In
the last week of October, I assured ‘my people’, that the Anambra
gubernatorial election would hold as scheduled on 6th November 2021and
that there would be no security breaches. It appeared that some of them had
forgotten that I was (and am still) a Spirit because, they queried the audacity
of that declaration. I also told them that ‘I am a Soludoist’.
Three days to the election, I told everybody who bothered to listen, why Soludo
was (and is still) the best, encouraged them to go out and vote and to eschew
Uba and Ubah. Thankfully, my prophesies
came to become. As far as I am
concerned, the election is over; it has been won and lost and we are awaiting a
new dawn come March, 2022. The heroes of
November 6 are the 5% registered voters who went out to vote despite the
intimidating show of force ( 33000 policemen, 10,000 soldiers and
other uniformed and non-uniformed persons) and the activities of some known and
unknown elements, monitored their votes and rejected the more alluring ‘sensitive
election materials’ from above.
It
is note-worthy that no candidate in the recent times has faced the type of
judicial hurdle that Soludo faced and still faces, in an effort to serve the
people. Court injunctions were flying all over the place, court cases were
instituted by some known politicians (this is not an unknown matter) across the
geopolitical zones of Nigeria (the political abracadabra had federal Character!) and
lawyers were (and are still) smiling to the banks. As at last count, 10
candidates and parties are in the tribunal to challenge the Soludonisation
of Anambra State. To what effect? Surely, it cannot be in the interest of
Anambra State! I wonder why people who were
rejected at the polls should not take their defeat in peace, lick their wounds
quietly, restock and prepare for the next time.
Several MOG (men of God) also jumped into the fray, chanting ‘Thus
says the Lord’: Soludo would be humiliated, the election would not
hold, the outcome would be a surprise and the winner would be an unknown
element. However, God had warned us earlier: do not listen to them; I have not
spoken to them.. I have not sent them (Jeremiah, 23:16&21). I believe it is over and I do not expect the Mathemagics
of Imo State this time around. I have
therefore decided to write this letter on little-little maters to
our incoming governor.
My dear Prof;
Congratulations
on your well-deserved victory in the November 6 gubernatorial election, which
you were predicted to win and which you won convincingly. I sincerely want you to succeed and I know
that you will succeed. Beyond being a Soludoist, (due to your
antecedents) I have many other reasons for wanting you to succeed: we are
neighbours, (from my ancestral compound to yours is a trekkable distance) and
thus I can brag ‘he is my brother’; we both belong to the banking and academic
fraternity (though both of us are on sabbatical from banking while you are on
sabbatical from the academia), I am a full-fledged onye- Anambra and
just like you, I am red-capped onye-Igbo.
As several Soludoist organisations continue to celebrate the victory, and as intense lobbying continues, openly and discretely, I believe that it is time to stop the partying, review the ‘where we are’ and prepare for the task ahead, (where we should be and how to get there), which is a SERIOUS one. Anambra is an A-state, from which many people of political, academic and entrepreneurial timbers have emerged.
Ndi-Anambra
are scattered all over the local and global diaspora, making waves while the
state, despite being the safest and ranking high in BudgIT fiscal management index, is still very far
from where it ought to be. Furthermore,
the state appears to have lost its voice because we have not been heard on several agenda-setting debates
on local, national and even global issues of the day. More so, the man coming
now is Soludo, a brand that requires little introduction across the globe. You
have a well-crafted and appealing manifesto, (The Soludo Solution: A
Peoples Manifesto for a Greater Anambra) aimed at turning Anambra into
a Megacity, (not mega-state)
where we will all live, learn,
work, invest retire and enjoy happily. I have no doubt that you have
the capacity to operationalise this vision. The expectations are high, not
necessarily because you promised so much but because you are Soludo! And we the
academics and technocrats are among the highly expectant ones, not necessarily
because of your antecedents but because you are one of us. Our people say that
nobody’s mind (thoughts, ideas) is
enough for him and that is why
consultation is a key feature of governance. Consequently, I have
decided to write you this letter on some little-little matters.
It will not be a technical affair, because you and your strategists have taken
care of the technical issues. If you need more technical inputs, kindly look at
the philosophical and strategic position paper by my brother, Dr Greg Ezeilo( Victory
Untrammelled… and the hand held at Bay: https://guardian.ng/opinion/soludo-and-the-invissible-hands-held-at-bay
). I will advise though that you do not
dwell on the sobriquets after Gregs name like CEH, CHFI ECSA, CISA,
because that will be another assignment all together. Just limit yourself to the PhD and FCA!
I
will start from one of the smallest matters. In the days of old, we knew you as
Professor CC Soludo, CFR. However, in the recent past, the name has undergone
some related diversification, and is now enough to fill one small textbook. You
are now Prof Chukwuma Charles Soludo, Charlie Nwa Mgbafor, Odenjiji
Agulere, Odenigbo Aguata, Dikeudo Isuofia et al. My brother, Nze Basil Osuokwu (Obassey), one
of your friends and a core Soludoist always reminds us of these titles anytime he
speaks of you, which is very often. There is a need to streamline your name by
undertaking some form of ‘conSoludotion’( as done to the banks in
2004) so that we will not spend all the
time introducing you and so that it will be easy for Google to capture. I stand by Prof CC Soludo, CFR, Governor of
Anambra State. I know that you know that executive is already embedded in the
Governorship!
