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Ogoja, Cross River State-born James Atah Agaji, an astute biographer and journalist casts an intense gaze at the coming Anambra gubernatorial election and reminds us of what we must never forget…
Anambra. A state that once reminded Nigerians of the fear of walking through the valley of the shadow of death is now an Island of hope surrounded by a nation in anguish. The gangs that once dictated the tempo with the persistent crack of gunfire and put Anambra State on the forbidden section of every travel advisory have since vanished without trace. A thick security blanket now hovers over the land like pregnant clouds on a rainy day, filled with torrents of retribution for the slightest breach of the peace. By sheer force of will, the table has turned and the shoe is now on the other foot, as the fortunes of the state spin full circle. Anambra now ranks as one of the safest territories in Africa and a model of transformative leadership to other states in the country.
For decades, Anambra was best known as a crime fiefdom. Kidnappings, violent robberies, ritual killings and political racketeering were the order of the day. Travellers, visitors and indigenes lived in constant horror of the gangs that reigned with impunity. Psalm 23 was on every lip; it was the last thing residents fearfully muttered before they went to sleep at night. Those who could live with the nightmare stayed on, but many people moved out of town. Businesses closed down one by one in response to rising overhead in ransom pay outs for kidnapped executives, family members, and private security cordon against robberies left their accounts in deficit. Today, millions of Nigerians who must go through the state to other parts of the country are no longer haunted by the fears that once made travel through the state such a misery only a few years ago. To many Nigerians, this extraordinary security scenario is Obiano’s most important achievement.
About four years ago, when he embarked on his debut political preferment, critics wondered about Obiano’s preparedness to navigate the affairs of a complex state like Anambra. Their fear was based on what they considered political naïveté and the particularly unstable nature of Anambra politics, as glitches that could mar his best efforts. But once in the saddle, he left no one in doubt about his determination and sense of direction. He moved swiftly and tore down the security apparatus that had allowed the proliferation of all sorts of crimes and ignored the antics of political profiteers and overlords, who were bent on maintaining the status quo. He set up a new system that dismantled the crime syndicates and discouraged the rise of new ones. His reforms in agriculture triggered a nationwide drive for export-oriented agro based concerns, even as internally generated revenue almost quadrupled in a short time from 400 million naira to about 1.4 billion naira. As a result, the state’s economy was insulated from the national recession even as he raised salaries for civil servants and ensured prompt and regular payment of wages. His insistence on transparency and accountability in governance made him the toast of even his harshest critics as phenomenal results trailed his efforts in all areas. Along with Lagos, the nation’s commercial hub, Anambra quickly gained traction as a reference case for impactful leadership and regional autonomy in the ongoing clamour for political restructuring of the country.
As the polls draw near, there are elements and groups who see the return of Obiano as inevitable. Beyond traditional loyalty to the proven legacy of APGA in Anambra State, their confidence derives from the sweeping developments that have transformed the socio-political landscape of the state under Obiano. They are fascinated by the reforms that have moved Anambra from the backwoods to the frontlines. Instead of the crack of gunfire, Anambriarians are now accustomed to a different kind of sound – the persistent, angry growl of overworked diesel engines of caterpillars and construction equipment as they toil under the yoke of the governor’s vision for the state; building roads and bridges across the farthest reaches of the state, breaking geographical barriers to areas of strategic economic importance and upgrading the infrastructure profile of the state. Obiano seems to be in a hurry to make up for lost time. The physical gentrification of Upper Iweka and environs and the transformation of the Awka skylines are remarkable. In just over three years, the state capital has emerged from the palpable obscurity of a provincial town to a shiny cosmopolitan center with shimmering overpasses and well-lit streets. The improved security situation has brought back private investors in droves. Shopping arcades, 24-hour multi-purpose facilities and a gigantic airport city project by the Chinese all set to roll outline a tenure second to none in the history of governance in the state.
Obiano is a renaissance man and the opposition may have a hard time selling a superior agenda that could torpedo his mission, even if they resorted to the old slash and burn tactics. Since the last presidential elections, slash and burn has become the new rule of thumb for political campaigns in Nigeria as opposition parties deploy scathing and misleading propaganda and outright falsehood to decimate the legacies of the ruling party. Incumbents going for re-election are particularly vulnerable to this strategy as the opposition tries to make the polls a referendum on their performance rather than a true assessment of the suitability of all contestants.
However, as Anambra heads to the polls, the outcome is almost predictable, as Governor Willie Obiano has hit top marks in formulating and implementing a most successful economic reform agenda at a time defined by worsening recession and unending political unrest in the country. Observers around the country point to Anambra as a perfect model of the kind of independent economic restructuring that could precede the much debated federal political restructuring expected to halt the country’s rapid drift towards disintegration. His policies have heralded a season of hope and prosperity for Anambra State and if you asked the views of most people on the streets of Anambra about the coming polls, their unequivocal answer would be ‘safety first’!
