A MACEDONIAN CALL FROM ANAMBRA STATE
To say that the governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Soludo was overrated is an understatement devoid of the least shade of ambiguity and coded terms. After so many years of struggles for the mantle of leadership in Anambra State, he succeeded with the deceit of an empty promise of an eldorado when he said he would turn Anambra, Onitsha to be precise to another Dubai of Africa . However, this is barely two and a half years down the line and all the Prof could achieve for the State is a setback to the starting point of the fourth republic and untold devastation of the economy. I learnt of a young Keke Napep operator in Anambra who took a break from operations on account of ill health. When he resumed after a long while, he was handed over an accumulated tax bill for the days he never worked. An amount the young man couldn’t raise having spent a fortune to clear his hospital bill and according to the system created by Soludo, there is no permission to operate until the bill is cleared. That is how the governor made himself a pugilist and gave the young man a permanent technical knockout from business.
Soludo’s tax algorithm was designed to keep accumulating your daily taxes even when you are bedridden in the hospital and Soludo, a Professor, gave his stamp of approval on it. That was because he has little experience about growing a successful business which is not a mere academic exercise. It was in the same vein, he conducted the first bank recapitalisation in a manner that several banks went under; numerous patriots who courageously invested in the banking sector lost their investments and many never recovered till date; hundreds of thousands of Nigerians also lost their jobs; so many businesses collapsed as their running capitals were being saved in the banks and poor people lost their petty savings . A good policy maker would have found a way of doing it without losing any bank or causing trauma to bank users.
The draconian tax system is one of the reasons why small businesses in Anambra State are collapsing in their numbers and going out of the way under the watch of a professor. Has he forgotten that the basic tax system for small and medium businesses is the PAYE system -Pay As You Earn-as we were taught in elementary economics? Where in the world is the “Pay Before You Earn” system practiced for small businesses? To say that it is no less a person than Soludo that introduced such a primitive, crude and dictatorial system is so appalling and nauseating. He should have known better that small and medium scale businesses are the foundation of the private sector. Hence, anything that affects them affects the private sector and by extension, the economy.
The foregoing shows that Soludo has failed woefully in the economic sector. The same is the case in the other sectors. It is said that the primary purpose of any government is to protect the lives and properties of the citizens. How has he lived up to this responsibility as the governor of Anambra State one may ask? Ever since he took over the reins of power, crimes, vices and social disturbances and hostilities have multiplied in the state and become the order of the day. Residents of the state are now living in fear and can’t sleep any longer with both eyes closed. If it is not clashes of rival groups especially at the Awka metropolis, it is attacks by bandits. If it is not attacks by bandits, it is threats by unknown gunmen and kidnappers. Where was Governor Soludo when Hon Okechukwu Okoye, the state lawmaker representing his own constituency, Aguata 2, was beheaded? It was also under his watch that another politician by the name of Nelson Achukwu was murdered. It is also on record that about six president generals of various communities in Anambra have lost their lives to unscrupulous criminal elements in the State. All the mentioned incidents are eloquent attestations that Solution has failed in his primary responsibility as a governor.
What about road infrastructures? Just take a look at the capital territory, Awka. It is now a shadow of its former self. Almost a ghost town as there is much infrastructure deficit in addition to high spate of insecurity which have driven away businesses. The same is the case everywhere in the State. Recently, I visited Nnewi, one of the two leading manufacturing hubs in West Africa. I entered through Okija junction. The road was in a total state of disrepair. I lost all my breath when I learned that other roads leading to that great hub are in the same condition. The ugly situations made me begin to wonder how an economist of Soludo’s stature didn’t know that quality road infrastructure is crucial for the transport of raw materials and finished products to and from the hub. Even a pupil would have appreciated the fact that quality access roads to Nnewi is an indispensable factor for the boosting of its productivity and by extension the economy of the state. If the governor is so confused that he neglected the economic beehives, what then is the fate of the rural areas?
