Obi, Soludo and Ngige
By Clement Muozobam
THE war of the primaries of the 2010 gubernatorial elections in Anambra State has been fought and won and lost. The intrigues that came with it were as interesting as they were remarkable.
This is not the topic for today, but let it be observed that the gubernatorial contest will be between Peter Obi, Prof. Charles Soludo (if the PDP problem does not stop him) and Dr. Chris Ngige. Emeka Etiaba talked tough but the primaries have showm him as a paper tiger. We heard, unverified, that upon losing, he ended up in a hospital.
If the game is to be narrowed more, one will find out that Dr. Chris Ngige will definitely find it difficult to fit into the battle. This is for the simple reason that no matter what he believes he achieved during the period he lasted as governor, time and events have overtaken him in Anambra politics.
Again, his antediluvian politics may not fit into the type that is expected of the duo of Soludo and Obi. Ngige is believed to be playing the politics of personality attack, lies, deceit and calumny. On many occasions, he has claimed to have executed some projects his successor executed to score cheap political points.
Moreover, time sharply divides Ngige from Soludo and Obi who are under-50 and come from the corporate world with corporate ideas.
THIS time around too, questions may have to be raised on the way Ngige joined the race and ‘won’ the 2003 election on the platform of the PDP which rigged Obi out and installed him.
Not only that, his alleged visit to the dreaded Okija shrine in the quest to be made the governor of the state may have to be resurrected and how he emerged from such apostasy to become a knight of the church may have to be further explained.
The Anambrarians may have to know why, in the three years he lasted as governor, no health institution in the state was accredited in spite of his being a medical doctor. Questions on how he used the local government allocations when he was in office may also have to be raised.
Even if all these do not work against Ngige, the PDP may use this opportunity to pay him back for having fought against the party and exposing the king-maker who installed him a governor through rigging.
Obi and Soludo are confident that they will make an impact in the forthcoming election but it is good to point out that they all have some hurdles to jump in their preparations.
Soludo’s greatest problem will be his support for his village to actualise the status of an autonomous community from Isuofia town. This has so much made him unpopular among the greater portion of the town that the fear is that he may not even win in his home town.
His village, Isuanioma is too small to give him winning votes in the town. As many towns would want to remain united, they may not be disposed to have a governor who will be a threat to this unity by the creation of autonomous communities.
Professor Soludo may only be banking on the rigging power of the PDP and the evil ingenuity of Eselu to get into power. Again, the recent brouhaha in the banking industry about the toxic loans and the sack of eight bank chief executives may raise further questions about the Professor of economics.
Did the issues crop up after Soludo’s tenure or did he see them and merely looked sideways? So many people have wondered at this. Governor Peter Obi, no doubt, has touched the lives of Anambrarians in the way they have never been touched.
Instead of tying himself to just one area like road construction as his immediate predecessor did, he introduced the Anambra Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS), a development plan for all sectors of the state simultaneously. With this, all sectors of the state have had a fair touch of the governor’s good intention and vision.
