FORMER Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who chaired the ceremony of the Champion Newspapers 2011 Man of the Year Award, held recently in Lagos, is a man of gravitas and impact.  He is an orator par excellence.

He is highly fecund and not flippant, which is why I was somewhat worried about his comments on the person and administration of the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who was the Champion Newspapers awardee.

I was not particularly bothered about Anyaoku’s assessment of the Oshiomhole persona from the perspective of having worked together with him in a Federal Government ad-hoc committee for a seat for Nigeria in the United Nations Security Council.

But my sincere concern was that he allowed that minuscule understanding of Oshiomhole’s official relationship with him, within a short time, to influence his assessment of the Comrade- Governor’s governance style over a long time in Edo State.  He said he was satisfied with the governor’s performance.

I believe that the basis of Anyaoku’s expressed satisfaction with Oshiomhole’s leadership in Edo is simply hearsay and not a product of any empirical interrogation and conclusion.  I doubt if he will be able to sustain that assertion if he goes to Edo to assess him on the basis of funds purportedly expended so far on infrastructure development.

Read Anyaoku: “I am delighted to be here for the eminently deserved award by Comrade Oshiomhole.  I congratulate Champion Newspapers for the award on a well deserving awardee.  I first came in contact with him when we both served in the committee for the bidding of United Nations seat for Nigeria.”

Anyaoku said: “Nigeria is faced with a situation that calls for people that have the qualities that Oshiomhole displays to take the centre stage.  Oshiomhole has made himself a charismatic and celebrated union leader; he possesses signs of true leadership; little wonder since becoming governor of Edo State, he has made huge impact in the lives of the people of the State”.

But what remains interestingly paradoxical about Anyaoku’s profiling of Oshiomhole and his leadership in Edo is the confession on the occasion of the Champion Newspapers ceremony that he (Anyaoku) has not had the opportunity to visit Edo State to see and be able to assess what Oshiomhole has done on the ground.

So, what then was the basis of his assessment?  I make bold to answer the question in this fashion: Anyaoku most probably assessed Oshiomhole’s performance based on hearsay or from jaundiced newspaper reports which are easily influenced by incumbent executives and have been known to be more of propaganda than true reflection of situations on the ground.

There was a time when “Enugu is working” was the popular mantra in the media. The Enugu example was the height of reckless propaganda, of how people in government could take a stupid gamble with the commonwealth of people; whereas the funds of Enugu State was being mindlessly plundered and stolen.  The noise from Enugu then was far more than the action.  But was there any real action?

Similar thing happened in many other
states where governors turned their territories into some huge bazaar, stealing public funds and spending them on things that do not edify the soul; things that led to further pauperization of the state and the people; buying and building mansions, investing in businesses in blind trust and stashing away billions in secret accounts abroad, among others.

It will be interesting what Anyaoku’s reaction would be if he stumbles on some sordid details of sleazy deals by many of these governors, including Oshiomhole.  I want to believe that Anyaoku may not have heard of the  mansion and other structures that Oshiomhole is reportedly building on his sprawling estate at Iyamho.  Perhaps, he has heard and does not believe.  He may have to visit the place when he gets to visit Edo to assess the “performance” on the ground.

I know that Anyaoku is an idealist, having been acculturated into the Western idea of performance in office, having been sucked into the observance of the time-tested principles of accountability, transparency and integrity as enunciated by the developed countries of the West.  In the Commonwealth where he worked for so many years, officials of the system walk their talks.  Not so in our country where there is a yawning gap between verbal exhortations and actions by government officials.

There is no doubt that he will be rudely jolted into the reality of the rot that has underlined governance at all levels in the country.  This is not even about Oshiomhole; it is about the chicanery that pervades the governance circle; it is about the egocentricity that characterises the persona of our so-called leaders at all levels.  It is such a despicable disposition; the filthiness is such that it becomes risky for many a good man like Anyaoku to stake his reputation by vouching for the integrity of the performance of any leader for that matter.

Anyaoku has come a long way; he has built a solid reputation for himself as a man of integrity.  Therefore, people like me are wont to revolt when we see attempts, like Oshiomhole and his publicists did at the Champion Newspapers ceremony and the subsequent reportage of the event, to use him to validate a “performance” that is indeed poor vis-a-vis the sum of the federally collected revenue and the Internally General Revenue that accrued to his government in Edo State in the last four years.

I appeal to our respected statesman, Anyaoku, to be wary in lending the force of his reputation and integrity to bolster some shenanigans that masquerade as popular governments in many states of the federation.  Having indicated implicit interest in visiting Edo State to “see for himself”, I hope he will accomplish that proposition quickly, go to every nook and cranny of the state, not roadsides, so that he can see the extent of “performance”, I mean real performance, by the Comrade-Governor.

*Mr. CALLISTUS OMOREGIE, public affairs analyst,  wrote fromBenin, Edo State.