It could be recalled that Soludo in his manifesto promised to conduct the local government area election six months after inauguration. The people believed and trusted him hoping that the rural populace would thereby regain closeness to government as a matter of design. Hence they transferred their mandate to him only for him to betray them and dash their hopes. It is just two years and six months after his inauguration that he hurriedly scheduled for and conducted the election. The question that should agitate the mind is what has Soludo been doing with all the huge allocations coming to the local government councils since he took over power? The over 118 billion naira that accrued in aggregate for the LGAs are going uncounted for, as their spendings were not captured in any budget or official records. The stooges he appointed as transition committee chairmen over the LGAs are mere figureheads who have no financial autonomy. In fact, most of them as we reliably gathered operated from the capital city, Awka as LGAs lack adequate social amenities. This explains why there is so much surge in rural-to-urban migration as a result of which there is an increase in house rent and prices of essential commodities and insecurity.
When you hear that Soludo scheduled for the LGA elections and conducted it, you will think he just became a democrat overnight. Far from that! He decided to conduct the election because the supreme court ruled, mandating governors to conduct the election as soon as possible or risk the withholding of the local government allocations. Soludo will be the last person to grant financial autonomy to the LGAs having been operating a joint account with them through the Joint Account and Allocation Committee (JAAC). He tasted the pudding, got lost in the taste and reneged on his promise thereby throwing integrity to the wind. Anambrarians should act on Warren Buffet’s advice when he said “Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you”. Soludo has failed the integrity test by flouting his own promise (of conducting the LGA elections six months after inauguration). His inability to keep to his word and make it his bond is a betrayal of integrity. He therefore does not deserve to be hired again by the good people of Anambra State.
What he eventually conducted as LGA elections was a travesty of the highest order, brazen show of shame and ignoble dent on credibility and fairness. To say that this happened under the watch of a professor who is supposed to be an apostle of electoral reform is a huge embarrassment to the erudite profession. Anambrarians were not taken unawares. They know Soludo very well and the shenanigans he represents. That is why most of them stayed away from the election. Even a political party, Labour Party, distanced itself and refused to field candidates. A statement released by the party to that effect said: “Kindly take note of the previously confirmed position of Labour Party, Anambra State chapter that the illegally packaged and lawlessly commenced obnoxious LGA council elections being midwifed by the hastily conceived and ill-prepared ANSIEC by Anambra State Government is not worthy of our participation and this LP position remains irrevocably unchanged”. However, despite the party’s obvious boycott of the election, Soludo and his fellow scoundrels still threw caution to the wind and murdered integrity as his manner usually is by allegedly assigning candidates for them. According to the party, some of the assigned candidates were Soludo’s transition committee chairmen. At a press conference the same day, the party stated categorically that they neither sold nomination forms for the local government elections nor conducted any primary elections to nominate candidates. They stated further that “they never submitted its register, not to mention submission of any list of candidates to ANSIEC”. From where then, did they manufacture those candidates?
What other crimes can be greater than this, allegedly supervised by Solido himself. A man at the top echelon of the academic strata being so desperate for power that he can overstep any marks and break any rules. Soludo has by this act hinted to Nigerians that whenever they commence search for honest and straightforward men and women to engineer electoral reforms, he is an unworthy and ignoble character for the worthy and noble cause. A golden opportunity was given to him to reform the LGA electoral process and thereby show an example to Nigeria but he misused it just for vested interest….I can observe that he wants to be in control of the resources of all the LGAs and wouldn’t want to take chances without considering the damage it will do to his reputation and political career. It has now become so clear as to why he was appointing sets of caretaker chairmen every 3 months making it 12 times he appointed them within two and a half years. (The Guinness Book of Records should give him his flowers. He is the highest to do so within the period). It is unarguable that those appointees couldn’t have achieved any meaningful milestones from definition to planning, survey, analysis and execution within such a short period. Hence looting and embezzlement allegedly became a resort and can’t be denied.
What shall we say about human rights violations by Professor Soludo’s administration? Incidents abound of such violations by Soludo’s administration.
