Date Published: 10/01/09
Only in Anambra State By Joe Igbokwe
After concluding the Delegate Congress of the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP) in Anambra State the Chairman of the Committee Governor Gabriel
Suswan has this to say about Anambra State.
“Anambra people have no shame. I had to bring in 326 people from Benue
State to come and conduct the congress, nowhere else in the federation
would such a thing happen except in Anambra. It is a shame.
Anambra is a different issue altogether. They don’t want sanity to
prevail or anything genuine. The first ugly experience was that some
aspirants would offer you anything. One even offered to give me one
billion Naira cash that evening. I decided and even felt angry at such
desperation.
I can see why nothing seems to be working out here. Once it is 7pm
everyone runs into their homes like fowls. There is no place of interest,
sight-seeing or night life. It is unfortunate”
The above three weighty statements are loaded and they spoke volume about
my State and my people. I felt humiliated and consequently hurt by
Governor Suswan’s accounts. These words were like a dagger in my heart.
It made nonsense of the land of my birth and it diminished me as a son of
that State. It is only in Anambra State that you have educated derelicts,
It is a State where educated people have terribly gone mad. It is a State
where educated people are the problem. Anambra State is a State where
educated people mean nothing.
Anambra State is the only place in Nigeria where educated people do
nothing with their education. Anambra State is the only State in Nigeria
where 42 aspirants are lining up for a single Political Party. It speaks
volumes of a people who lack the capacity to reason and organize. It tells
a sad story of foolishness in a worst form. It shows a long history of
greed and a avaricious tendencies in the life of a people known for their
hard work and enterprise.
It is only in Anambra State that a well-known election riggers, Mr. Andy
Ubah will shamelessly stand up to challenge a Supreme Court decision on
the mercilessly rigged 2007 guber elections in the State known by all and
sundry. It is only in Anambra State that a sitting Deputy Governor’s son
is campaigning to unseat the incumbent Governor and yet the Deputy
Governor has not deemed it necessary to resign. This is bizarre and
totally incomprehensible. Politics in Anambra State follow no rules, no
principles, no ideologies, no standards, no patterns.
I suggest an elementary political school for the politicians of Anambra,
if we must join other States in Nigeria to play decent politics. Anambra
State has become an embarrassment in the Nigeria’s political landscape.
The State has not only become an eyesore, it has become and a mindsore,
heartsore and headsore.
Joe Igbokwe
Lagos
