Nigeria is a stage where the political elites are the major actors. Most times the come on stage with lots of pumps and pageantry and magical display of abracadabra promising to bring the rain of blessedness and turn Nigeria into the paradise of Africa. Apparently, the Nigerian people have seen lots of these hullabaloos that they neither give much attention nor peg much hope on these displays of deceit.
However, oftentimes, some of the characters and their dramatics are so intense and engaging that many Nigerians are hypnotized and hoodwinked into mistaken the dramas for reality. The outcomes as history has consistently shown are bruises, disappointments and broken dreams for the ordinary Nigerians who work tirelessly and only wished that their government make good policies to enable them reap the fruits of their hard labour.
Take for instance, when the current President of Nigeria, Mohammadu Buhari came into office in 2015, he had made a lot of promises on his campaign train, including to end the Boko Haram insurgency overnight, bring the country’s currency to 1# per a $, revitalize the agricultural sector, end oil subsidy, leapfrog the country’s industrialization and turn Nigeria into ‘that garden watered by the rain of heaven.’ Unfortunately, most Nigerians believed Buhari but do you blame them, they want a better life. Everybody wants a better life.
Having won the election which current evidence has shown he never believed he would win, Buhari entered the Nigerian stage with lots of dramatics. The first thing he did was that he delayed constituting his cabinet for six months. Many Nigerians were alarmed worried that a new president elected in a country facing the type of challenges Nigeria was facing should hit the ground running. Others were impressed by the dramatics arguing that Mr. President was taking his time to study the situation and to assemble trusted, incorruptible allies who would help him deal a death blow to Nigerian problems. The second outstanding drama staged by the Buhari administration was the relocation of the headquarters of the Nigerian Military Command from Abuja to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State and the hotbed of the Boko Haram insurgencies.
Here again, many Nigerians hailed these moves as evidence of the President’s preparedness and indication that he was fully out to solve the nation’s myriad of troubles once and for all. Today, after 7 years wasted years of President Buhari’s fiasco, no single Nigerian is in doubt that Mr. President doesn’t only not know what he is doing but that he has indisputably established himself as the most confused Nigerian leader ever.
It took Buhari six months to assemble a team of ‘angels’ to help him salvage Nigeria, yet today evidence is showing that Buhari’s ministers and appointees are some of the most corrupt people in Nigeria history. He relocated the Headquarters of the Nigerian Military Command from Abuja to Borno to combat insurgency and make Nigeria secure yet today Nigeria is one of the most insecure places on earth. So much for Mr. Buhari and his many failures; we now turn out attention to what people are saying about Soludo’s Inauguration.
Soludo’s Inauguration
Like President Mohammadu Buhari, Prof. C. C. Soludo is making his journey into Anambra state Government House with a lot of rhetoric and dramatics. Nevertheless, what nobody can say at this stage is whether these are going to end up as empty posturing.
For example, after winning the governorship election, the first major policy move Prof., Soludo did was to constitute a high powered inauguration committee made up of technocrats from different professional backgrounds. The committee would also brainstorm and provide the Governor elect with a blueprint with which he would use to turn Anambra state into the Dubai of Nigeria. In addition, Prof., Soludo made it abundantly clear to appointment hunters that it is no longer going to be business as usual. Any person aspiring for any appointment in his government was to generate a proposal detailing how the person intends to run the ministry and what that would contribute to the overall development and the good of Ndi Anambra.
Beside these two major policy moves, another gesture made by Prof. Soludo which has also got people talking was his decision to hold a very low-key inauguration ceremony. I have not really seen the script but from what has been making round both in round table discussions and on social media platforms, the governor elect intends to shun the normal mega inauguration ceremonies at the famous Ekweme Square that normally gulp millions of Naira and go rather for quiet virtual inauguration that would last just for 25 minutes.
Are these empty postures or does Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo really means business and intends to actually do something beautiful and dramatic in Anambra State?
Having known Prof. Soludo and having written extensively on him both during his days as the governor of Nigeria’s apex bank and in the run up to the governorship election, I can confidently say that unlike President Mohammadu Buhari who so far has shown both lack of goodwill and preparedness to governor Nigeria, Soludo is not just prepared but also have an unmitigated good intention to transform Anambra State.
However, the history of Nigeria has shown again and again, that the best of goodwill and preparations are usually the undoing of politicians especially when these are intertwined with the desire for self-perpetuation. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is a typical example of how this desire for self-succession can destroy both the best intentions and preparations. Jonathan, as far as is known today has good intention for Nigeria but he ended up achieving nothing because he wanted to go for second term.
At this point, the questions begging for answers would include, will Soludo’s desire for second term destroy his vision to develop Anambra? Are rhetoric and gestures coming from him in recent days going to be like those attention seeking gyrations and political exhibitions which Nigerians have seen too many times? Is Soludo going to carve a niche and establish himself as the first governor in Nigeria who does not allow the fear of losing election to deter him from taking tough decisions for the good of his people? And finally, is Ndi Anambra going to see in Prof. Soludo a patriotic leader who would sincerely pursue development or will he end up recruiting media warriors and image launderers to give him the credit of what he never achieved? We shall soon find out in the coming weeks and months.
