I have had several reasons to take on His Excellency, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, Executive Governor of Anambra State. For instance, I felt it was imprudent of him to truculently target Peter Obi the way he did during and after the 2023 political season. Obi was running for president, and Soludo was already a Governor. Soludo’s unconscionable aggressions against Obi deservedly got him a very bad press. Given that both are old friends of over 40 years standing, decency demands that they should pursue their respective political journeys without running at each other.

The second was the way he characterised the agents of criminality in Anambra State. He claimed that most of the perpetrators were from “neighbouring states”, making it sound that Anambra indigenes were not involved, which was definitely untrue. This was seen as a divisive profiling of non-Anambra Igbo, which would have turned really nasty if other states retaliated against Anambra indigenes living among them. With the challenges that the Igbo nation faces within and outside Nigeria, unity and solidarity, not division, are needed to prevail over the enemies.

What brought me to this topic was the way Governor Soludo tackled the creeping rot in the system masquerading as “cultural revival” of Igbo nation. In the past few years, some misguided elements and scammers have been selling the false narrative that Christianity, which they called a “foreign religion”, was responsible for failures in the system. They posited that there was a need to go back to ancestral practices of patronising shrines and sacrificing animals (and humans in some cases) to appease the “gods”.

In Anambra, they called it a return to Omenana or “Igbo culture”. Indeed, a few individuals started attacking Christianity and its Founder, Jesus Christ. They used the social media, printed banners and mounted podiums to insult and threaten Christians, churches and clerics. The “turn the other cheek” mantra in Christianity encourages cowards to feel free to attack and persecute Christians. This they can never dare on the militant adherents of Islam due to the immediate consequences this would elicit.

Another manifestation of this evil spreading like wildfire in the Igbo grassroots was the emergence of fetish cult (Yahoo Plus) practitioners who operated private shrines. They used the social media to advertise their dirty shrines and concoctions with the claim that these were capable of making people rich overnight or offering them “protection”. Suddenly, a rash of jaded women masquerading as “Ezenwanyi” (priestesses of river goddesses) were all over the social media. These were very rampant in Anambra State. Rivers and valleys were polluted with sacrificial foods, bottles of mineral waters, slaughtered goats, fowls and others.

Among the most prominent names involved were Chigozie Nwangwu, alias Akwa Okuko Tiwara Aki (the egg that broke palm kernel), Onyebuchi Okocha (Onyeze Jesus, “Father of Men”) and Ekene Igboekweze (Eke Hit). Many young men and women, with all manner of criminal intentions, patronised them and underwent demeaning and polluting fetish procedures; all displayed in the social media. Akwa Okuko, was fond of displaying cash, jewelleries and showing off flashy vehicles. Indeed, Akwa Okuko, who was often seen spraying money at events became a mainstream celebrity of sorts, with a lot of social media followers.

Soludo saw the danger this portended and cracked down on these demonic elements. His logic was simple. What these people were promoting was not Igbo culture, Omenana or Omenala. In fact, these were contrary to Igbo culture. Soludo reminds us of the Igbo proverb: aka aja-aja, onu mmanu-mmanu, which literally translates: “sandy hands, oily mouth” – the Igbo belief that hard work is the gateway to enjoyment. No food for a lazy person. These scammers were saying something opposite: no need for hard work, we can make you rich overnight. What do those who patronise them get after selling their property to consult them? They get caught in their acts of criminality. Many die, especially in foreign lands or rot in jails.

Soludo’s joint task force, Agunechemba, got these malcontents arrested, and many of them are facing their days in court. Soludo recently went to Oba, a popular town near Onitsha, on his campaigns. A group of young people purporting to be speaking for the people of the town gathered and demanded for the release of Akwa Okuko, whom they described as “our shining star”!

A different kind of politician could have made promises just to get cheap votes. But Soludo politely reminded them that it is only when the courts have pronounced him guilty that dialogue can open between him and them about the possibility of pardon. Many of them were satisfied with this answer because it was deftly, firmly handled. This is leadership.

This is the kind of leadership that is lacking in many politicians today. For them, it is all about winning elections. Atiku Abubakar in May 2022 posted a tweet condemning the lynching of Miss Deborah Samuel by a Muslim mob. Immediately some extremists in the North threatened to withdraw their support from him, Atiku swallowed his vomit, claiming in another tweet, that the original post “did not represent my orders”. Still he failed the 2023 presidential election.

Contrast this with former Abia State Governor, Theodore Ahamefule Orji, who summoned courage and destroyed militant kidnap kingpin, Obioma Nwankwo (Osisikankwu) despite the possibility of losing the votes of many Ngwa people who were already seeing the bandit as some kind of “hero”. He still comfortably won his 2011 re-election bid. The lesson here: never compromise the higher interests of the people at the alter of political expediency. Never cower before suspected criminals, even in the heat of election campaigns. Good governance is not only about providing elegant infrastructure. The courage to battle and emasculate evils matters more. What is infrastructure in a community dominated by the forces of darkness?

Soludo is my man!