A case in point is the torture and brutalisation of an Onitsha based business man by the name of Wilfred Ezike a.k.a Mgbilimgba by the men of the Special Anti-Tout Squad of Anambra State in March 2024 as reported by the Punch Newspaper. Surprisingly enough, the man is a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). The men even added audacity to stupidity by filming their obnoxious actions and the video went viral on social media. The disgusting clip showed as they were brutalizing him with pestles and machetes without referencing any offense committed. What a flagrant display of barbarism and incivility happening in Soludo’s government? The height of it all was that while the incident attracted condemnations from well meaning Nigerians, Soludo was yet to react a week after the incident. A testament that he allegedly gave his endorsement on their action. I can’t find a rationale for his appointment of touts to eradicate touting in Anambra State who turned the State into a theater of barbarians taking laws into their hands and abusing the rights of the people in the name of enforcement. If you witness the degree of intimidation and brute force meted out to the people by the task forces and agencies set up by Soludo, you may be tempted to question the civility and decency of the intellectual society Soludo claims to represent…You can’t wash a dirty cloth clean with dirty water. And as appointees are a reflection of the one who appointed them, Soludo has by implication identified himself as a tout. Anambrarians don’t need any explanations any longer to identify where Soludo’s arrogance and lack of humility stem from.
We thought Soludo was a decent, civilized and well groomed leader and hence was coming as a progressive to champion a new cause in governance devoid of bullying, harassments and vendetta and witch-hunt of perceived political opponents and dissenting voices. How wrong we were! I read yet another report by the Punch how Soludo admitted refusing to construct a road as a result of political affiliations and differences. That was a road in Okpoko community in Ogbaru LGA of Anambra State. The road as acknowledged by Soludo was in shambles and disrepair and needed swift attention but he declined calls to construct it because it was in the constituency of the house of representative member, Hon Noble Igwe who was in the opposition at the time. He openly acknowledged that the community supported and voted for him massively but refused to do their road. It was after the lawmaker defected to APGA that he had to construct it. His explanation was that if you were in the parlour, you won’t be heard until you enter the room. What a poor argument coming from a self acclaimed progressive?
Let us hear from the horse’s mouth as captured by the Punch. “I rejected the advice to develop Nwokedi Street because the House member representing the area was formerly in the opposition. As of the time he brought the poor state of the road to my attention and advised it should be repaired, he was in the opposition then, and I did not listen to him. But one day, I was taking a walk, one guy showed me a road which the honourable member representing Ogbaru constituency 1, Noble Chukwunoso Igwe, had spoken to me about and because he was an opposition, I could not do any thing on the road then. Today, Noble Igwe is in our party, and he is a mainstream member, so we have listened to him. When he was in the opposition, he was in the parlour talking but his voice could not be heard, but today, he is not only a mainstream member of our party, but he is right in the bedroom talking with us. You cannot be outside and be talking, you have to come inside the bedroom so that we can listen to you.” (The Punch, 18th March, 2024).
You can see the reason why Soludo is underdeveloping Anambra State. There are 6 house of representative members of the Labour Party extraction as against 5 of Soludo’s APGA and 2 senators of Labour Party, 1 of APP that later defected to the APC (which is now vacant) and none of APGA. Consequently he won’t take developments to the people of those constituencies seeing that their federal reps and senators are in the parlour instead of the room with him. This means that if he had found himself in the shoes of Peter Obi who came in as the governor of Anambra State when the entire state’s senatorial districts and federal constituencies were controlled by the PDP, he would have done nothing in terms of development. You can see that the Soludo of all people is driven by a parochial and partisan mindset. Recall that towards the 2023 state assembly elections, he threatened to cut off development from any community whose electorates fail to vote for APGA candidates. He made it clear that he would neither associate with nor grant them access to himself. You can see why the road infrastructure in Nnewi is left to decay. All the state constituencies therein – Nnewi North, Nnewi South I and Nnewi South II- didn’t vote for Soludo’s APGA and that infuriated him. Hence, he decided to keep their assembly members in the parlour in accordance with his parochial philosophy. The fact that APGA eventually retained 17 state constituencies is not a reflection of the people’s endorsement of his administration but of his threats against the people. If the former was the case, why then did he lose almost half of them? Those he lost chose to call his bluff damning any consequences.
