Bright Ezimorah
The ex-Biafran leader and Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, was once asked his opinion on the presumed brilliant performance of late General Murtala Mohammed as Nigeria’s Head of State. He chuckled a reply – “Time saved Murtala”. The reporter, surprised at his response, asked for clarification. Ojukwu told him he taught Murtala military tactics in Teshie, Ghana and knew him better than his uncritical enthusiasts.
Governor Chukwuma Soludo is not as lucky. Like ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, whose emergence removed all doubts about his famed statecraft, Soludo’s election as Governor of Anambra State shreds the myth of his economic wizardry and urbane disposition. He would have been pontificating in the media on how he would have turned the fortunes of Anambra State around had he lost the election. But his victory has exposed the soft underbelly of his government and laid bare his highfalutin ideas that are inconsistent with governance, especially of a state as dynamic as Anambra. Without sounding immodest, everybody, including this writer, who presumed on his ability to deliver, was disappointed by Soludo’s unmitigated failures.
It is sad how the Governor has fared – how he has yet to fulfil any of the promises he made on the stump. From insecurity through high taxation and poor quality infrastructure to micromanagement of government businesses, nothing has improved to suggest any hope of improvement. What defines the Soludo administration is a reign of triumphalism that shuts him from reality. There is little doubt that the state is going through a difficult patch under his watch and needs a lot of effort to break free from the stranglehold. The administration carries on with an omniscient mentality, scoffs at advice and pays no heed to consultation. Maybe only the mentally weak and a tiny clique of the politically imprudent would not be bothered by the declining fortunes of the state. It needs no crystal bulb to see that the people's hope has been dashed through the governor's unbridled ego and unconcealed pettiness.
Writing about this pettiness of Soludo in the Vanguard newspaper of January 20, 2024, Ugo Egbujo opined thus: “Soludo’s fixation with small things might signal frustration. When a man has no big projects, he quarrels with his wife over bathroom slippers.” Soludo has quarrelled with almost everybody in the state, including those who sponsored his election. He tramples on imagined and real enemies. The list of those who have gone through his jackboot, especially the hapless citizens of the state who depend on daily toil for their survival, is endless. “When Soludo leaves office, he might discover he wasted time pursuing shadows. At a time he needed to weave social cohesion and focus state energy on the vampires terrorising the state, he couldn’t even play elementary politics”.
A few weeks ago, Soludo went viral for dancing Gwo gwo gwo ngwo, the popular song by the great minstrel Mike Ejeagha. It should not have mattered what music he danced to and how he did it. But like the infamous Emperor Nero of Rome, who “fiddled while Rome burned”, Soludo was dancing while kidnappers ran riot in the state. On the day of this indulgence, kidnappers carted off three hapless victims at the Aroma intersection, a few meters away from the seat of Government and the Jerome Udoji Secretariat. Soludo did not whimper protest and offered no hope to the forlorn citizens. He was busy dancing not because he was fond, but because he was merely gloating over the successful sealing of political offices of his rivals. Though the sealing was no news in the state as Soludo’s motley army of tax collectors always descend on citizens and unleash all manner of mayhem on them. Many have had their shins broken in the process. Others have had their skulls cracked. Yet a lot more have had their limbs shattered by pestle-wielding Soludo boys.
Soludo has yet to condemn the act. He carries on with a particular disdain for ndi Anambra, which leaves many wondering if his government is a blight on the state. The fact that he refuses to deploy half the energy he dissipates enforcing tax to crime-fighting makes the thinking that his government is an affliction believable. It is common knowledge in Anambra that people no longer organise ceremonies in the state because of insecurity, even for events considered too essential to be conducted outside the state. Soludo’s Anambra has become a breeding ground for insecurity with its twin disadvantage of divestment. Many have questioned the use of the Governor's princely security vote, which he collects, while others think he is responsible for the failed security situation.
It may be necessary to state that security in Anambra was not on the nadir when Soludo became governor. However, everything started going south shortly after he assumed office. He committed the first faux pas by decreeing security without working out the details. He pronounced the Monday-sit-at-home order illegal. Just before he was done with the pronouncement, the state began to witness samples of violence never seen before. The little peace was lost through the Governor’s one moment of loquacious indiscretion. He immediately ran to Kuje prison to confer with Nnamdi Kanu for possible mitigation of the blunder. But the mistake has been made. He acts before he thinks. A few days ago, he announced the sacking of the Managing Director of the Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) only to come back and tell ndi Anambra that he was redeployed to nowhere.
It can be safely said that the Soludo administration is all-knowing and does not consult anybody. It sets the cart before the horse and leads the state on a bumpy ride to nowhere. Soludo behaves like an all-conquering emperor whose caprices must be accommodated by the people. He talks and acts at will and does not run any ideas up the flagpole for input. It is not clear how he hopes to wriggle free of the people’s anger, which he has incurred.
Bright Ezimorah
Writes britemora@gmail.com