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You
need to review the programmes of your predecessor and ‘sponsor’, the Working
Willie, and Akpokuodike Global (you see why I advised
that you should streamline your name before some people baptise you as Charlie
Nwa-Mgbafor Worldwide). In doing this, you should think of issues that
arose in the course of his administration, (for instance, did he work for all?),
policies, especially those that are contentious (if any), abandoned and/or
bogus projects. Issues or perceived issues should be explained while policies
and projects are aligned so that we have not just continuity but strategic
continuity.
You
know your manifesto very well and even if you were woken up by 2 am, you would
reel them off WIE (With Immediate Effect). But as you were
campaigning online and offline, you made many promises and declarations. These
campaign promises were expected to be drawn from your manifesto but at times,
they were emergent, especially when responding to impromptu questions and
comments. So, I suggest that ‘your people’( Anatune, Aburime et al) should
tabulate all these campaign promises, align them with the manifesto so that
your strategic team will start designing a template/action plan to address all of them. Any issues that have
been overtaken by events must be clarified rather than just abandoned.
Since
the days of Okwadike Ezeife the Harvard
trained economist and former ‘Super Permsec’ as the Governor of Anambra State(1992/1993)
the Aku-Luo-Uno ( Think Home) paradigm has been consciously canvassed. Our people
are now ready for that paradigm shift
because they have better understood the concept and because of certain, mostly
painful, experiences. In the recent past, I have delivered lectures on that
concept to Anambra communities in Lagos (Association of Anambra State
Development Unions) and Delta State( Ogbako Ndi Anambra), among others. My research on ‘Entrepreneurship in a
Changing Environment, Lessons from Experience and interface with our
entrepreneurial class in the process
affirms that Aku-Luo-Uno is an idea, which time has come. Since our
people are ready, it behoves on your government to make the environment READY
for that inward movement. Roads and lights come in for priority mention. Your
manifesto touches on some of these themes but these must be consciously tied to
Aku-Luo Uno. Seamless and stress-free acquisition of land for
industry, farming, commerce and residence, fiscal incentives and streamlined
levies and all such pull factors should be prioritised. Some of
these diaspora elements should be involved in designing practical Aku-Luo
Uno policies and programmes.
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Before
the election, the security atmosphere in Anambra was scarry. The UGM, IPOB and
the contentions GTMs (Ghost Town Mondays), which was akin to shooting oneself
at the foot, the declaration MASSOB and other unimaginable security
challenges, held the state and its people by the juggler. There is some quiet
now, which supports the hypothesis that the pre-November 6 anarchy was
politically motivated and orchestrated. However, the confusion over GTMs still
persist and there are still security breaches here and there. This should be
given immediate serious, attention.
Many
people worked for your success and your expected sterling performance would
make them happy. But as is usual in Nigerian politics, there will be need for
some form of settlement. However, you should not ignore
competence. Reward people but in the process, do no harm to the state and to
the Soludo brand. Relatedly, you do not
have godfathers as such, but you know the principalities and powers around
you, including those with caps as tall as mine. You may not make a U-Turn on
your promises and pledges but do not prioritise their satisfaction or place it
as a first line charge as Mbadinuju did. Undertake a strategic review of these under-the-table
agreements in the interest of your name and the state.
I know that like many people of your calibre,
you already have a core team of apostles, who understand you, including your
body language; whom you will tell go and they go,( Matthew,8:9)
to whom you assign responsibilities and go to sleep. It is however imperative
that you broaden the team by infusing new blood to cover all the dimensions of
governance. These dimensions include bureaucratic, political, strategic and
operational. The bureaucratic is imperative as you have not been a member of
the Anambra civil service. There is need to carry them along so that they share
the vision and want what you want (leadership), as against doing
what you want( management). You may even combine the two concepts by
going into the practice of leadagement.
Your
communication/media team is a very formidable one and they should move from
showcasing Soludo the man, to showcasing the activities and attainments of
Soludo, the governor. I suggest a weekly summary of verifiable activities(
probably through social media) and monthly press briefing on achievements and
challenges, especially vis-à-vis your manifesto and election promises. Furthermore, in the new dispensation, Anambra
State must have a clear and assertive voice in local, national and even international affairs. When issues that
concern Anambra, Nd’Igbo, the South, Nigeria and the globe are mentioned, we
must no longer be MIA( missing in action)! And you must speak
with conviction supported by facts rather than keeping quiet for fear of being white-listed
or falling out of favour.
You
must collaborate strategically with other Igbo, Southern and Nigerian governors
especially on the issue of restructuring and workability of Nigeria, the
position of Nd’Igbo in Nigeria and the
protection of our people who are
scattered like restless ants across the country. Wike, who takes special joy in rattling
others, have shown that some of these cases can be softly handled through the
courts. We need motorable hinterland roads that link Anambra with all the
states in the South East (aside the federal roads). Taking half a day to get to
Aba, Owerri or Enugu is far from ideal. These cannot be done if
there were no interstate collaboration.
My
dear Prof, failure is NOT an option. Mediocrity is NOT an option. I know that
you have the capacity to make a difference and you MUST make a difference. Many
people and groups are looking up to you. Some even want to see how big
grammar will transform to good governance and performance. We in the
academia are glad that one of us is in state governance, like Prof Ambrose Alli
of old and Profs Ayade and Zullum of
today. However, talking of Ayade, I pray that we do not have budget themes that
require consultancy services to interpret and understand, the latest being 2022
Budget of Conjugated Agglutination
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