I must avoid the regurgitation of some chewed facts about the emergence of Governor Obiano through the Continuity mantra and delve straight into the matter that occupy my immediate attention now For the past few weeks, there have been lists and counter lists for the caretaker committee members of the 21 LGA otherswise known as TC flying "upandan" Names are being inserted, removed,
displaced and deleted as a consequence of competing interests and forces. Expectedly, one of the subsequent seating of the Anambra State House of Assembly will confirm the final list in few days to come. While I prepare my congratulatory message for those whose names finally made the final list, I am bit worried about their mission to the Local Government Councils. My worries are based on the state of affairs in the local governments in Nigeria most especially in Anambra state , I am constrained to ask if all the resources available to Councils would be reasonably mobilized and utilized for the benefit of the rural communities, which they are expected to cater for? Or will it just be to send another set o beneficiaries to the LGs without even a 'voice to bark not to talk of a teeth to bite", only to receive salaries and become raw materials of gratitude from which the Governor can extract and process Praises at will? The importance of this question must be boldly highlighted owing to the continued raping and usurpation of LG functions/powers by most state governors in Nigeria. In Anambra, i am worried over the huge federal allocations that are pumped into the local governments monthly, yet the rural communities seem to remain the same overtime as a result of the attendant hijacking of these funds by the state government, from which it 'dashes' the LG too little an amount that does not empower them to take any responsibilities. In other words, the decline in the provision of basic amenities for the upliftment of the rural environment, is a clear testimony that such huge amount of money allocated to local governments were never mobilized and utilized as expected, but used for the self glorification of the Executive Governors. Meanwhile, the burden of continuity which Governor Obiano has been shouldering with shaky legs is that he inherited an Elected Executives of the LG that were duly elected on the strength of their respective electoral promises to their constituencies. To fulfil these electoral promises, these Chairmen had hoped that a reasonable percentage of their monthly allocation would be made available to them; that the state government would allow them some leadership space and offer them the opportunity to take decisions and shoulder responsibilities as Executive Chairmen. Unfortunately, the Governor was led into an unnecessary competition with the predecessor and before he knows it, he had soaked himself in an ego fluid with an unquenchable thirst for personal glorification; collating and amassing praises from every niche and strata. This obsession for the possessive "I did , I will do" mentality did closed all the doors of opportunities for contributory governance and greatly damaged the constitutional governance at the third tier as emboldened in the constitution. Consequently, the chairmen were mere "office messengers" empowered with a bus to run errands to and fro their respective LG hdqtrs to Awka and write out dictactions from the ministry of local Government to daily basis. While, the Governor prepares to breed another set of political liabilities through the TC or whatever numclature it hence bears, he should put his head down and find the muscle to lift the Burden of Continuity he has in the 20 Former Executive chairmen and 300 plus councilors whom the maggot of inactivity had eaten their integrity, whom the abduction of their roles by Agu Oka has pitched them against their people and finally whom the usurpation of their powers and kidnap of their monthly allocation has made them unelectable henceforth. As many of my friends rejoice in the excitement of 'making the list' they should be weary of the banana peels and the resultant free fall, besides the 'maggot of inactivity' that may eat up their integrity and weaken their electoral worth afterwards.