We are embarrassed and Anambra State with us, that Gov Obiano is dusting the drums to celebrate two years in office when he is yet to separate the judiciary from the executive; yet to allow Anambra State have a legislature without interference; yet to allow Anambra State vote for their leaders at the local .government level and claim their monies being wasted in Awka on patronage of a political party; and yet to pay workers.
We feel ashamed for Obiano that his promise on Anambra Oil and listing of Anambra as an oil producing state is not mentioned anymore.
We are worried that every word contained in Obiano’s hurried plan of action is now a material for literature classes and not for government action.
We are miffed that this government thrives on very little direct communication with the Anambra State citizenry, which it obviously considers beneath it, taking action over their heads.
We cannot find words to describe the extent of hand-to-mouthing in this particular regime and the factors driving that tendency in a season of ‘drought’, even to the point of dissolving investments to pay salaries.
We know the tendency of the leaders of the current administration in the state to resort to celebration which runs into bills above the meager steps being celebrated.
A case in point was the private birthday celebration of Governor Obiano which saw the GOVERNMENT OF ANABRA STATE erect billboards in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt amongst other unjustifiable costs made with local government funds.
But we advise caution as the good people of the state are getting better aware of the huge leakages and wastages which includes money illegally spirited to key officials in an electoral institution in Abuja to enable some suspect candidate sail through the repeat elections in the Anambra Central zone of the state unopposed through artificial barriers to other candidates and political parties.
Nothing short of a firm date for the conduct of elections before March 17, 2016 round of wasteful celebrations will be acceptable to the 21 Anambra State local governments, including Ihiala, where the government has disobeyed all the courts in Nigeria with ignominy and Nnewi North where the government appointed a dictator for the local government since 2014, who has neither done anything for the LG nor accounted to anybody in the LG.
Nothing short of full reconstitution of the ANSIEC board and management and full preparedness for LG elections will be acceptable to the citizens of Anambra State.
Nothing short of clearing all outstanding slaries before rolling out any celebration drums will be accepted by the people of the state.
Nothing short of the full statement of account of the N75bn reportedly bequeathed to this government audited and published in advertorial format, not back-and-forth press conferences and vituperations with estranged political interests will suffice prior to any celebrations.
Nothing short of the full statement of account of the N75bn reportedly bequeathed to this government audited and published in advertorial format, not back-and-forth press conferences and vituperations with estranged political interests will suffice prior to any celebrations.
Nothing short of the shaping up or shipping out of the Anambra State House of Assembly to signal that the House of Assembly is now ready to play its constitutional role will go down well before the expected wasteful celebration.
Nothing short of total disengagement from controlling the judiciary in Anambra State and influencing their judgments, even to the extent of ‘arresting’ actions instituted to halt the illegality of Government Caretaker Committees, will be enough for this historical state. To make matters worse, the judicial workers and judicature are below standard in welfare packages, thus unduly exposing them to temptation.
We warn Gov Obiano to sit up, not minding that the election that brought him into office was mercilessly rigged, and understand that the challenges of the next two years obviously promise to be more challenging than these two wasted years, propaganda and procured awards, without citation, notwithstanding.
We appreciate the efforts being made by the budding civil society in Anambra State to fill the yawning gap left by the absence of an effective House of Assembly and trust that their current strides will pay off with good governance in fullness of time.
Finally, we urge Ndi Anambra to be patient, enjoy the few isolated steps of progress made so far in the past two years in Anambra State, under the strong influence of the APC manifesto and await better times in future when all democratic structures would have come into place and a more focused APC Government is in place.
For: ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC), ANAMBRA STATE CHAPTER
Okelo Madukaife
State Publicity Secretary
Okelo Madukaife
State Publicity Secretary