I think Anambrarians judged a book by its cover on seeing a professor parading himself for the highest office in their state. They rallied round him and developed high hopes which the supposed erudite professor dashed, proving them wrong of all their unfounded assumptions and baseless hopes. In fact Soludo has spent more than two years just to prove a point… that he was overrated and an armchair theoretical professor who couldn’t translate anything positive to physical reality, the likes of which augment a living by selling handouts at the universities. As a matter of fact, if you want to know the real professors of economics and business, then think of those who planted businesses and are grooming and nurturing them to money spinners, multinationals and conglomerates and are harvesting fortunes from them. You will see them at Ochanja market Onitsha, Eziukwu Market Aba, Nkwo market Nnewi
Am I disparaging the professorship? By no means! It remains the highest degree of learning and credential of honour. In fact, I aspire to be one in the nearest future. However, I am not inspired by the likes of Soludo who have the degree but lack the character, civility, decency, decorum and honours that go with it. To say the least, he has desecrated those attributes and smeared his toga. When a professor deploys an uncivilized, crude and barbaric approach to politics and leadership, has he not rubbished the degree? When a prof recruits touts and endorses their brute force approach by silence and run a parochial and partisan administration has he not stained his toga? He is not a model at all! However, there are seasoned professors who are still upholding and esteeming high the sacred attributes and I am rather inspired by them. They have not only contributed their quotas to the academia but also built businesses from scratch, reformed leadership and transformed the society around them. The intellectual world is proud of them. Consider Professor Pat Utomi for instance who created the renowned and prestigious Lagos business school. This business school has produced CEOs and successful economy players in the country and around the globe and still producing. Professor Age Babalola is another impressive example. A Prof that single handedly built the famous Afe Babalola University which ranked among the leading universities in Africa by international bodies. There are so many others. Unfortunately, regrettably and disappointingly, Solido chose to count himself out from among them. Ordinary LGA elections, he couldn’t conduct in a manner reflective of credibility, freeness and fairness that becomes the degree he parades but rather acted the existing infamous scripts of his fellow corrupt governors.
Granted, Soludo seems to have a larger-than-life profile having sat on the boards of certain multinationals and served as a consultant to financial institutions. However, such can just pass for a paradox as Nwa Mgbafọ is not known to have built any business from scratch. Just search for yourself from Onitsha to Lagos, from Lagos to Aba, from Aba to Nnewi and from Nnewi to Abuja. Is there anywhere you can see Soludo Transport Company, Soludo Auto Trade Company etc? He was just fortunate to have been recruited to ride on functional policies developed by experts in those establishments. When it came time for him to prove his mettle, he ended up destroying businesses. One was during his stint as the CBN governor-as earlier hinted-where his initiative swallowed up about 56 banks out of 89 banks leaving us with 24. Another is now as a governor of a state where he cannot boast of any signature project after more than 2 and a half years in office but rather destroying small businesses.
I was taken aback when he wrote a professorial academic verbiage he called an article mocking and scoffing Peter Obi’s saving policy during the latter’s stint as a governor. In the essay, he described the measure as unnecessary. I wondered if this man actually understood the essence of the banking sector where he had a stint which was to enable people to save for the rainy day without squandering all their incomes (revenues). If individuals are encouraged to save, why can’t governments save? Norway as a nation is renowned for their saving culture. It is prominently enshrined in the manifesto of every succeeding government to save a good portion for the future. That was why when economic recession hit Europe and most of the economies in that continent were crumbling, Norway remained buoyant and afloat and came out of the woods unscathed.
Has the Prof forgot that Anambra State was the only state that never bothered the federal government for bailout funds when other states were faced with economic downturn in the aftermath of the emergence of the APC? Has he also forgotten that Anambra State never asked for palliatives during COVID 19 pandemic unlike other states in order to cushion the effects of the lockdown? What about the Anambra airport he is enjoying today which Peter Obi’s successor, Willie Obiano built with part of the money saved by Obi? I think Soludo chose to cast dignity to the mud by living in denial. Otherwise he would have remembered that Obiano acknowledged that the airport was a product of the fund saved by Obi according to Taraba State former governor, Darius Ishaku. If Obi’s contemporaries had borrowed a leaf from him instead of borrowing to squander, Nigeria might not have been groaning under the APC imposed economic crunch of today. Indeed, Obi saw today yesterday and made adequate preparation for it but Soludo is here today destroying the commendable vision of yesterday!
