Date Published: 02/22/10

ANAMBRA ROCKS THE PARTY THAT ROUT NIGERIA By Farouk Martins Aresa

Anambra deserves praise for reelecting Obi as the Governor despite the barrage of money and influence to elect Soludo. A lizard that fell from a tree looked at both sides but nobody praised him for being balanced and intact. Nodding its head, it said if nobody praised him, he would praise himself. Soludo now considered all his investment in fake polls and the election that matters as lost. Nigerians just have to find a way to recycle their stolen loot.

It is not the first time Anambra has resisted Federal might; they could not assassinate Ngige with all their police might when the people decided it was Ngige they wanted. They also tried this time to rig the election but vigilance and people’s power overcame their senses. Unlike other parties that won in Kano, Edo, Lagos and Ondo, money or court rulings have no significant contribution this time around. The role of money in Nigeria politics is well known.

However, it is clear that whenever Federal money and influence becomes insignificant in their life, the people rally round and save themselves. It is not a secret that the Igbo lost almost everything as a result of the war. Today, they have caught up with the rest of the Country economically and educationally. If that is not a testimony that money is not everything, we may have to look further for answers.

Igbo have done it by looking inwards instead of begging for help from the Federal coffers. Indeed, those Igbo Federal politicians who came with their loot to Anambra have used it to destabilize the State after crawling out of the disaster of Nigeria/Biafra war stronger. The fear is once money start flowing in or expectations are raised again for Federal money, certain people will start to relax and fold their hands waiting for handouts.

We have to remember that the best of times for Yoruba was when the West was in opposition. They even rival the Federal counterpart in firsts in Africa economically, educationally and social entertainment. Once their leader left for Federal, all Yoruba problems broke loose and the center of Yoruba edge disintegrated. There is some infectious disease in Federal money that spread laziness and complacency.

What the Igbo have been able to achieve after the war can be and must be sustained. The ways they do it depend on their culture of self reliance. The way the Yoruba did it depended on their culture of progressive assimilation where ofa or a slave became king and a king might be relegated to a commoner once out of step. Nobody is saying we should forgo our dues to the Federal Government but when most effort by most resourceful people are channeled towards one goal at the federal level, we are bound to fail.

It is a lesson for the rest of Nigerians, including the same Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Kanuri or Ibibio to find out how they can rediscover themselves and become more resourceful. It is becoming obvious that there is not enough pie in the world to satisfy our needs but enough within us to increase our supply. No matter how much we consume, if it is not internally generated, we are wasting whatever we have to purchase what we not make at a dictated price.

Once others dictate our price, we will remain poor forever. This is why we wonder why more areas remained poor in the North than in the South when they have enjoyed more Federal power than the other parts of the Country. Federal allocations kill our incentive to internal progress. The medium, through politicians, by which the allocations is distributed, is worse.

Nevertheless, the Igbo have to keep their eyes on what is dearest to them that have taken them from the edge of poverty to a take off in the new century. The humble believe of some of us is that individual region can progress on its own without separating from the rest of the Country since no one can trade and prosper within its island. Japan has its population and others to sell cars to. United States, with all its population has to export goods and services.   The largest trading partners are still USA and Canada.

What we need under the right leader is United States of Africa, not Czechoslovakia. Most of us respect the drive of the Igbo for their ability to start from scratch and make a great deal out of themselves but some of us may envy them at the same time. Igbo are known to travel out with the last pound or ten shillings in the good old days in their pockets only to become rich traders in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria. Like others, the desire to make outside is greater.

Therefore if that same Igbo man can afford a room in center Lagos of those days, for 5 pounds or two pounds ten in Surulere or one pound ten in the suburbs, it was the same man that came with one pound in his pocket. The bus fare from Surulere to Lagos was six pence and bread cost only three pence. Actually, the monthly salary for school certificate holders was 15 pounds and ten pounds for standard six holders per month. Well, for some of us that were not from rich homes, twenty pounds was a lot of money then but chicken change for the rich.

We cannot compare today naira inside an old bottle to the pound, and expect it to taste like an adage fermented wine. As Nigerians, we need to learn from one another more than we tolerate foreigners, other cultures and ideas into our ways of life. After all, there are some Igbo success in all of us and some Hausa success in each of us. The ancient Yoruba culture accommodated and assimilated people from all parts of the world to advances its own.

If we suffocate the best in us and refuse to accommodate the best outside of us we die slowly. We need to repeat the election that brought Peter Obi in as Governor of Anambra State in every State in Nigeria. Big money and influence has its limit, it only corrupts our mind and culture. We use it to oppress one another in a country that needs every hand on the deck.