I read Mazi Odera’s senile drivel which he wrote under the pseudonym Ogbuefi Ndigbo with a wry smile and I shook my head ruefully afterwards. Now, how can a man’s mind suffer such disintegration that all he has left are occasional spells of sobriety before another bout of recrudescence? Chaaii! I know that Chinese jails are horrible but Mazi Odera is not the first Nigerian to be incarcerated there. How come he is regularly relapsing into serious depths of phantasmagoria that make him dance naked in the rain, like a child, believing that the tender drops are enough to cover him? Anyhow, let me go straight to his latest deluded efforts to cast doubts on the capacity of Chief Willie Obiano to lead Ndi Anambra to greatness. Here are the points he raised and my response to them -
· That Willie should resist the temptation of chartering planes for local and international trips. He came into Abuja yesterday, yet on charted flight.
My view – Mazi Odera, you lied through your teeth. Governor Obiano has only travelled abroad twice since he became the governor of Anambra State. The first trip was to his Houston, USA home. The second trip was on a pilgrimage to Israel. None of them could have been done in a chartered flight. So, why should Odera lie about this? Well, we all know why; to please Peter Obi. It is true that Governor Obiano was in Abuja on Monday to participate in a function at the Presidential Villa, but he travelled in an Arik flight to and from Abuja. The records are there for anyone to see. Just hop over to any Arik office and go through their passenger manifest from Enugu to Abuja on Monday and from Abuja to Enugu on Tuesday. Again, why would Mazi Odera lie about simple things as this? Well, first is to please Peter Obi. Another reason is because he is too simple minded to see that a governor’s movement is in the public record; it is not hidden because ejiro aka ekpuchi onwa! But Mazi Odera’s brain is too addled to see that.
· That he should stop selling all the assets former governor Peter Obi laboured to acquire for the state, example being the Onitsha Hotel Resort, the shopping Malls at Awka, Onitsha and Nnewi.
My view – Mazi Odera also lied hopelessly about the purported sale of Peter Obi’s assets. But pray, are those assets Peter Obi’s assets or the assets of Anambra State? But why do I ask when it is obvious that for people like Odera, Anambra is Peter Obi and Peter Obi is Anambra. One cannot exist without the other. However, let it be known that Governor Obiano has not sold the shopping malls in Awka, Onitsha and Nnewi. However, we cannot be applauding excellence in one breath and knocking the ingredients that create it in another. It has been repeatedly proven that governments do not manage businesses well. As a result, state-owned corporations are almost always handed over to private firms to run for greater efficiency and profit. All over Nigeria, such examples abound. So, the acquisition of the Onitsha Hotel Resort by Cardinal Developers & Trust Limited which is owned by our own Olisa Okeke was done along well-known global best practices. It was not done under the cover of darkness. Anyone who cares can conduct an investigation into the process to see whether there was a sleigh of hand dealing in it either by Governor Obiano or anyone that is associated to him. So, Mazi Odera, why don’t you look at the true value that Governor Obiano is offering people like you who have no job by getting credible investors involved in the efforts to rebuild Anambra State?
· That Obiano should stop legislating nepotism that has taken a better part of him.
My view – The charge of nepotism against Willie Obiano will not stick at all. For one, his SSA Media, who, by the way, is a good friend of mine is not from Anambra State. I don’t know about others but I am sure that there must be other appointees in his administration that are also not from Anambra State. Governor Obiano is way too urbane to be put inside your scandalous box of nepotism. Unlike your paymaster who is an ethnic jingoist, Obiano holds the revered title of Otunba Atayase of Ilemeso-Ekiti in Ekiti State. This title was conferred on him by Oba David Adegboyega Oyewunmi (Fasemi II) of Ilemeso-Ekiti. As a bridge-builder who understands the dynamics of our times, Governor Obiano is too gregarious to be tarred with your nepotistic brush. So, take that brush back across Agulu Lake to where it rightly belongs. Hehehe! Oji oso agbakwulu ogu…
· That he will pay contractors working in the state. They are all owed now and are only working skeletally because Obiano threatened that when he gets money, he will not pay any of them that is not working now even upon all the debts.
My view – The claim that contractors are being owed is a product of your ignorance. Of course it is a normal thing to owe contractors until there is sufficient evidence of conformity to the contractual terms. The valid question to ask here is whether the contractors have met their own side of the agreement. Being a chartered accountant and renowned auditor, Governor Obiano is not your naïve public servant who will throw money at contractors without a clear evidence of performance. So, I would advise you to rethink your strategy if you have collected inducement from any contractor in the hope that you could put pressure on government to release funds to them without due process because both you and your sponsors have entered “one-chance o.” Biko jenu zuo ike!
· That he takes a break from the spirit of Bacchus (wine) and that of Eros.
My view – I would advise you to get a job and get a life, Mazi Odera. If all that you have to worry about is that Governor Obiano drinks a glass or two sometimes, you are wasting your time. Kwusi iti aka na tipper bu aja, nwanne! Obiano has always been a jolly good fellow and will always be a jolly good fellow. Your sponsor, Peter Obi, knew him well before he choose him to succeed him in office. However, Peter also knew that even if he drinks like any other gentleman, it does not get in the way of his high performance. And that is why Peter is more intelligent than you. And that is also the reason why he uses you to do his dirty jobs for him even when you are his age mate. Isi Okpo! By the way, when Peter was governor, people like you made so much noise about his being stingy and not giving his visitors a cup of water to drink. Now, you have someone who likes to be human sometimes and the swansong has changed. Cheii! Uwa nkea sef! Oso ndi owe ndi! Stephen Osita Osadebe, God bless your soul!
· That Obiano stops wastefulness, 1billion Naira security vote per month; otherwise our State will go bankrupt very soon.
My view – Mazi Odera, where is the wastefulness in question? How can you just wake up and make such asinine generalization? You talk about wastefulness as though Obiano’s government is not peopled with highly successful Anambra indigenes who also have their reputation to protect. You may choose to investigate all the members of his cabinet. They are all accomplished individuals who had excelled in their private capacities before joining the public sector. There is not one person among them that has not achieved more than you. So, do you imagine that they will all sit down and encourage a culture of waste in Anambra State? Do you imagine that after building a solid reputation as a banker whose adroit managerial acumen saved Fidelity Bank from the gales of distress that swept through the nation’s banking sector for years, Chief Obiano would come to Anambra State to encourage a culture of wastefulness? C’mon! Mazi Odera, your logic falls below the minimum threshold of reason. So, I would advise you to rethink you position and embrace the locomotive tour of progress in Anambra State. You may still stay aloof as a critic, if you like, but for kingdom sake, look for substance another time. You make such a poor showing when all your criticisms sound like products of a hallucinatory mind. Tufiakwa! Alu eme!!! Odera abago one chance!
I have answered all the points you listed. I will not bother to say anything on the other comments in your post that are not properly organized as the ones I answered because it is obvious that you experienced a momentary relapse into your well-known mental affliction when you wrote them. That is why they appear like your usual ramble which I suspect you indulge in once you are done with inhaling the substance you were peddling in China before the law came calling. No same man will write with so much incoherence and incomprehensibility. So, I wouldn’t honour your insanity with a response. Hmmmmm! Oke nkita ji isi anya oku! Jili nwayo, makana isi kote ebu…
Okey Madubuife (madubuife2010@gmail.com) writes from the grotto of Idoto in Ojoto