government House, Awka, Anambra State is not hereditary and no winner is returned to it without an election duly conducted within the time frame as stipulated by the law…it will be judicial slumber to grant an application of this nature. The election in which he was returned is an illegal exercise and the certificate of return issued to the applicant (Uba) has no backing in law…if this court grants this application, it will be setting a bad precedent and standing the law against its feet, which it has refused to do…”
So held the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, on November 13, 2009, as per Justice Nwali Ngwuta (of the blessed memory) in unanimously dismissing the application filed by Andy Uba praying the appellate Court to declare him “Governor-in-waiting”. On November 13 2009, the whole Anambra stood still anxiously awaiting the much-dreamt verdict of the Court of Appeal. A few days to the delivery of the judgment, Andy Uba and his cohorts went agog in a champagne celebration in some parts of Awka under the false illusion that the Court of Appeal judgment was in favour of Andy Uba. But when the true verdict of the Court finally came to light on November 13 2009 many Ndi Anambra heaved a sigh of relief. Many could be seen jubilating in the streets because Anambra was not captured by the Anambra juju politicians and ruffians whom Chinua Achebe referred to at that time as political renegades.
The aforesaid Court of Appeal judgment sealed the hope of Andy Uba in trying to capture Anambra in order to convert it into his personal fiefdom. Talking about Uba, Anambra has had a checkered political history. From the traumatic totalitarian reign of Chinwoke Mbadinuju (May 1999-May 2003) to the short reign of Dame Virginia Etiaba (3 November 2006-9 February 2007), Anambra democracy was bringing out thieves, murderers, mad men, wicked men, vultures and undisciplined rabble from their hideouts and entrusting them with the sacred duty of managing the affairs of their fellow men and women in Anambra. Or, if you like, Anambra prior to the emergence of Peter Obi had been entering “one chance”. After the Supreme Court had extended Peter Obi’s tenure as well as ordered that Governorship Election would hold in Anambra in 2010, Andy Uba came out from the blues and started claiming that, by virtue of the April 14, 2007 Governorship Election in which he emerged victorious and was sworn in as Anambra Governor (He reigned for only about three weeks), he was a “Governor-in-waiting” and therefore should be allowed to bounce back as Anambra Governor. But thank God that the aforesaid November 13 2009 Court of Appeal judgment truly consigned Andy Uba to where he belongs-the dustbin of Anambra political history. The judgment also cleared the coast for the February 6th 2010 Governorship Election which produced Peter Obi thus making him the first civilian Anambra Governor to enjoy a second term.
Peter Obi’s second term ushered a new dawn in Anambra. It marked the glorious days of Anambra State. Under the watch of Peter Obi, Anambra State simply triumphed. It became a role model for other States of the federation. Beyond reconstruction of roads and provision of infrastructure, true human development flourished in the State. Being a sensible technocrat with no time for dirty identity politics, Obi wasted no time in returning most Anambra schools to their former missionary owners. This gesture in no distant time started yielding dividends. Anambra schools and students started to marvelously excel in WAEC, NECO, JAMB exams and other national and international educational exams and competitions. Anyway, Peter Obi’s biggest achievement as Anambra Governor, in my view, is his ability to create a new work culture and serviceable public ethics that encouraged hard work, honesty, diligence and meritocracy in Anambra public institutions. He managed to create a work culture that did not create loopholes for the flourishing of incompetence, laziness, corruption and graft.
This is why the Anambra voters must troop out en masse on Saturday November 6, 2021 (Anambra seems to have a pact with the alphabetical number 6. Peter Obi was re-elected February 6 2010 and the forthcoming Anambra Governorship election comes up November 6 2021) to vote for a candidate who will reenact the Peter Obi prodigy in the next four years in order to keep Anambra alive. Boycotting the Saturday Election will be tantamount to giving the Abuja-assisted thieves, murderers, vultures, mad men, wicked men and undisciplined rabble rousers in Anambra the opportunity to steal the Anambra Election. There are conflicting news/reports regarding whether or not IPOB has called for an Election boycott or ordered for a sit-at-home from November 5 to 10 2010. IPOB itself has purportedly been sending out public notices/messages to the effect that it is neither calling for an Election boycott nor ordering for a sit-at-home during the Election. There is no doubt that the Abuja meddlers in the Anambra Election are bent on creating a contrived state of anarchy or helplessness in Anambra in order to rig the Anambra Election in favour of their sponsored candidate. The people of Anambra must resist this. If the people of Edo State resisted Federal-assisted election manipulation and gerrymandering and fraud during the last Edo Governorship Election, the people of Anambra must follow suit. It is an insult to our collective intelligence that a State that has produced the most outstanding contemporary literary personalities and legal icons in Nigeria will be governed by a ruffian or renegade parading “Toronto” educational qualifications.
Nothing will be gained in boycotting the Saturday Anambra Election. Those presently killing their Anambra brothers and sisters or intimidating Anambra voters to boycott the Saturday Election on ground or feign ground of exercise of their right to self-determination should remember that participation in the political process or voting on Election Day is not incompatible with the exercise of the right to self-determination. Instead of scuttling the right to self-determination, voting for a candidate of one’s choice on Election Day could facilitate the exercise of the right to self-determination. One thing is clear: self-determination cannot be actualized under a chaotic, ruinous, and hostile atmosphere. More importantly, when brothers fight to death strangers will inherit their land. If the various Anambra combatants, enemies and perceived enemies succeed in killing themselves then the strangers hiding in Anambra bushes will come out from their hideouts and take over Anambra and occupy it. The President of the Leadership Institute, Arlington Virginia, United States Morton Blackwell used to say to us in those days, “If you cannot pay your rent then you cannot save the world”. Analogically, if Ndi Anambra cannot save their little clans, Umunna (kindred), villages and towns in Anambra State, how can they hope to save Nigeria let alone save the world? This is why Ndi Anambra must rally round today to save Anambra from the present dangers and enemies surrounding her. Anambra must not die.