By Felix Nwaonu
Succinctly, the Press Secretary to Anambra State Governor, Mr Charles Aburime, has authenticated the well thought out messages by Labour Party (LP) stalwart and former Governorship candidate in the State, Mr Valentine Ozigbo. Aburime, just like his fellow traveler, Adichie Izuchukwu and other e-rats, have, by their responses, shown that Ozigbo is absolutely right in alerting Ndi Anambra that there are indeed no Solutions to the antics of Chukwuma Soludo as he is using propaganda as substitute for good governance.
They are yet to realize that the era of rabble rousing and running away from issues is over. They are still oblivious of the reality that the business as usual posture is gone. It is regrettable that they have not seen the handwriting on the wall. Perhaps, they need to be reminded that for every claim Soludo made and will make, he has to own up to them and show how he has delivered or will deliver.
Also, Soludo and Sons chorus group must accept for once that their Principal is not a god who must be obeyed, who makes no mistakes. He has to admit that outside his Paid Pipers, he has come short of the glory of the people of Anambra. Look at the quality of the so-called achievements in the last two years.
Indeed, Soludo and Boys chorus group should admit their failure and shamelessly apologise to Ndi Anambra for delivering shoddy projects including the much needed failing road projects executed by ‘Soludo and Sons’ contractors.
It is amazing that Soludo’s Paid Pipers have forgotten that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Again, it is a sore testament to the lack of capacity around this present State government that the Governor’s Chief Spokesman, has shown that he is a stranger to Anambra politics. He is totally ignorant to the whoredom political journey of his Principal, Soludo. Otherwise, he would not have raised the issue of political promiscuity. We will come to that later.
Firstly, let’s deal with the issues.
Can the Paid Pipers show Ndi Anambra the foundations for the world-class Taiwan/Dubai infrastructure being laid across the State? Are these ‘Soludo and Sons’ emergency contractors the ones to deliver the Taiwan or Dubai models or shall we expect another? Where are the Taiwan or Dubai models in the education, security, civil service or even the much trumpeted road sectors? These are the issues which Valentine Ozigbo has raised that has ruffled feathers such that their deployed e-rats had to crawl out of their holes to earn their pay.
Ozigbo has only asked for evidence of how Soludo has fared in putting lasting Solutions in the areas of Security, Economy, Transportation including roads, Education, Health and Agriculture?
“How has the Governor managed the critical relationship with critical institutions like civil service, traditional institutions, religious institutions, town unions, trade unions etc?
“How has the he improved on important cities like Onitsha, Ogbaru, Nnewi, Awka, Nkpor, Obosi, Ekwulobia etc? (Don’t talk about the very low quality failing roads).
“How has he fared in other important areas that will improve the lives of our young ones and women like sports, technology, entertainment, etc?
Insecurity keeps ravaging the State, and yet they nothing. Many parts of the State have became uninhabitable as businesses and investments move to other States. There are still no solutions to end the kidnappings, killings and destruction of houses and palaces especially in parts of Aguata (the Governor’s own LGA), Orumba, many parts of Ihiala – from Lilu to Mbosi to Orsumoghu to Isseke, in Amichi, Ukpor, Nnewi etc, In Ogbaru, Onitsha and Awka.
The question Ozigbo asked is “Where is safe in Anambra?”
Why are they are always incensed whenever our leader, Peter Obi, and even Abia’s Governor Alex Otti are mentioned. Are they afraid they would learn good governance or draw greater virtues from them?
Among other issues, Ozigbo has only asked the Governor to show how he has reduced poverty beyond mouthing phrases. How has he reduced thuggery?
All Ozigbo has asked on behalf of Ndi Anambra on his ‘Soludo and Sons’ road project is: “Come clean. Publish the contractors, the contract sum and let’s know the average cost per kilometer and let’s benchmark this appropriately. We need to be sure the cost of soludo and sons is not even higher than using Julius Berger. Some of the roads you brag about had been 60% completed by your predecessors but you sure know how to take glory and swallow the thank you.”
Recall that on Saturday, Ozigbo bemoaned Soludo’s use of ‘Soludo and Sons’ incompetent contractors. Two days later, the first downpour swept away portions of the Ochanja Market road Onitsha, the ones in Awkuzu and other parts of the State that he recently commissioned as part of his achievements in his two years in office and by the time he comes back from his endless overseas travels, Soludo will rush to the scene and put up a show of shame and abracadabra for the media and onlookers.
He must apologise to Ndi Anambra for this embarrassment.
Ozigbo hit the bulls’ eye when he asked the Governor to be circumspect and realise that “governance isn’t a family business and one man show” You cannot know it all no matter how much you think you know. You need to stay humble and learn to listen to other views, including the opposing ones. This is how you can improve on your human relationships, a key ingredient to governing Anambra well.”
All Ndi Anmabra are asking for are answers to the questions raised. Is that too difficult to for ‘Solution Trumpeters’ to comprehend?
Aburime talked about desperation of Ozigbo to be Governor. He missed the point. What Ozigbo is desperate for is to see Anambra become a world class State. Actually, Aburime has just reminded us about the desperation of his Principal who ended up disappointing Ndi Anambra with his under-performance in two years.
Was it not Soludo, in his desperation to be Governor, who had a mutual agreement and passed a vote of confidence on his immediate predecessor, Willie Obiano, by famously asserting: “If it’s not broken, why fix it?” Yet, today he’s crying all over the State about Obiano’s mis-governance and non-performance. This is the same man who told the world that the former Governor has fixed the State.
This is a hallmark of true desperation.
Anyway, Ndi Anambra appreciates Aburime for reminding them of Soludo’s political whoredom. In 2010, Soludo contested the Governorship of Anambra against Peter Obi and came third under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) banner. Having lost out, he quickly joined Bola Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011 and became the major financier of Dr Chris Ngige’s Senatorial election with the understanding that he will be compensated with ACN Governorship ticket in 2013. He left the ACN-APC group after he was denied automatic Governorship ticket. He then returned to APGA in August 2013 but was disqualified from the primary elections.
By September 2013, his romance with PDM crumbled when the party’s standing wobbled. He thus began his romance with the All Progressive Congress (APC), delivering speeches on behalf of the party against PDP’s President Goodluck Jonathan. Always wanting to have it both ways, Soludo, by 2017, denied being a member of APC despite being listed by the State Chairman, Emeka Ibe as one of the Governorship aspirants, claiming he did not register for the party in his ward.
In 2018, he rejoined APGA based on the understanding with Obiano who was facing a tough re-election battle. It was that agreement that brought him to power through the use of State resources in the election of November 2022. Yet, he has not forgotten his unending romance with APC, serving as their surrogate against Peter Obi in last year’s Presidential election, and always willing to serve APC even against the interest of his people.
Perhaps, we advise Soludo and Boys to go back to the drawing board. Their Solutions aren’t working for Ndi Anambra. There is no world-class Taiwan-Dubai infrastructure or policies yet, unless you need to one of the Paid Pipers to see any. As Ozigbo warned: “If you continue like this, you dare not ask for 2nd term, how much more deserve it. We do not reward failure.”
