OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR SOLUDO
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Ubaka Okwusogu
Dear Governor,
I write to convey my worries which are not totally different from the concerns of the silent majority who are shy of communicating same to you. You may never get to know your public rating because of your brand of politics that forbids feedback and encourages echo chamber. You have since assumption of office fought every real and imaginary enemy and seem determined to carry on with the offensive as long as you remain the governor of Anambra state. It does appear there is no restraining you.
Members of your Exco who should stand in the gap are not doing so. Peopled by men and women too young and too inexperienced to make even a whimper they watch helplessly as you carry on with unbridled arrogance. In retrospect, you outsmarted ndi Anambra when at the inception of your administration you insisted that appointment into your government must be on merit and through application. That offered your overbearing attitude the chance to engage more yes-nodding lackeys than confident performers. Those who are not pliable enough to submit to your weekly monologue at the Exco chambers you either threw out or caused to operate on the margins.
Sadly your level of intolerance to opposing views kept growing by leaps and bounds. You quarreled, and still quarrel, with anybody you consider a threat to your greed for power. You fought ex- Governor Willie Obiano who defied wise counsel and risked the peace of his home to pick you instead of Chukwuma Umeoji. You levied unprovoked war against Peter Obi’s presidential campaign which you are now exploiting to advantage in the presidency. You nearly ended Victor Umeh’s political career because he advised against your governorship ambition in 2013, in order that you don’t violate the zonal arrangement in the state. But today you are working hard to maximize the gains of the zonal arrangement for a second tenure in office. What can be more deceptive?
You have, with the passage of time, become more aggressive and less emollient. You have battled the traditional rulers in the state and wrestled with the church of God. The esteemed Obi of Onitsha came within firing range of your ill-bred media rats for questioning your meddlesomeness in his leadership of the Anambra State Traditional Council. The revered Archbishop of Onitsha became your enemy for asking you to curb your overbearing influence on church matters. You are currently up in arms against Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Obimma (Ebube Muonso) the charismatic Priest of the Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry, Uke and Parish Priest of the Blessed Iwene Tansi Parish, Umudioka, for expressing outrage over the escape of two suspects arrested in the kidnap and murder of Hon. Justice Azuka. Your response to Ebube Muonso’s admonition over the sloppy handling of the kidnap suspects was unmistaken of a provincial leader. You unleashed a barrage of internet rats on the priest to drown his voice. But you will soon realize you are fighting a man with immense grace.
You seem to have become a god that any stakeholder, clergy man, traditional ruler, etc who opposes does so at their own peril. It can be speculated that you are already making good your threat to deal with the church and reduce its relevance in the state. Otherwise why the unrestrained attack on the church for holding you to account? You have become increasingly contemptuous of opposing views with every speech you utter, and every action you take, pointing to an unbridled arrogance.
I saw your arrogance first hand when, during our retreat, at All Saints Cathedral, Onitsha, you spoke about the ravaging insecurity in the state. You were your old self, talking down on everybody present, including Bishop Okpala who was just released by his abductors after 25 days in captivity. You reminded everybody present that high profile kidnap has been rampant in the state before you became governor. For emphasis, you mentioned the kidnap of your father Chief Simon Soludo, Chief Tony Enukeme (Tonimas), Chief Paul Okonkwo (Pokobros) Chief Ubaka Okeke (GUO). I was scandalized by your submission and wanted very much to heckle you. You forgot that it was your prohibition of the Monday-sit-at home order in Anambra, without adequate security arrangement, that escalated insecurity in the state. When you realized the folly of your statement and hurried to confer with Nnamdi Kanu in Kuje prison it was late. The horse had left the stable and more violent crime ensued with criminal elements cashing in on your unpreparedness.
First, was the heinous murder and severing of the head of Okechukwu Okoye who represented Aguata 1 in the State House of Assembly. The death still haunts the good people of the state. Second was the killing of another law maker Justice Azuka who represented Onitsha North 1 constituency in the State House of Assembly after collecting millions of Naira as ransom. In between these two deaths many more souls were violently dispatched.
It may interest you that the people are not happy. But they are angered more by the sloppy handling of two of the suspected murderers of Azuka who escaped after arrest. Many of ndi Anambra are wondering what the attack on Fr. Ebube Muonso was for. As far as they are concerned, the man of God is speaking the mind of many of them. If it is not intolerance, I wonder why your attack dogs would descend on the charismatic priest. Your peevish response to criticisms each time there is a breach in governance exposes you as insecure. The last time your government demolished a hotel in Oba which it claimed was used as kidnapper’s den and its topmost floor, a grave yard, when queried by ndi Anambra, was dismissed as mindless opposition.
The overbearing attitude of your government manifests in almost all aspects of your administration. If your internet goons are not attacking a presumed enemy, your army of occupation ARTMA, SASA, ASWAMA are unleashing mayhem on the people. The worst of them all is Anambra State Anti-Touting Squad (SASA) which has no reason to exist in a state governed by law. Since setting up this rogue Squad (ndi Aka Odu) many have either died from being rough handled or rendered invalid through the same violent method. The case of Okechukwu Akaneme, former Chairman of Onitsha Chamber of Commerce stands out. The man has been in a vegetative state after men of the Anambra State Waste Management Authority (ASWAMA) allegedly broke his spine. Many more are suffering the same fate daily. Writing about how your men use pestle to deform victims in the name of revenue generation, Sunny Igboanugo said: “How Soludo’s men discovered this as their own tool of enforcement, particularly for revenue generation, has remained quite baffling. It is even more so that this intellectual giant- the most visibly educated governor in the South East if not Nigeria- instead of being scandalized by this stone-age model, seems quite comfortable with it”.
It is obvious that you are not going to change your tactics of attacking imaginary enemies no matter how you are corrected. You seem to have this impression of your role in the state as messianic. But the people know better. Maybe if you had ended your career at the apex bank the people will be full of expectations, but your governorship has removed all doubts.
Ubaka Okwusogu
Onitsha