As a matter of fact, Obi’s feats are too pronounced and indelible for ten Soludos to erase. They are etched on the rock. Trying to erase them would mean burning his fingers. Take education for instance. Before the emergence of Obi, Anambra State was in the category of educationally backward states ranking around 29th. As Okwute took over the helm, the state improved and became the number 1 in the entire federation in terms of standards, performance and what have you. A position they have retained till 2023 when Abịa took the trophy away from them consequent upon the good governance and education reforms initiated by Peter Obi’s ally, Alex Otti. In automobile, Anambra State under Peter Obi’s watch became the first and still the only state that manufactures automobiles in Nigeria by the famous name of Innoson Vehicles Manufacturing (IVM). What a world class achievement? People should ask Soludo why of all vehicle brands in the world, he chose that of IVM as his official vehicle if Obi didn’t achieve much according to him.
To say the least, Obi’s era marked an epoch of prosperity for ndi Anambra. In fact the state prospered so much that their people’s coast enlarged beyond Anambra State. The era generated so much wealth for them to spread over, encroaching other states in investments. In Imo State for instance, so many big businesses belong to Anambra people. Alaba market is a case in point where they control major stakes. By the same token, they also went beyond the shores of Nigeria in business. Those are the effects of good governance engineered by Peter Obi. They happen where there is good governance and prudent management of resources! Unfortunately, no one has been able to sustain the rare legacies left behind by Peter Obi.
Hence getting a like-minded leader is of the essence and it is now obvious and clear that Anambrarians will go for a change of guard. A reality that faced Soludo when he saw Obi soaring in popularity as a presidential candidate and cast a gloomy shadow of fear over him. That was why he toed the line of scribbling a futile treatise against Obi’s rising profile in order to rubbish and diminish him and protect his vested interest. His fears eventually heightened and became palpable on counting the cost of the incursions made by Obi’s effects on his territory. He has read the signs and handwriting on the wall and come to terms with the fact that agwo no n’akirika (there is a snake on the thatch) and became so jittery and agitated. Why won’t he, when a party (Labour Party) less than a year old in renaissance snatched away 8 house of assembly members in the state leaving him with 17 and the rest for others? Why won’t he when the young party took 6 federal Constituencies out of 11 whereas APGA just got 3 and 2 senatorial districts and left 1 for YPP that later defected to the APC and non for Soludo’s APGA thereby controlling the federal politics of Anambra State?
These beautiful but ugly incidents in the aftermath of the election is a registration of the people’s grievances against Soludo, their yearning for a change of government and seal on Soludo’s quit notice. In a nutshell, it is the people’s Macedonian call for a competent and seasoned leader that can continue from where Obi stopped and replicate his golden era as they are disenchanted with a sheer armchair theoretical Prof who will spend 4 years just to demonstrate his cluelessness, ineptitude and incompetence. They are yearning for a leader who can translate theory into tangible results, not one who gets mired in abstract concepts. They’re demanding one who can deliver and not a writer of empty letters or a grandiloquent speaker. This is their cry for help!…The leader who can rise to the challenge and restore their faith in government, address their everyday concerns, provide solutions to their problems, and restore hope for a better future should come forward. Anything less is unacceptable!
Therefore, I would advise Anambrarians to borrow a leaf from ndi Abia State. While Anambra has been in the quagmire of bad governance for barely 10 years after Obi’s golden era, Abia spent 24 years in the woods from the inception of the fourth republic, ranging from the inglorious days of Orji Uzor Kalu to the unproductive days of TA Orji and the retrogressive days of Okezie Ikpeazu. .. a bunch of incompetent, inept, greedy, kleptomaniac and profligate “leaders”. At the right time, Abians had to make the Macedonian call which found an answer in a pragmatic, competent, proactive, seasoned, skilled and tactful leader in the person of Alex Otti whose mandate they defended by fighting down the vultures who deployed in futility, Bulaba’s infamous strategy of grab-it-snatch-it-and-run-with-it. Barely a year in office, Abians have heaved a sigh of relief witnessing massive transformations all over the state. That is how the tears of 24 years were wiped out by good governance of just 1 year!
The Macedonian call has been heard and certainly, the answer will come. However, you should be ready to defend the mandate from the vultures as Abians did.
Emma Ogoke
Public Opinion Moulder, Good governance advocate.
