The Anambra 2017 election has come and gone. I tried my best,but at some point it became obvious to me that i would not realise my ambition, so i advised & encouraged myself to act my true self. I took a dignified bow.
My only political ambition was to create a new wealth base for Anambra. I know what to do & how best to do it. I wanted to give something of great value to my society. I wanted to create jobs on a massive scale for our suffering youths and to put valuable bread on the tables of many families. I lost the opportunity,but my head didn’t touch the sand. I saw so much,knew so much,learnt so much & of course,lost so much. But to the disappointment of many ,i did not kiss the dust.
I have since congratulated my brother Obiano. I congratulated him, not only for winning the election but additionally,for successfully deploying the most massive & intimidating election campaign propaganda, unseen elsewhere, not even in presidential elections. The style is quite novel but highly efficient & effective. The propaganda team easily turned all black into white. They aggressively rattled our brain out of reason, and easily manipulated & took complete control our gullible & feeble minds. Nobody bothered again to see how the election was electronically manipulated. And of course nobody bothered with the fact that our common treasury was completely emptied only to make Obiano retain his seat.
Those who were behind the propaganda machinery were good & indeed very merciless in their onslaught. I am convinced that Victor Ume,Obiano’s campaign manager was not part of the team. It was beyond him. He is not endowed with such massive brain power. He is merely a man of muscle & physical presence. I know also that ten Ifeatu Obi- Okoyes and even ten thousand Chiedu Nkwontas, and all the misled youth writers put together still lacked the capacity to put up such deafening & so intimidating propaganda. I wont even advance my brother, the governor near there for obvious reasons. Their effort was good indeed super, but then,lies told over & again becomes truth,especially when they go unchallenged,unopposed & unexposed.
As a starter,Anambra state, under Obiano has received Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of about $8bn. This amount is over N3tr,an amount Anambra state has never had on her budget paper since creation. The two parties that had the opportunity to debunk those faulty claims were more concerned chasing fighter jet with antiquated dane guns. Peter Obi,who ran the campaign for Obaze of PDP was busy marketing himself for his third term project and even beyond. What he lost in the swing through Obiano,he wanted to gain through Obaze. God does not operate that way. Our dear Peter Obi erroneously believed that he has become so popular that even if he throws up dung Ndi Anambra will gladly inhale it and thereafter hail him. ‘Saint’ Peter’s usual self delusion,with his lone ranging behaviour & Solomonic wisdom, have combined to make Peter the great ‘oracle’ indeed.
Those assumed qualities will never allow Peter to make proper assessment of any situation. Not any more. I am sure my friend Obaze, stood a better chance of winning that election without Peter’s meddling with his gum laden palm. Peter’s life experience with the traders at Ngbuka Obosi will be a dirty experience he is bound to live to remember, no matter his usual pretentiousness. Peter was blinded by his avowed vendetta on Obiano that he left so many stones unturned. And the consequence is that Obiano got away with several make believe stories.
On the part of APC,the leader Dr Chris Ngige, his title name is Onwa, meaning the MOON. There had never been two moons on the firmament. And our own Onwa ll ensure that it never happens, at least not in his time. If its not coming to me, let it rotten. Several internal wrangling,politicking, bitterness, apathy, nonchalant attitude of both principal characters,coupled with extremely selfish,wicked and heavily brainwashed party officials contributed in no small measure to the downfall of the Party’s candidate, Tony Nwoye. The young man fought a good fight. I give it to him. But stubbornness with lack of experience connived to rob him of victory. I will still find time to discuss other parties and their contestants, especially my friend Ezeemo,Chidoka,and my son Yul.
After all said & done there is urgent need for every Onye Anambra to start taking deeper interest in politics most especially my Anglican brethren and other non Catholic adherents. The Roman catholics have understood the game and they are still taking advantage of every political situation. To me there is nothing wrong with that. They worked for it over several years,deploying every manner of effective strategies. Other Denominations will emulate them. It is our common heritage. We should work for it and share in the proceeds.
Finally,it is time that our youths must shun extreme selfishness and try to understand that it is their collective future that is being tossed about & messed up. They must learn to come together, work together, to take charge of their collective future. It is obvious,to those of us with sound knowledge & training that our economy has been running on the reverse gear. It will only take serious commitment & sound knowledge of the working of an economy,especially of a rural & virgin nature to bring it back on course for speedy recovery & growth. Such knowledge cannot reside within operators with service-industry background, especially banks of all kinds,not even the central bank. Banks do not create wealth. They are mere custodians of wealth. So our youths over to you.
I will soon be back.
Chike Obidigbo
OSISIOMA NDIGBO