Follow Us on Google
Apart from the Anambra State Burial Law and its inchoate implementation, which caused some disquiet when a popular charismatic Catholic Priest, Ebube Muonso, buried her mother, the recent suspension of three monarchs in Anambra State simply because they conferred chieftaincy titles on Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, who represents Anambra South in the Senate, has raised some concerns among political elites in the state. Many see it as politics taken too far. It does not show political tolerance and brotherly feeling. The ugly development is not good for Anambra and Igbo politics.
I would not like to dwell so much on the Anambra State Burial Law, which its framers know ab initio that it will be difficult to implement in a society that is deep rooted in its cultural mores and values so much and the way the dead are buried. Burial ceremony in Igboland is usually a big feast. That is why it is prepared well ahead of time to enable those burying their loved ones to buy cows, goats, chicken, and plenty food items. They sow uniform and arrange for musicians among other things. Burial is regarded as the last party for the dead and it is usually grand. However, everything depends on those bearing the burial expenses. People tailor how they bury their dead according to their income. It can be grand or low-keyed. It does not require any state law to do so. It can last for four days, the Igbo week or more.
No doubt, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, the governor of Anambra State is a highly respected academic and public figure in Nigeria and outside our shores. He distinguished himself as a first-class academic and intellectual at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he rose to become a professor of economics. He also distinguished himself in public service as an adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and later served his administration as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Soludo restructured Nigerian banks and made them to recapitalize to the tune of N25 billion. It was a tall order then.
But today, Soludo is seen as the man who saw tomorrow as far as bank consolidation is concerned. Today, we are talking of banks with trillion naira capital base and no longer in billions. Nevertheless, Soludo as an intellectual and Soludo as a politician are apparently poles apart. His attempts to be the governor of Anambra State when Governor Peter Obi was in the saddle and after did not succeed. There may be so many reasons for his failure to realize his gubernatorial ambition as early as he had planned. But one thing is crystal clear. Not many people are at home with Soludo as a politician. Also, many people will not like to be associated with his brand of politics, where he will assume the role of a headmaster, and others his pupils to be lectured on how government works on a daily or weekly basis. They believe that he is arrogant, proud and too opinionated.
When Governor Willy Obiano was making way for Soludo to succeed him, he was opposed by many of his followers in the APGA family, including his wife. APGA was ably nurtured by Peter Obi under the leadership of Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the late Charismatic Igbo leader. Without equivocation, Soludo became the governor of Anambra State because Obiano ensured that he would succeed him. Governor Obiano really meant well when he selected Soludo to carry the APGA flag in the election that brought Soludo into power. Like some people in Anambra State, Obiano believed that Soludo as a respected academic would do better than him in governance. He wanted those with the best brains to be in charge of governance of the state. While some people think that Soludo will govern the state so well, others do not. They are in the majority. There is no doubt that Soludo can win any argument with his eloquence and baritone voice. He can win political debates. He can deliver professorial lectures. He is at home with trending economic terms and can regale his audience with great erudition.
However, politics and governance are a different ball game. Governance, especially in our own environment requires some native and street wisdom. It is not about writing proposals, policy papers, power-point presentation with bullets, internet files and cloud documentation and computing. These things are good if well deployed. Let me not go into what Soludo promised Anambra people before he won the election. They are legion. But one promise stands out, to turn Anambra into another Dubai and make Anambra industrial clusters into another Japan or something to that effect. Three years in office, Anambra is nowhere near Dubai or Anambra industrial clusters near Japan. Anambra is not even near Asaba or Lagos.
These and his other promises should engage the urgent attention of Governor Soludo and not how Ndi Anambra bury their dead or which monarch gives chieftaincy title to Senator Ifeanyi Ubah or not. How a person buries his mother, father, brother or sister is personal to him. Burial customs differ from one religion to another. It differs from one community to another. The adherents of African Traditional Religion have their own prescribed ways and manners of burying their deceased members.
The governor has no right to dictate how their members should be buried. The state lawmakers have no right to legislate on how traditional worshippers should bury their dead. They should also not determine how a Christian faithful should be buried, that belongs to Christian clergy. Anambra legislators need not make a law on how the dead will be buried. Every religion has its ways of burying the dead already. That law is unnecessary and should be abrogated or allowed to die a natural death.
Coming to the conferment of chieftaincy titles on Ifeanyi Ubah by some traditional rulers in Anambra State, the monarchs did no wrong. They acted within their jurisdiction. They did not interfere with another kingdom. The state has no right to determine how and whom a traditional ruler in Anambra gives a chieftaincy title. Paradoxically, the state government did not raise any eyebrow when certain high profile political figures in Abuja were conferred with high chieftaincy titles by some monarchs in Anambra State recently.
Why Ifeanyi Ubah? Is there any connection between this and the gubernatorial election in Anambra next year? For the Anambra gubernatorial election, any Anambra indigene is free to contest for the election provided he meets the party requirements. Nobody should be barred from contesting. Nobody should use state power to harass presumed political opponents in an election that will take place next year. It is too early to start bickering over the poll. After all, it is the people of Anambra State that will determine who becomes their next governor next year and never by state fiat or manipulation. The people are wiser now than before.
Let Anambra state government retrace its steps and ensure that the titles given to Ifeanyi Ubah stand and that the traditional rulers should not be punished for expressing their freedom of choice and association within their domains. They should not be punished for exercising their rights under the Nigerian constitution. No state law should contradict the Nigerian constitution. If there is any law barring monarchs from conferring chieftaincy titles on whoever they like, that law is draconian, antediluvian and must be abrogated immediately.
Again, the implementation of state laws should not be discriminatory. It must apply to everyone because all citizens are equal before the law. Nobody should be above the law or be seen to be above the law. The Anambra Burial Law infringes on the rights of people, especially on how they should bury their dead. The law does not allow individuals to bury their loved ones according to the dictates of their religious faiths. The law should be abolished forthwith.
These two oddities in Anambra State will not in any way tar one kilometer of road in the state or make Awka a modern capital city. The two needless and obnoxious laws will not turn Anambra into another Dubai or make it an industrial giant like Japan or become the Japan of Africa. Anambra lawmakers should make laws to end insecurity, poverty, unemployment, multiple taxation and exploitation of market men and women in Onitsha and other parts of the state and not burial and chieftaincy laws.
The primary function of any government is to ensure the security and welfare of the people. Anambra State government should not abdicate this responsibility. Without fulfilling this duty, all others will fail.
