The 2017 Anambra gubernatorial election has been slated for November 18. Anambra is one of the few states in Nigeria with staggered gubernatorial elections, arising from the 2006 court judgment that quashed the 2003 election of Chris Ngige and upheld Peter Obi’s victory with a mandate to serve four years from the date he was sworn in. The last gubernatorial election held in Anambra State was in November 2013 and it produced the incumbent governor Willie Obiano who assumed office on March 17, 2014.
By November 18, the people of Anambra will go to the polls again to elect a new governor who will steer the ship of state for the next four years. The forthcoming election will signify a stock-taking event for the people to assess the performance of the incumbent and decide whether to renew his mandate for another four years or ask him to leave. Anambra state boasts of qualified people who can govern the state and many are jostling for the seat. Some have tried before while some are new entrants into the contest. Whichever way it swings, the choice is the peoples’.
Anambra is a very interesting state for a number of reasons. It is one of the few educationally advantaged states in Nigeria. This means that it is not in short supply of intellectuals in every field of human endeavour. The implication is that the people are politically advanced and cannot be taken for granted. It also boasts of many wealthy individuals who can deploy any amount of money to clinch victory at the polls. Anambra politics is the politics of moneybags. The mass of the people are commercial-oriented and many of them are very successful. It is indeed difficult to find a family that does not have at least one wealthy individual, so there is an overwhelming sense of pride and fulfillment in a typical Anambra person. Apart from the human capital endowment, the state also has abundant natural resources including agriculture, oil and gas which must be harnessed maximally for the benefit of the state and Nigeria in general.
These enviable qualities combine to throw up a very complex society that requires a highly ingenious and articulate person as the governor. Has the state had it good since its creation? The answer is neither here nor there. It has been a mixed bag of the good, the bad and the ugly. Anambra state does not deserve this kind of experiment. It deserves a governor who will utilise the rich human and natural resources in the state to make it one of the best in Nigeria and the envy of its peers.
Considering the unique attributes as well as the complexities of Anambra, we make bold to prescribe the qualities of the person who should govern the state to enable it actualise its full potential. Anambra needs a selfless, God fearing and easily accessible person as governor. The person must be successful in his own right and must not owe his wealth to government. It must be someone who has shown enough goodwill to the masses of Anambra either by philanthropy or by massive creation of wealth through employment and education. Above all, the person must have the interest of Anambra at heart regardless of the political party he belongs and there is no other way to know apart from what the person has done as a private person.
One of the major challenges facing Anambra and many other states in Nigeria is the unwritten charter of equity which zones political offices to certain sections of the polity at a given time to the exclusion of others. The argument of the promoters is that it ensures equity and justice but they forget that it does incalculable damage by excluding the best from the contest, thereby denying the polity the best hands that could steer it towards development. We call on those who insist that Anambra North must produce the next governor to discard the idea and stop the campaign that creates entry barriers for other candidates. It should be an open contest to choose the best among the best.
Painfully, we have witnessed a debauchery unleashed by the state using public relations hirelings to distort facts by sugar-coating and over-selling the achievements of the incumbent. This is a disservice to Anambra people because they present the people with wrong information. Obviously, if the people work with wrong information, they will certainly produce wrong results. As we move gradually towards the election date, we call on the people of Anambra state to choose their next governor wisely.
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